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.
Bianca,
I know you are incredibly busy but I would so appreciate it if you could put a pint-sized post-it on your wall for me if even for a day. I really want to be who God wants me to be. I struggle with having a rebellious, selfish, prideful, and envious heart. I just want to serve the Lord. I really need God to work on my heart so because I no longer want to be ashamed of the Gospel( mainly explicitly sharing God’s WORD) and I want to share Jesus with people in a practical and real way. I no longer want to be a person who “divides and subtracts” but who God uses as He “multiplies and adds.”
Pretty please.
Thank you.
Whoa.
“Our vision is to turn ordinary people into fearless influencers.”
When you look at our lives, our Americanized way of thinking, we worry about this month’s bills, rent, work–we live in worry and fear.
Being a fearless influencer means looking beyond yourself and your means.
Whoa. That was so blessing. Thanks Bianca!!
We attended church for 6 weeks in Ghana, West Africa. Them peoples know how to worship!!!
There was a notice in their bulletin … they were raising funds to send a missionary to the U.S. Yep … they were.
We LOVE it … even when the pastor spoke another language. Sunday school was in English … worship was in 1/2 English and 1/2 Ga … sermon was usually in Ga. Pretty cool!
Mama D.
that’s awesome…yeah coming from a church that has pretty conservative worship, it’s hard to feel comfortable when u wanna dance or be loud….or you get so used to it, that when you visit a church that’s a little more charismatic, it feels weird…but I agree…we can’t be the only country that does church right…
That vision is one we should all adopt:)
what a wonderful vision and call to us as believers!
we are called into the light for His purpose and for His people worldwide… love this post.
happy monday Bianca!
xoxo,
katee grace
This was a seriously AMAZING service!!! What joy they had in worship…and what a huge reminder it was to me to exude joy when I’m praising God!
“turn ordinary people into fearless influencers”
OOOOOO! Me like! Seems like being ordinary is a GOOD thing! HA!
I totally want to go visit Uganda now. It was truly amazing. If doors open up, I’m there in a heartbeat 🙂
@Ana Sofia: Yes, I will be praying for you!!!
Thank God ALL of our worship to the Lord is precious in His sight! I believe it’s not just Uganda but everywhere worship to our Savior is beautiful because it’s different or unlike ours.
When I went on a missions trip to Cuba, their worship was AMAZING and it went on forever. Chris Tomlin also said at his concert that worship in Brazil was AMAZING and went on all night long at his concert. They didn’t want to leave and stop worshipping the LORD. I love listening, participating, worshipping the LORD in every country I’ve been to just like I love watching people Sign at my church. How I would love to worship my God vocally while signing.
P.S. The Retreat was awesome! I learned so much from you and all of the teacher/speakers this weekend. 😉 Thank you for the invite! =) I loved being a part of the CCM family!
looked like a wonderful worship service!! 🙂
I’ve been thinking about this for some time too! Thank you for sharing this. I appreciate it!!!
Love from Texas…
God is really challenging me in this area…to live openly for Christ…especially with my own family who seem so hard to reach…so out of reach. About 10 years ago, just before leaving on a mission trip to England, the Lord told me my family was my mission field…while I never forgot the words, I forgot the call…
Then last week, I found myself in a parking lot, preparing my heart to visit my unsaved dad in the hospital. The Lord brought me to 2 Corin 3 (I think…or ch. 4 maybe) where it states we are the letter of Christ, not written with ink, but with the Spirit of the Living God…read by all men…it later goes on to talk about the boldness of speech that we have because we know the glory of God…
In that moment, I remembered what God called me to do…witness to my very own family. Not just to love my dad…but boldly speak truth. Be a witness. To worship Jesus not just in a church (or my minivan!), where its so very easy for me, but on enemy territory…and to simply trust that God can and will use me to influence my family toward Himself…
…fearless influencer, yes, please!
– Melissa
P.S. Africa has been on my heart for SO long…we ‘randomly’ found a missionary family there to support and I’m vicariously living through them!!!
REALLY? You had to bring up Uganda.. See that has been on my husbands heart for a few years now. I sometimes think that he says it to get a reaction out of me.
The more I try to fight the idea of someday going or even praying about it the more it pops up in front of me. From TV, to the news, in a magazine I was reading and even one day on the tag of my sons shirt. I mean like who even reads the tag of where a shirt is made? I guess me that day, what a freak. So today I am still on my spiritual high from the weekend, living through God Will for the day. Singing and Praising Him that no matter where he calls we will go and ERRRRRKKKKK.
I read your blog and you are talking Uganda! Im mean really? Its almost 10:30 and I could have gone to bed but realized I didn’t read todays blog! So if you I will go… or maybe consider it perhaps? Umm you might want to add me to your post it wall that I have a open heart 🙂 Good blog by the way!
Monica!
i just have to say that i loooooove your blog! thanks so much for this!!! i think that we can definitely get caught up in where we live or what church we go to….but we all worship the SAME God!!
i love that you mentioned Uganda because it has been on my heart, & i will be there this summer 🙂 God is definitely working through that country!!
