Worship in Tanzania

Worship services in Tanzania are quite a bit different that they are in Minnesota. We arrived at Mkimbizi Lutheran Church last Sunday at about 6:50 am for the 7:00 am worship service. One might think that’s a little late for the preacher to show up, but Beth, I and mostly the church elders were the only ones there. As is the custom, we were escorted into a small office where we were greeted and made to feel welcome and served tea, fresh bread, hard boiled eggs and jam. Pastor Ambrose Kikioti, an energetic, young pastor with a fun-loving spirit, filled me in on the service and at 7:10 am we (me, Beth, Pastor Ambrose, Pastor Hasborn, and several elders) marched into the sanctuary. The church was half full, until the first hymn 15 minutes later, and then in typical Lutheran style, the other half of the congregation filed into the sanctuary. The service would last for the next 2 hours, yet the enthusiasm and joy of the people made time irrelevant. I preached and Pastor Ambrose’ translated into Kiswahili. It’s tricky to preach when the culture is so different. But the people love Jesus, are so very gracious and the Holy Spirit had control of the Word anyway. The choirs sang there were 15 minutes of announcements; we had the usual two processions to the front of the church with offerings, and a whole bunch of liturgy. Near the end of the service, Pastor Ambrose leaned over to me and said, “It’s time for the Pastor’s Choir to sing”. He gently took my hand and led me to join him, Pastor Hasborn, and another visiting pastor to harmonized one of my all time favorite African hymns, named: ?????, which I’d never heard before, and didn’t have a clue what we were saying (I hummed most of the time) None-the-less, when we were done, the congregation erupted with applause and cheering. As is always the tradition, when the worship is over, the congregation gathers outside the church and after an elder auctions member offerings of eggs, milk, or something homemade, the pastor blesses the congregation. Pastor Ambrose took the opportunity to allow the guest preacher to bless and send the people by handing me the Swahili Service Book and asking me to read the Swahili blessing. I’m not a very strong Swahili reader, but I gave it my best shot. All I know is that when I was finished the people laughed and clapped and once again, and we enjoyed the moment together The second service started at 9:30 am and included the ordination of an Evangelist (Evangelists preach at the outlying preaching points, which are small groups worshipping together, but not large enough to build and support a church yet). The service ended at 12:15 pm, and was followed by the baptism of a very sick baby. At 1:00 pm we joined the pastor for lunch in his office (Rice, beans, cabbage, beef and peas) Last week at Kihesa Lutheran Church we had all of the above, except goat instead of beef. Around 2:30 pm we started for home, it was a full morning, full of God’s love and grace. God is good and our friends here are wonderful. We were richly blessed and honored to be with them.