For this week’s entry I would like to talk about an issue that is near and dear to my heart. Those of you who know me know that one of my strong desires is to see God more glorified in the corporate worship of His people, the church. During my time here I have been evaluating some of the chuches I have been to, and trying to reconcile some of the practices. I’ve tried to decide why I’m bothered. Is it cultural difference, or is there real room for improvement? The answer, or course, is both. I have many thoughts on this issue, but I will first update you all on what is happening in my life in this little pocket of Uganda.

I have exhausted all of my easy reading books which I brought with me. The only ones left are The Works of Edwards and another book on postmodern hermeneutics which I felt motivated to bring with. Both are huge books, and are guaranteed to last me until I get home and beyond. But I often don’t have the mental energy to take on such books, so I am borrowing a lot of books from Keith. Right now I’m reading The Holiness of God, by Sproul. It’s a great, refreshing, challenging book. A staple for Christian reading. I’m also reading another strange fictional book which I won’t mention here. I find that I have a lot of time these days, more than before. I read and write a lot. My relationship with a few of the older guys in my family group is really getting good and familial, and I’m able to give more and more solid input into their lives. My only regret is that I’m leaving in 5-6 weeks, and will become yet another person who has come in, stayed for a bit, then left. So many people leave. There’s really not much I can do about this though.

In class we are learning about Christian education, sort of going through a philosophy of Christian teaching. We’ve had some good conversations so far. This Tuesday we have no class due to the Ugandan independence day. Next week is the foreign staff retreat for New Hope. It will be all westerners I believe, from the States and from the U.K. We’ll be away for 3 days, and I’ve been asked to lead worship for it. I’m very excited about it. I get the feeling that often the Westerners are not as “fed” as they perhaps would like to be by the corporate singing worship each Sunday, so I’m praying that God would use this time to refresh their hearts and enliven holy affections. The director’s son, Jeremiah, will be playing djembe with me. He’s only about 10 years old, and is a bit insecure I think. But he capable of holding his own, and it will be a good time for him to learn and grow in this area as I work with him.

Here’s a prayer item which has me slightly vexed. As many of you know, I plan on attending seminary in January. I had finally chosen which one I wanted to go to, and I am supposed to find out soon whether or not I got in. Getting in to the school by itself is not the thing that I’m concerned about. I’m concerned because if I don’t get it, I have no plan B. I have no backup seminary because I decided on THIS particular one, and excluded the rest. I’m not quite sure what I’ll do if I don’t get in. I may get in very easily, and have nothing to worry about. I really don’t know. The thing I really don’t want is to sit around and wait. I’ve been out of school for two years now, and I really desire to know and grow more in that setting.  I should find out in the next two weeks what I’m going to do, and I’ll let you all know what happens.

Now for the issue mentioned above. Let me first explain the situation the way I’m seeing it, then I will propose a few possible ways we may be able to improve upon it. This may sound funny to you that I think this way, and I know it’s not as clear cut as “problem-solution”, but it helps to think through the issue. I know it also sounds incredibly presumptuous for me to offer solutions to the problem, so let me just say I probably don’t see things exactly as they are, and I know I’m not thinking of every issue this relates to. I’m a Westerner, an outsider. I’m writing this so that all of you in the States are privy to what I’m learning and thinking through these days. Feel free to offer your critiques when I’m finished.

It’s difficult to identify the root issue of the problem, so let me share a few symptoms to give you an idea. I’m disheartened and disturbed by something I see in our corporate worship. This is not true in every church here- this is a generality. Some of my concerns are Western concerns, and others are what I feel are biblical concerns. Some concerns arise from the fact that I’ve led worship so much, and can’t help but be a bit critical. I’m just trying to understand it. Here are some things that stick out to me. Musically, I don’t see any real beauty or musicality. We use a fake, synthesized drum set. We use a synthesized keyboard sound. The chord selection rarely gets beyond the I, the IV, and the V(don’t worry about it if you don’t know what this means). There are others, but these aren’t the most important thing. You can still have wonderful, God-honoring worship with sub-par music. It’s not about that. It’s only a problem to me when the drum beat sounds like I’m at a circus, and the music starts to communicate something other than the words are communicating.

