My church occasionally does pulpit swaps and it is such a blessing, hearing the same things said in a different way and from a different perspective.
Today in my pastor's place was the Zambian pastor in the church organisation I have mentioned before. Being Zambian he has is own wonderful take on using english and this is a blessing for a sermon.
He had four stories and experiences in his sermon today and I will share two now- the Zambia one is just what he is doing and I have added my own experience.
Zambia
The pastor today will soon be going to Zambia to minister and to do Biblical counselling of couples, ofcourse for some of this he will be doing it in the Bemba language which will give it a whole new beautiful meaning and richly shows how the Word of God can be deeply expressed in so many ways.
As for myself I remember going to Zambia on my honeymoon, when my wife went out with her mum to get chitenge materials I spent the afternoon in the beautiful lodge gardens, ordering a burger and coke and with the lax timing of the order, reading some 'Banner Of Truth' magazines, enjoying the African heat of the day and time passing slowly.
Everything felt different, even taking a shower, it is hard to explain.
Ultimately thinking of Christ's church abroad, the unique cultural contexts it operates, etc will bring Him glory.
India, the church and the train
A pastor visited the church in India, during the sermon time went on. And on.
Soon the UK pastor in the congregation nervously looked it his watch, the train he needed to catch was due very soon.
A member of the congregation knew he had to catch that train and the severity of it as trains are infrequent in this part if India.
The member says "Don't worry the train driver is in the congregation and the train won't leave until the sermon finishes" 😂
END
As a bonus here is the lodge I stayed in with my wife- Olga's in Livingstone.
The grounds in which I got to appreciate God's creation and read some 'Banner Of Truth'
The bedrooms- yes we had mosquito netting around our bed- they were everywhere!
Images taken from online, I didn't Google Drive mine from my old phone 😅
