Sometimes as Americans we have a chip on our shoulder when it comes to the way we do church. Oh, don’t deny it. It’s true. We show off our fancy sanctuaries with the best lighting and sound board. The comfortable chairs with lumbar support. The best worship leaders with the low cut v-necks and fitted denim. Yes, we do church just fine in the good ol’ USofA.
Or do we?
I walked into the sanctuary and worshipped with brothers and sisters from Mavuno Church in Uganda as part of Mariner’s Global Outreach weekend. As vibrantly colored shirts and dresses swayed alongside their American counterparts, I stood in complete awe of how two cultures came together so succinctly to worship the same God.
Not the God of the United States of America, but of the United Hearts of the World. While we sang loudly and moved unabashedly, God became unilaterally nonpartisan. The God of you and the God of me became the God of we.
Pastor Muriithi shared his heart and vision for the people of Africa. Seated in the beautiful sanctuary with comfortable chairs with lumbar support, I realized that maybe, just maybe, we aren’t the only ones with the right way to do church. The soft spoken words oozed like sweet honey from the heart of Muriathii. Our vision, he said, is to turn ordinary people into fearless influencers. I’m an ordinary person who is appropriating this vision, mission, and motto for life.
To steal American verbiage, I can earnestly say united we stand. Together we will not fall.
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What I wouldnt give to have a debate with you about this. You just say so many things that come from nowhere that Im fairly positive Id have a fair shot. Your weblog is great visually, I mean people wont be bored. But others who can see past the videos and the layout wont be so impressed with your generic understanding of this subject.