In October
of last year, 2 men who work at GSF started a Church in the village. Although this is not a GSF Church, the GSF family
is members there. The first building we
rented was a school during the week and Light of the World Church on the
weekends. There is a passion in this Church. And seriously ... I never knew such short people could jump so high! It was very crammed in this little building and very hot, but these people still praised God with all their hearts.
Sunday, June 23, 2013. One of our members was cleaning out the
Church building getting ready for the services that morning when people from
the school came several times and told her to get out. The elders were actually planning to announce to
the Church that morning that we would be looking for a new building. But, it came sooner than they expected and we
couldn’t meet there according to these people.
Yes, you read that right. We were
kicked out. Evicted. {In Ugandan words…} Fired. What would we do? After a little bit of a discussion, it was
decided that the best thing to do was just meet right there outside the
building. Pastor Sam preached a powerful
message about the Church. ‘We are the Church, turn to your neighbor
and tell them, ‘you and me, we are the Church’.
When your sitting outside and the hot sun is burning you and you don’t know what will happen next week, you realize that nothing else matters. All we need is Jesus and a crowd of others who will worship him with us – that is the Church. When your sitting in front of an empty building and people are throwing dirt inside so you cannot meet – this is when we realize what the Church is. The CHURCH is a group of believers who stands by each other even in the hardest of times. It all seemed so surreal. This could not really be happening.
At the end, we – the Church – stood in a circle and joined hands and prayed and sang for about 20 – 30 minutes. And God had already answered our prayers. It was comforting to know that that morning, God hadn’t freaked out – He already knew what would happen and he had a plan. As we stood in the circle, we sang a song called, ‘Bind Us’. It says,
When your sitting outside and the hot sun is burning you and you don’t know what will happen next week, you realize that nothing else matters. All we need is Jesus and a crowd of others who will worship him with us – that is the Church. When your sitting in front of an empty building and people are throwing dirt inside so you cannot meet – this is when we realize what the Church is. The CHURCH is a group of believers who stands by each other even in the hardest of times. It all seemed so surreal. This could not really be happening.
At the end, we – the Church – stood in a circle and joined hands and prayed and sang for about 20 – 30 minutes. And God had already answered our prayers. It was comforting to know that that morning, God hadn’t freaked out – He already knew what would happen and he had a plan. As we stood in the circle, we sang a song called, ‘Bind Us’. It says,
Bind us together, oh bind us dear Lord, with cords that cannot be
broken, bind us dear Lord.
And as we
stood there, He did just that. We were
bound as the Church. Watching these
people after the service was so hard. We
were going through the fire, but God used this to build an even bigger fire in
each of our hearts.
God surely
provided in some amazing ways for Light of the World Church. As I mentioned before, the Church elders had
seen it coming that we would be kicked out, so they were already searching for
land. That very Sunday afternoon, someone
who had been offering to sell us land called Pastor Sam to come to his house. He told Pastor Sam that he knew we did not
have enough money for the land but he wanted us to go ahead and use it. He was fully aware that even within a year we
may not have all the money, but he felt called to let us start using it anyways. The best part? He didn’t have any idea what had happened
that morning. So Wednesday, the Church
elders, after looking at the property decide to go forward with it. Throughout the week, part of the land was
cleared. It is in total 1 acre, but the
man who owns the land has been growing maize on the entire thing. Part of it has been cleared for our buildings
and the rest of it will be left until harvest time. Throughout the week, many people in the
Church volunteered their talents and by Saturday the Church building/operation
was in full swing. They moved incredibly
fast – I have never seen something happen so fast in Uganda. Several people in the Church offered their
papyrus leaves, one man volunteered to lead the building project. The poles are from Eucalyptus trees that we
are growing at GSF. Someone made
uniforms for the choir.
