Church and fellowship

Many people have asked how church and fellowship have been here, so I’d thought I’d answer that here. Church and fellowship here in Nigeria has been great, so much more rewarding than I was expecting. There are a great number of churches here, percentage wise much more than the US, I think, but how many of them as truly Christian as we think of it and how many of them are just culturally Christian, I don’t know. We go to JETS (Jos ECWA theological seminary) church, which is a mostly Nigerian church whose senior pastor, pastor Maigadi, is none other than our beloved Kauna’s (you know Kauna, the wonderful Nigerian who is in charge of us STA’s and teaches us how to shop in the market!) father. Her family is just the greatest. Pastor Maigadi went to seminary in the US and is now a professor at JETS as well. One of her brothers is on the worship team and is a great singer.

So JETS church is a neat place for us for many reasons. Some of the Nigerian doctors go there, who we know, as do some of the missionaries. A family that our church in Madison supports also goes to JETS church. So we feel that we already know quite a few people there. The service is so lovely. The music there is wonderful. Nigerians are so musical. The worship there is loud, boisterous, joyful, and beautiful. It’s a combination of English, Hausa, and other tribal languages. The pastor gives messages which are always thought-provoking and interesting. It’s neat going to a seminary church because there are often times where there is a Q & A session before or after the sermon, and since there are theology students, the discussion can be quite lively. Everyone wants to ask questions and give answers. The church also has a fun tradition to greet new people. Visitors stand up and tell their names and where they’re from. Then, they all go to the front of the church. The worship team sings a song, and everyone from the church then files down, singing and dancing, to shake your hand and welcome you to their church. It’s really quite the experience!

After service, they have a room set aside where they herd visitors to have snacks and drinks and meet with some people from the church. It’s also fun just to look around at church, because Nigerians wear beautiful outfits, mostly tailor-made, and it’s always colorful. It’s so much more expressive than American clothes, because everyone chooses their own fabric and style. Also, in church, every woman has to have her hair covered. Some women have the most elaborate hair coverings---tall, looped every which way, with multiple layers and knots, you just can’t believe they can tie one piece of cloth like that. The younger girls have what look almost like headbands, so that their hairstyles can be seen. Here it’s very improper for a man and a woman to show affection in public, even married couples, so you never see opposite sexes holding hands but you do often see two people of the same sex holding hands. It’s common between good friends. We see it a lot at church and I never get used to it!

Incidentally, Easter at JETS was one of the best services I’ve ever been to. In a place where death is always so close, life is celebrated even more joyfully, so the resurrection of Christ is a great cause for celebration here. They also celebrated Pastor and Mrs. Maigadi’s 25th wedding anniversary, which was so fun. Their 4 children composed and sang a song for them (in 4 part harmony), there was cake and a hilarious slide show of what they looked like in the early 80’s and a lot of laughter. Nigerians never miss a chance to greet and hug someone, so at some point the music was started up and everyone got into a line and sang and danced their way to the Maigadis to hug them and congratulate them. What love!

We’ve also had great fellowship with the doctors here. The residents here work much harder and accept much less pay than their classmates to work at a missions hospital. They get really good experience here, but at the same time, I admire the fact that many of them really do have a heart for God and want to love their patients. The doctors have a Bible study once a month, which Marion, Becca, and I attended, and it was wonderful. People here are so much less shy than in the US. They like to think, to share their opinions, to have opinions! It makes for very good discussion and learning. They love to sing and like I said, everyone can sing well here so it’s beautiful music. They also always offer way too many yummy snacks! It’s just amazing to me, that no matter where I am in the world, there are people who know the same songs, worship the same God, and are part of the same family of Christ. I never even knew these people existed 5 weeks ago, yet, here I am, sharing deep thoughts with them, eating with them, singing with them.