Church
I’d like to use this post to tell you a little about what our church service is like. I may have posted about church before but I wanted to again with more detail.
Our church is part of the large evangelical church of Congo and our particular congregation gets a rotation of different pastors as the “higher up people send them our way. We’ve had three different pastors since we moved here in 2018 and the one who just arrived is pretty recently graduated from seminary. Our previous pastors were older so the one we have now is the youngest yet.
There are about 200 to 300 people on a normal Sunday and each Sunday someone counts the people and then gives a total head count for men, women and children separately. There’s always the most women. The “protocol” people go around and keep people from falling asleep and they occasionally kick out a noisy child. They are also in charge of seating and the people who arrive first must go to the front, and they fill the rows from front to back. The later you are the further back you sit. It kind of makes sense. If you come early, you are not allowed to sit in the back. No one seems to get to choose his own seat.
Announcements are long and various. The offering time is usually divided up into three “rounds.” The general offering and then two special offerings; for example, the choir, or a particular church related need. The sermon is usually not longer than 40 minutes, but the total service is anywhere from 1 and 1/2 hours to over two hours, which is short for a church service. The pastor periodically pauses during his sermons and breaks into song, usually beginning a few words of the song and the congregation quickly joins in. All our pastors have done this so I guess it’s not just a personal style.
The Covid phase of our church being affected passed while I was absent. You wouldn’t know Covid was even a thing if you saw us worshipping. Not a mask in sight, packed in like sardines and handshakes pretty much like usual. I guess people forgot about it already. As a side note, Covid is still a topic of conversation around here. People can be seen wearing masks around town (usually under their chin) and people will joke about someone having Covid if they are coughing or sneezing.
The church has two choirs, a traditional one and a modern one. They wear the same uniform, white tops and headscarves, and black pants or skirts. The modern choir is really nice sounding; the traditional choir takes some mental adjustment to enjoy. At least for my western-raised ears.
At one point after a congregational song that the pastor requested, he told everyone to start over and sing it again because it wasn’t enthusiastic enough. So they sang again with more gusto and that time he was satisfied. There is typically pretty lively dancing and singing but I only know words to some of the songs so I can’t always join in properly.
The church has a keyboard and microphones which are overly used. They also recently acquired a drum set (of a rustic sort) and this Sunday there was a teenage boy drumming and chewing gum. He looked very chill, but was drumming with exceptional talent. The traditional choir also uses drums but they are the animal skin kind.
This morning Orcxance stayed home with the girls so I went to church by myself. I don’t particularly like going by myself but this time it was actually very refreshing. I hadn’t been to church in a while due to illness so it was nice to be able to go, have a little walk (there and back) and spend a few minutes without the girls. The walk was not bad, and totally worth it for the “distractions” along the way. I even went to the market for a few minutes on the way back and picked up some things we needed.
When I got home Orcxance had cooked and deep cleaned our bedroom, repaired a broken power outlet, done the laundry, and bathed and fed the girls. We spent a lovely, relaxed afternoon in the yard visiting with neighbors, getting dirty and enjoying the beautiful day.
Our church is part of the large evangelical church of Congo and our particular congregation gets a rotation of different pastors as the “higher up people send them our way. We’ve had three different pastors since we moved here in 2018 and the one who just arrived is pretty recently graduated from seminary. Our previous pastors were older so the one we have now is the youngest yet.
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