This is week 6 in this building and it just keeps growing – there is now a tarp over the roof, the poles inside are painted and they have even built a stage of sorts. It has been so great to have this new building. It is bigger than the old building, has so much more airflow and we have more room to renovate it. We also have enough land for a Jr. Church tent. This has been great because in the last building we just met standing right outside the Church. Once the rest of the maize is cleared, the shelter will be moved further away from the main building. This way we can have Jr. Church without worrying about disturbing main service {Have you ever tried to have 50 kids sing quietly before? Yeah, not fun.}
This is week 6 in this building and it just keeps growing – there is now a tarp over the roof, the poles inside are painted and they have even built a stage of sorts. It has been so great to have this new building. It is bigger than the old building, has so much more airflow and we have more room to renovate it. We also have enough land for a Jr. Church tent. This has been great because in the last building we just met standing right outside the Church. Once the rest of the maize is cleared, the shelter will be moved further away from the main building. This way we can have Jr. Church without worrying about disturbing main service {Have you ever tried to have 50 kids sing quietly before? Yeah, not fun.}
One Sunday
our pastor announces that Light of the World Church will be having their very
first overnight AND they invited 17 other Churches to come and join us. Let me pause to explain overnights. Everybody in the Church and normally other
Churches, goes to the Church around 8 pm and leaves around 7 am and they all
stay up and sing, pray and listen to {Short} sermons. So, after this announcement, 3 different
people came and asked me if I was coming to the overnight. At first I was not very excited about it, {I
mean, just think – 17 Churches invited = about 20 pastors speaking} but, I told
them I would try. So, I asked a couple
of people if they would be coming {so I could walk with them since it would be
dark} and by the end of the day I found that I was actually very excited about
it. So at 8 PM one Friday night I
grabbed my sweater, a cup of tea {so I could stay awake} and my phone. We were planning to come back at 11 PM so we
wouldn’t have to stay up all night. As
soon as we left the compound, I started second-guessing going to this. The flashlight on my phone suddenly seemed
very dim and the 9 girls I was walking with had no light at all. I was tired and who
knew if we would actually make it without someone falling. It was so dark! Let’s just say that I was very relieved when
we got there! There is not a single
regret now that I went. Around 500
people showed up! And God came to that
little tiny room and moved in big ways.
Pastor Sam told some guys to ‘tear down the wall in back’ {I’m not
kidding} so that other people could sit outside without feeling separated from
the rest of the Church. They had me
sitting right up front with all the pastors.
More people kept coming in, so they made me
stand up {not that I cared – I felt awkward sitting with the pastors}. I stood in the doorway because I didn’t want to miss out what was happening
inside. Then my friend from the choir
{Esther} came and asked me to sit with her on the ground in front. I seriously wish I had a picture of where we
were sitting. We sat against the back
wall, behind the pastors and the choir with everyone facing us. My friend put down a scarf on the ground and
we just sat on that. It was such a
unique experience that I am forever grateful for! People danced with all their energy {that was
still left by 10:00}, they sang with all their hearts and they prayed what was
really deep down inside and they meant every word. Pastors preached and spoke and introduced themselves. I could have stayed all night for the singing
and dancing. And the preaching? Let’s just say I drank a lot of tea during
those parts {Especially after 10 PM}. It
was just so amazing to see how God worked through our trials for His
glory. He brought us closer together as
a Church, he filled us with more passion for Him and he brought us to the exact
location He wanted us to be in.
The pastors
and the congregations felt it. They want
more. They want more of what Light of
the World Church has. There are some
amazing things coming in the future for Light of the World. People are asking for more and we are just
waiting for God to put the details into place.
After all, he already brought us through the fire.
On a funnier
note. As we were walking back from the
overnight, one of the boys asked me if I had met/seen my friend's sisters. 'No.' ‘They were there, I saw them!’
Like because I know her I should be able to pick them out of a crowd of
500 dark people in dim light. But the next story is
better. I went to the toddler house and
one of the house mamas was standing outside with a man. She asked me, ‘Caro, do you remember this
one?’ Um, no. {I honestly couldn’t remember if it was her
pastor or her son}. ‘Eeeehhhh, but you
were there ‘together’ at the overnight.
He’s my son.’ ‘Mmm, okay. Nice to see you again.’ But really inside I’m thinking, I was there
‘together’ with him and 500 other people and she expects me to remember
him? I was not introduced to a single
person at the overnight, but they
still expected me to pick out and remember people. Geez, I’ve got a whole lot to work on!
Praise God with us for his grace and provision! Read more about the big story of this little Church that my dad wrote over on my family's blog.
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