First Sunday

Our first Sunday here. The team usually goes to King of Kings Church, which is affiliated with Living Hope. King of Kings was running a camp this weekend though so we went to Masiphumelele for church. The church is in the heart of Masiphumelele, which is a very poor township about ten minutes drive from the team house. The service was already in full swing, although we arrived before the 11:00 start time. The first 45 minutes or so was a vibrant worship time. Everyone would stand and sing a song loudly, while the children ran around and some people danced, accompanied by two keyboards. In between songs we sat down and someone prayed or said something to welcome everyone. After worship, we were welcomed as a group and Mike, the coordinator, spoke a few words via a translator and then introduced each of us. Mike then called up two of our group to speak about their own journey with Christ. After that, one pastor spoke about a Faith Giving, followed by the main pastors sermon on who Jesus really was. It was a great message that addressed different religions and how they view Jesus. After 2.5 hours, the service ended. It was a wonderful first experience with an African church and how passionate they are for the Lord, in both their worship, and in their offerings to the church, despite how poor they are.