Resources such as the 1 you mentioned right here will be incredibly helpful to myself! I’ll publish a hyperlink to this page on my private blog. I am certain my site visitors will discover that fairly helpful.
Encouraging healthy, realistic attitudes toward weight and diet may be helpful. ,
Sick! Just got a brand-new Pearl and I can now read your weblog on my phone’s browser, it didn’t do the job on my outdated one.
Please tell me that youre going to keep this up! Its so superior and so important. I cant wait to read a lot more from you. I just feel like you know so a lot and know how to make people listen to what you’ve got to say. This weblog is just also cool to be missed. Good stuff, actually. Please, PLEASE keep it up!
Dude, please tell me that youre going to create much more. I notice you havent written an additional blog for a while (Im just catching up myself). Your weblog is just too important to become missed. Youve obtained so significantly to say, such knowledge about this subject it would be a shame to see this weblog disappear. The internet needs you, man!
I think youve made some truly interesting points. Not also many people would truly think about this the way you just did. Im genuinely impressed that theres so substantially about this subject thats been uncovered and you did it so well, with so considerably class. Beneficial one you, man! Really fantastic things right here.
Terrific job right here. I definitely enjoyed what you had to say. Keep heading because you surely bring a new voice to this topic. Not many people would say what youve said and still make it interesting. Well, at least Im interested. Cant wait to see a lot more of this from you.
Took me time to read all the comments, but I definitely enjoyed the write-up. It proved to be Quite useful to me and I am positive to all the commenters here It is always great when you can not only be informed, but also entertained I’m positive you had fun writing this write-up.
This was a really very superior submit. In theory I’d wish to create like this also – getting time and actual effort to make a good piece of writing… but what can I say… I procrastinate alot and by no means appear to obtain something done.
Youre so right. Im there with you. Your blog is undoubtedly worth a read if anyone comes across it. Im lucky I did because now Ive got a whole new view of this. I didnt realise that this issue was so important and so universal. You definitely put it in perspective for me.
3%) in the q8h [b]lasix surery in ct and ny[/b] was pumped for this reason.
Thank you for the sensible critique. Me & my neighbour were preparing to do some research about that. We acquired a very good book on that matter from our local library and most books exactly where not as influensive as your info. I am pretty glad to see these information and facts which I was searching for a long time.
cephalexin doesn’t clear up infection completely ,
This was a actually extremely excellent publish. In theory I’d prefer to create like this also – getting time and actual effort to make a terrific piece of writing… but what can I say… I procrastinate alot and by no means appear to obtain anything done.
Thank you for an additional excellent write-up. Where else could anybody get that type of facts in these a ideal way of writing? I have a presentation subsequent week, and I am to the look for these facts.
Quite insightful submit. Never believed that it was this simple after all. I had spent a great deal of my time looking for someone to explain this topic clearly and you’re the only one that ever did that. Kudos to you! Keep it up
I admire the beneficial details you offer inside your content articles. I will bookmark your blog and have my kids verify up here normally. I am fairly certain they will learn a lot of new stuff right here than anybody else!
Pretty insightful publish. Never believed that it was this simple after all. I had spent a excellent deal of my time looking for someone to explain this topic clearly and you’re the only 1 that ever did that. Kudos to you! Keep it up
Thank you for another wonderful article. Exactly where else could anyone get that kind of details in this kind of a ideal way of writing? I have a presentation next week, and I am on the look for these details.
Hey there! Extremely good weblog! I’m a ordinary website visitor (alot more like addict :P) of this website unfortunately I had a a doubt. I am just possibly not for sure whether its the right web site to ask, but you have no spam comments. I get comments frequently. Would you help me? Thanks much!
Eat regular meals and snack before workouts to ensure that you have enough energy. ,
It is used along with a special diet to lower the amount of fatty material in the blood— triglycerides and LDL (or “bad”) cholesterol—that can build up on artery walls and block blood flow. ,
Vinzer Zestaw kuchenny 69192 ,
Dialysis is to for [u]huntington beach california arava legal[/u] of because it is highly to proteins.
Great to become browsing your weblog once more, it continues to be months for me. Properly this write-up that i’ve been waited for so lengthy. I will need this post to total my assignment inside the school, and it has same topic together with your write-up. Thanks, terrific share.
You may methonitrate gonococcal to help him with a receive plan.
Thank you for another great write-up. Exactly where else could anyone get that kind of data in this kind of a ideal way of writing? I’ve a presentation subsequent week, and I am around the look for this kind of information.
Thanks a bunch for sharing this with all of us you actually understand what you’re talking about! Bookmarked. Kindly additionally visit my website =). We could have a hyperlink change arrangement between us!
Rattling good
There are certainly lots of details like that to consider. That’s a wonderful point to bring up. We provide the thoughts over as general motivation however clearly there are concerns like the one a person mention exactly where probably the most thing will be working in truthful very good belief. We don?capital t know if guidelines possess surfaced around things like that, however i am certain that that the job is obviously identified as a reasonable game. But computer systems are a older science, and when buying a laptop you’ll be able to change the specs associated with what ever equipment you are searching from to fit your needs.
For the subcellular extremadamente in phototoxic years, i have viven brave to additively reposition optically and outlive liberally without my wondering.