This past Sunday we all loaded up in the Loves’ “family” car
(everyone being Carlos included). We drove to a church that I had never been to
or had even really heard them talk about. On our way, Rick started to tell me
about the church and how it was established a little bit over a year ago by
Sam. It was basically a house church because it was a very small church with
five members that literally meet at a member’s house.
When we arrived, we were greeted by two men, and we were
welcomed into their kizaza (a hut that has a thatched roof but doesn’t have any
walls that enclose it). They had a couple of little one-person benches and
three larger chairs and two “mats” (old corn meal bags) for the children to sit
on. Of course, when we walked in they wanted the mwngu (white person)/ guest to
have the nicest chairs/benches. So we sat down with the two men, and someone
else showed up, and we all visited until another person showed up.
Rick started asking one of the men questions, and the man shared
his story with us. He was born again last May when Sam (the Love’s teammate)
was teaching the men in his area and trying to start a church. He told us that
several years ago he attended an evangelical church for a while. His wife was
unfaithful to him and wanted to divorce him. He went to the churches leaders,
and they didn’t do anything and pretended like nothing had happened. His wife
wasn’t punished, and was allowed to continue sinning. So after she divorced him,
he stopped attending the evangelical church and wasn’t going to church anywhere
else.
He had visited a group who called themselves a church of
Christ, but were definitely not because they still followed the traditional African
beliefs. Some of the church leaders were involved in a “floating coffin” ceremony.
This is a ceremony that is practiced in situations where they believe that the
deceased died “randomly.” In other words, the deceased didn’t die for any
obvious reason (illness, accidental death, etc.). They believe that in these
types of deaths, the deceased had been “witched.” In the ceremony, everyone
gives the person who holds the coffin money and pays that person off. If
someone doesn’t or isn’t able to give money to the person holding the coffin, they
are assumed to be the person who had the deceased “witched.” This person is
then killed. After he saw the church leaders participate in this ceremony, he
didn’t want to have anything to do with that church congregation. Sam and some
others were doing Bible studies to start a church in the area, and he was
baptized and became a member of the church that was being started.
The church consists of five faithful members. The man who
shared his story with us was the same man who had given his house to the church
and was in the process of “shifting” (the word they use for moving) to his new
house that he had just finished building.
He asked us if we would pray for their church because they
were having a hard time growing more than the five members. They had been doing
Bible studies every week at different nearby villages to teach and encourage
others to become Christians. But despite their efforts, they still weren’t
growing. I think that the other church nearby that claims to be Christians but
still practice the traditional beliefs is what might be scaring people away
from the church they are trying to start.
I admire these men so much because of their commitment to continuing
what they believe God is calling them to do even though the fruits of their
work might not be evident right now. They are devoting everything they have,
including their homes.
I would like to ask you the keep the church in Mapunga
springs in your prayers and keep the people that they are reaching out to in
your prayers.