Dance to the LORD!

Last Sunday, I had a truly African worship experience.  My teammate Tyler was invited by a church in town to speak. He was to teach in the morning in an area of town called Pipeline, then once again that afternoon at another church’s youth group.

We were excited to see what God had planned but weren’t sure what to expect. None of us had met Tony (our Kenyan contact) before. As we arrived to our destination, Tony met us and directed us to the church. It was a humble property that looked two steps above a root cellar. The walls were simple mud bricks with a few strategic ones missing for ventilation. Compacted dirt made up our floor and scavenged wood, our roof. But this mattered little to those who gathered to worship.

Worship seems too tame a word to describe it. Each song was screamed to the heavens until voices failed. With arms lifted high in expectation, they danced and danced to Him. After a few hours of this, my heart was happy but my body, tired. Tyler shared and we were all edified.

After lunch we hiked through a neighboring area called Tessia where the other church was located. The roads were so poor we couldn’t pass them in our van. Walking through the streets, it was evident we were foreigners. Children stopped to gawk while women pointed and whispered.

Church was loud and exuberant just as before but this time in a stick building along the main road. It is the first church planted by Apostle Harrison - the first of ten we were told. It was fun chatting with him and a few of the other pastors. Apparently, Harrison went through the Calvary Chapel Bible School in Nairobi a few years back and was happy to share how he taught the Bible scripture by scripture.  --SW