Even though there is great variety in the sizes, shapes, cultures, and people of the various Mozambican churches we have visited, they all have a great deal in common with one another. I wanted to give you a little taste of what it is like to attend church in our corner of Africa:
Our church building is on our base, about 50 steps from our front door. It is a simple building—mud structure to about shoulder-height after which it is a mesh made of sticks (great for ventilation) until the corrugated metal roof. The front is painted green with the words: “Welcome sons of God!” in three different languages. The inside is very plain, with hard wooden benches lined up in three rows and some grass mats on the floor to one side for older women and mothers with small children.
We hear the music start at about 9:00 every Sunday morning, but the missionaries typically don’t show up for another hour at least—few Westerners have the same energy and stamina as our African counterparts, and we honestly struggle to keep up with their excited dancing and singing, clapping enthusiastically, kicking up the dirt floor, and dripping sweat for two hours. When we walk up to the church, only about half of the people are in the rows of benches; the rest are up front dancing their hearts out with the music, which is often only accompanied by a keyboard. Sometimes they will form a line and dance all the way around the sanctuary, up and down the two aisles, pulling in as many people as possible to join the celebration. I’ve never seen angels worship, but I bet these souls saved in the depths of Africa would challenge even them to reexamine the depth of their joy and devotion to their King. The songs are very simple and repetitive—which is one of the most powerful tools for teaching in Africa. Many people in the church are illiterate, so even if they had a Bible in their language it wouldn’t do them any good. The songs express truths in a format that is so easy to remember, it will be stuck in their heads until next Sunday when they come back for more. The format is call-and-response, and usually says something like:
Verse 1: “God is good—He is” (repeat 20X), chorus: “He is, He is, He is” (repeat 20X), verse 2: “Jesus is good—He is” (repeat 20X)
“The blood of Christ—the blood of Christ—Shall never lose—Shall never lose its power” (repeat 20X, then sing 20X in another language)
“Holy Spirit, Comforter, pour out—pour out fire in this place” (repeat 4X), “Pour out fire, fire, fire, pour out fire, pour out fire in this place” (repeat 4X, then repeat whole song 20X)
“Hallelujah” (repeat 20X), “I love You” (repeat 20X), “You are holy” (repeat 20X) “Thank You” (repeat 20X)
Not only are they simple enough to memorize easily, but this way you also don’t need hymnals or a projector screen with the words—after once through everyone can sing along. At some point during the worship time they take up the offering, which is done to yet another song. They have a few children hold the baskets up front and everyone who wants to give has to make their way there to give it. Many times, even in their poverty, the Africans prove generous beyond their means, and find it a true joy to give. Most tithe well over 10%, and often the collection is not just money, but corn and vegetables as well—whatever the people have to give, they give. They typically dance all the way up to and from the baskets, just from the sheer joy of knowing they are serving God with their possessions and that He will take care of them no matter how sacrificially they gave.
After the corporate worship, then is the time for “special music,” which is just any group of random people who happened to get together that week and wanted to sing a few songs as a special performance. It could be new songs, it might some we already sang that day, but at the appointed time everyone in that group of 5-20 people would get up and go out the back door, then come in singing and stepping in rhythm through the side door, sing 4-5 songs with their beautiful African harmony, often accompanied by a practiced dance, then go sit back down for the next group to come in… and the next… and the next. Usually about ½ to ¾ of the entire congregation is involved in some special singing group or another, and it lasts until about 12:00 (or until every group that wants to has gone up).
Then the preaching starts.
Our area speaks the Sena language, but since we sometimes have people from surrounding areas, and because of our ongoing Bible school that trains pastors from all over the country, the service is always translated in both Sena and Portuguese, the national language. This week we didn’t have our usual translator, but I was pleasantly surprised that I could understand the whole message (the Portuguese one, still working on Sena). It was about how God called Jeremiah, but he tried to make excuses saying he was too young. God confirmed that he was called to do His work no matter how old or young he was, and we all have a calling as well. It’s not for us to decide whether we are fit for the job or not—if God has chosen us, He will make us able to do it. After the sermon usually another pastor will come up and expound a little on what was said, make some more application, and then call everyone who is sick or in need of prayer to stand. Sometimes we pray for each one individually up front, other times they just do a corporate prayer for all those standing.
Then church lets out and everyone is free to mingle and visit. We often have many people come up to us even after the ending and ask for more specific prayer for healing. They really believe strongly in the power of prayer, and even the little elderly ladies are not shy to ask.
We usually get back from church exhausted and in need of rest—from the heat, the mental strain of internally translating everything, and all wears us out. But we have come to love it just the same.
