I Hope You Brought Your Dancing Shoes

We stepped out of the church van after being picked up from the airport just in time to catch the very ending of the weeknight revival service taking place at Christ Church. This church has historical significance in that it was the first established Christian church (1835) in Ghana that still remains today. A series of night revival services took place that have lead up Pentecost Sunday. For this Pentecostal Presbyterian church, Pentecost really looks something close to Acts chapter 2! As we walked around to the back of the building and walked through the door, I suddenly found myself on stage in an elder chair (wearing 30 hour old travel clothing) staring at a "packed house" of worshipers. There is a balcony overshadowing the main floor and a large open space in the middle of the church for the altar, dancing and the offertory. "What have I gotten myself into?" was a phrase that passed through my mind as I stared wide eyed at the 1000+ worshipers in the building.

Imagine the loudest concert you've ever been too and add a few more decibels and you will probably reach the volume of the exuberant worship service. The music at the night revival is  loud, pushing the limits of the sound system, and the singing may not even necessarily be on pitch all of the time, but no one is worried about that stuff. This church knows how to make a joyful noise unto the Lord, especially in their native language of Twi (pronounced tr-ee). People are singing, shouting, clapping, and of course- dancing. As mentioned before, the open space is available for dancing worshipers to come on down to the front, and I indeed found myself on the dance floor after two women waved me onward. Doing the shuffle across the floor following a chain of people is not something I find myself doing that often, but it is truly apart of the worship here.

One of the most amazing aspects of the service is the offertory. Everybody gives, and there are expressions of joy as they do it. in the U.S. the call for the offering is usually acknowledged with a silent, inward moan. But here offertory is another call to the dance floor. Systematically through the whole sanctuary, everyone gets out of their seat and dances in a train up to the offering plates at the front. People are clapping and singing and waving their offering envelope and rejoicing as they give to the Lord. I have known for a while that "God loves a cheerful giver" but I hadn't quite seen it like this! The procession lasts for about 20 minutes to get through all of the people and it is a man even of the service. One of the most touching parts of the offertory was the prayer in which it was stated "thank you Lord for providing us something to give."  It is expected that everyone will give, and in this context the fact that you are able to place something into the offering bucket is an acknowledgment of the provision and goodness of god. When God is providing for your needs, the ability to place some money in the offering is a testimony to God's faithfulness. The envelope in the bucket in a way says, "look what the Lord has done!" It all belongs to God anyway; I will remember next time the offering bucket is passed around at my church that I have reason to cheerfully give.