Sunday was absolutely fascinating and wonderful. I went with two other Beloit girls to a church that we’d found. When 95% of people are Muslim, and 4% are Catholic, we were amazed to find a Protestant church not far from our homes. I was even more amazed that there were more people here than at many churches in Beloit (75, and only 4 were new/visitors!)
We neglected to account for Dakar time, and arrived “early” at 10, which was when the service was scheduled to start. Several people greeted us, and as things got going, we were quite surprised with the fact that a lot of things were translated into English. We sang and prayed, and then there was a discussion portion, from the Scriptures. They must have started last week, discussing what it means (biblically) to be a church, who founded it, what should it be called, how to know if it’s a thriving church. There was some intense discussion that took a long time; we were told it was much longer than usual. Afterward, there was some more singing and praying, and as we sang one song (in English), we greeted each other and moved and danced around. Everyone seemed so happy to be with each other in the house of God. We even opened the doors so people on the street could hear us. I wonder if that’s part of their evangelistic approach.
The sermon was from 2 Kings, and was translated phrase by phrase from English to French. Near the end, members stood and gave praises and prayer requests; we sang and prayed together. We also took communion (as we got it; we didn’t wait for everyone to take it together), and an offering was collected. We prayed and sang some more, and the visitors were officially welcomed and introduced to the congregation. At this point, we were told to go to this other room where they had Ananas (a delicious pineapple soda!)* for us. The other visitor was from Nigeria, but he’s been working in Dakar for a while. The pastor and guest preacher (I couldn’t really tell who everyone was) came and talked with us, making sure we knew we were welcome. Everyone was so nice, exactly how a church should be.
I should add that the service was nearly 4 hours, but they told us that was atypical. My Muslim host mom called me 3 times, so the third time I went outside and spoke with her. She was pretty impressed with how long I was at church for, lol. C’est bon ca, she said (That’s good!).
As for the content, there were some things I agreed with, and some things I’m not sure I did. I’m not super familiar with Church of Christ even in the US, but I know that there was something about it that was off-putting for me. I may not have understood this correctly, but it seemed like they were saying that God isn’t going to speak at all until Judgment Day. To me, that seems to limit a lot of the way the Lord can work. I’ll have to look into it.
I really enjoyed the emphasis on the unity of the church (Ephesians 4:5). There was something extra special about hearing that message in another country, and being able to realize that in Christ, we really are one. It doesn’t matter if we come from different places or speak different languages; we are all the sons and daughters of God. That was something very wonderful to experience.
Another thing I appreciated was the emphasis on the Bible (like 2 Timothy 3:16), and trusting it as “la voix de Dieu” (the voice of God). The pastor said, “The question is, ‘what does the Bible say? What I think, what you think, no, what does the Bible say?” The Bible has more wisdom and knowledge in it than we will ever know.
One last thing that I found to be incredibly beautiful was the way that this church answered the question, “If all you had were Jesus, would He be enough?” They don’t have a big fancy building or nice chairs or pews; there’s no worship band (or even a piano) and they don’t have thousands or even a hundred people gather there. But being there, it was enough. God is enough.
I think I’d like to keep coming. I felt pretty comfortable there; there was certainly a lot of joy in the Lord. It will be interesting to talk with the other girls about their thoughts and experiences.
*I also just have to repeat how delicious Ananas is. If I thought I could get it through customs, I would bring home gallons of it.
I was just really thankful to be in church in Senegal! God is with us.
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