Out of Africa: Part 7 – African Worship & Community Needs

On my recent trip to Africa, I disciplined myself to keep a daily journal of what transpired and how I felt about it. These entries are from that journal.

Sunday, October 23, 2005
Experience #1 - Worship in Africa

This was a busy and very intense day, so to keep this entry from being too long, I will break it into several entries. We began the mid point of this journey as every day with a communal breakfast. After breakfast we departed for two separate churches for worship. Joshua and I would worship at a Masai congregation while Gary would go with John (World Vision US rep) and his 20 year old son Taylor to worship at a Kisipigi congregation.

We arrived at our gathering shortly after 10:00 am. Folks were already inside singing. One of the leaders of the church told me that the folks would be slow arriving because the Masai have work they must do with their cows before they can come to worship. Folks continued to arrive for the next hour.

We later learned that this was a combined worship of four churches gathering together. It was not until 11:15 that everyone, including the primary pastor arrived. Worship then went on for another two hours. It included more singing, testimonies, two primary sermons, and 3-4 mini ones.

There were some similarities in their worship to our own, but it was not a 100% cross over. Their singing is in responsive chanting using only a single drum. The women are the primary leaders since in this culture the women will sing to the men anyway. However, one visiting Pastor did lead one song.

The primary pastor (red tie in the photo between Joshua and me) reminded me of my first pastoral mentor, Richard Horn. My son Richard is named for this man; that is how highly I respected him, so this is not small passing praise I am offering up here. He walked like him, carried himself like him, preached like him and even moved among the community folks with the respect that I have never seen in any man except Richard Horn.

This pastor and I both gave the two primary sermons in the worship. What a great treat! I shared with them the story that crept into my conscious during the worship. When I was still in seminary, I heard a missionary speak who worked with the Masai. He showed some photos of the Masai, and asked us to pray for them. I recalled praying for the Masai, never in a million years imagining that I would be worshipping with them and preaching in their congregation some thirty years later.

During the introduction they apologized for the worship being in their language and not in English. When I arose, I said it was we who should apologize for not knowing their language, not the other way around. Prior to rising, I asked one of our interpreters how to say, “Praise God,” in Masai. It is “Meisisi Yesu,” which is literally “Praise Jesus.” I wanted to show respect for their language so at the end of the message I said “Meisisi Yesu!” The look of delight and joy on their faces told me that I had indeed done the right thing.

Their method of taking up an offering was unique. They put three large bowls on a bench in front. Each was a different color. The pastor said that one was regular offerings, the other was tithes, and the other was for special offerings. I am not sure of the distinction between them, but the Masai clearly knew what was taking place. Then they sang while folks filed forward putting in their offering of Kenyan Shillings. I put in some shillings myself. But what was most moving, one woman carried forward a bag of seeds she had brought to worship. As she laid them on the bench, I prayed for her. I have no idea who she is, and will probably never meet her again until I get to heaven, but I have prayed for her numerous times since that day.