Through the Seasons

Mbeya Church

A couple of weeks ago we went to church with our friends in Mbeya. What an experience!

The first 2 hours were spent in singing and an occasional, brief word from someone. Then there was a 30 minute sermon followed by more talking and singing. Oh and dancing! Lots of vibrant dancing. Since we were visitors we also had to stand up and introduce ourselves. (Horrible!)

The offering during the service was interesting too. They stand up front and everyone gets up and puts their offering in the basket. Then a man takes it out, counts it, and a little later comes back in to announce the total. The day we were there we didn’t catch the amount but the last time our friends went to that church the total offering was 11,000 shillings which is $10 and our friends gave 2,000 shillings of that total.

After church service everyone goes out front and shakes every single person’s hand. Then they form a circle where they auction off tangible goods that people have brought as their offering. When we were there a lady brought an egg. It was quite sweet and humbling.

The whole experience though was exhausting honestly. That’s just a lot of singing when you don’t come from a background where that’s normal. The fact that everything was in Swahili made it so much worse because you’re exerting so much energy to try to follow (which we hardly did at all).

It became extremely clear that to get the spiritual nourishment we crave, we’re on our own. It also reminded me of the 10 minority languages around Mbeya who don’t know Swahili and their only option for church and Bible is Swahili. It’s exciting to be a part of work that will take the Scripture and make it come alive for them in the language that they understand. And I’m even more grateful now for the fact that I grew up with English preaching, teaching, and Bible. We are so fortunate to have these things! Thanks Mr. William Tyndale. And thank You God for sending him to give us Your Word and for sending us to give Your Word to others.