Sunday worship

Sunday:  Worthy!

What a joy to worship at Life Center Church today!  We drove through a poorer area to a tent covered, open air facility where more than 1,000 gather.  We had met the pastor Mark and his wife Betty a few days ago and were looking forward to being with them and their congregation.

The tent was full; there was an entire section of children on the side.  How they did sing!!  We got some great photos of these little praise singers.  The worship team was phenomenal!  The worship leader is apparently well known in the country, and we could see why.  He led everyone into an attitude of worship so effectively; the musicians and worship singers were so gifted and sang beautifully.  It was like being among a heavenly chorus to be among the people.  The worship centered on He is worthy!  Worthy is the Lamb!  This was no dry, routine singing….this was true praise and adoration.

Danny gave the message for the service, giving a clear presentation of what Jesus accomplished on the cross, referring back to Gen. 2 and 3, how God provided the covering for Adam and Eve by shedding the blood of an animal to provide the skin covering, setting the stage for The Sacrifice of Jesus that provided The final atonement for our sin.  It was a powerful message.

This afternoon John, Jason and Danny met with 27 pastors from the area who came to discuss the needs of the church and the challenges they face.  They shared the pressures of the political, economic, and educational difficulties here.  Most congregations cannot pay a pastor, so they must try to find work in the private sector as well as keeping up with their pastoral responsibilities.  This, on top of everything else, makes their lives very difficult.  They expressed their discouragement, frustration, and desire for Bible training.  Here, as in so many places, pastors can rarely afford to go to seminary or bible college.  They all stated that they need and want training on how to effectively study and communicate the scriptures so that they can be more effective in ministry.  Pray with us, and them, that GLOMOS, the pastoral training program Global Action has developed, can be made available for Burundi.  The need is definitely there, the desire for it is keen.  It will take financial resources to get it translated and prepared for use here.  Pray that this can be done!

Each day we are touched more deeply by the people we meet.  We see their pain and joy, their frustration and hope.  But in the believers, we also see such a sense of worship.  He is indeed worthy of all praise!