Rural African Church

So, the first two times I traveled to Zim, I was able to attend a church in the city. It was a great church (same church both times) but if I'm being honest, the church was led by white South Africans, and I was truly dying to attend a rural black church in the middle of nowhere. Ok, not nowhere....but you know what I mean. I hope. This time my wish came true. There actually was not a plan at all to go to church on that Sunday. I'm not sure why, but I think they must have thought I would prefer to go to a white church, and so it was never even mentioned. Until I asked on Saturday.....are we going to church tomorrow? Everyone looked around at each other and began discussing our options. In Shona. So I couldn't understand. I eventually just chimed in and said, in English of course, I would love to go to a rural church. They all smiled. I offered, "I'll be the only white person won't I?". They said, "Naaaaaaaa". They lied. I sure did get some looks. But I couldn't have been happier. And I couldn't have felt more at home with all of my beautiful Zim friends.

Let me tell you a little about this service. First off, Keldon serves in the praise and worship team. I loved watching him worship. We sang, on our feet, for a solid HOUR. And yes, there was dancing....see, me....right at home. The next part of the service was fascinating and beautiful to me. They had prayer leaders and healers at the front of the sanctuary, and people came up to be prayed for. It was intense and focused and loud and full of faith. This lasted about 40 minutes. One attender stood up and gave his testimony of healing (from the previous week). A newly engaged bride was prayed for and celebrated. And then the preacher spoke for about 30 minutes. It was a LONG service, but it was so wonderful. I truly loved it.

Here is a very short video of just a little bit of one of the worship songs. I couldn't resist getting the flip recorder out for this, but I didn't want to be disrespectful so I kept it very short. Enjoy. I did.