Content. The content is usually pretty shallow and repetitive. There are certainly a few good songs in there. I crave for these on Sunday morning. I’m not asking them to be like the West. I don’t think content is a Western thing. It’s a Bible thing- it’s a huge book full of meaningful content. Yet most people seem content to dwell on a phrase over and over and over. Which leads to another issue: affectation. Affectation is when you seek to get people excited, and get their emotions/affections raised using something other than the object of the affections itself. That’s my underdeveloped definition. The best example of this would be to use excessive volume or repitition to get people excited in their worship. That becomes an end in itself. This is quite common everywhere. I believe there is a place for repetition, and I believe with all my heart that our affections need to be raised when we come before God in worship. But what are we raising the affections with? Jonathan Edwards put it this way: “I desire to raise the affections of my hearers as high as I possibly can, provided they are affected with nothing but the truth…”

A few other things. It’s only a slight exaggeration to say that everyone is always late. This is a cultural thing. But it can easily become a lazy thing, and therefore a sin thing. Nevermind that half the congregation doesn’t arrive until 20 minutes into the service. I played guitar this past Sunday for the first time. We were NOT ready. The leader was not familiar with the music. We got started an hour late the day before to practice, and I had to leave. The next morning when I thought we would rehearse, we did about 5 minutes of run-through, and that was it. Now I was not terribly disturbed about this, being an outsider, an observer. But it’s another piece of the puzzle.

Do you get the picture? So WHY are things this way? Let me say first of all that the church has come a LONG way in the past few years. They are making great strides forward as a church, and the leadership has really been getting their act together. I know they are doing all they can right now, and I don’t fault them in the slightest. I don’t fault anyone in fact. People are products of their culture, and what were seeing is the culture reflected in the church. People like the electronic drums because it represents development and technology. Perhaps the reason there is so little content is because people aren’t used to reading much, and perhaps aren’t used to taking in big thoughts and pieces of information. Some are totally illiterate. People are late for church, late for practice, because that’s the culture. It’s REALLY hard to change things like that which are so engrained in people.

Now perhaps you are saying to yourself, “What is his problem? Why is he thinking about this so much?” It’s the same reason why we work hard at preaching, or teaching, or doing anything in life as Christians: God must be glorified. I want to see Him glorified MORE. I’m not questioning the hearts of these people. Their hearts are good, I think. I can’t speak to that. But the big thought that is going through my head on Sunday morning is this: If only they knew how good it could be. If only they could experience what it’s like to have your mind and heart fully engaged in great expectation Sunday after Sunday. I think many of them just don’t realize the feast that could be theirs. I could be wrong about this. But that’s my heart. I want them to know, to see, to think and feel.

Now if I encountered this situation in America, and was told to go in and change it, it would be difficult, but very possible. I think I know how I would attempt to go about it. You cast a biblical, God-saturated vision for worship in the church, shepherd your people over time, provide solid leadership to your worship team, and bathe it all in prayer. That’s the simplistic version. I know it’s not quite that clear cut. But in Africa there are worldview and cultural barriers which are not easy to change, and if you do it wrongly, you can step on more than people’s toes.

In talking with a few of the missionaries here, what seems to be needed is a good leader who can shepherd that ministry long-term. Many people blow in and out, like me, and can offer bits of help. But a good musical, pastoral leader is needed for this, and I think it needs to be a Ugandan. A Westerner may be able to train such a person, but someone in the culture I think needs to spearhead such a thing. There seems to be a lack of vision for the ministry due to a lack of a vision-casting leader who will take the bull by the horns and stick with it.

Let me be clear: I love the Church. My heart is there. I’m not being critical to be critical, but because I want God to be seen and savored there. I want them to feast as I have.

I can get hopeless when I think about big and wide the problem stretches, and what kind of challenges face the Ugandan church. All the more reason to have pastors who can really teach their people well, and shepherd them Biblically. All the more reason to have people come and train pastors here. Since God relates to everything and everything to God, the problems in Uganda are theological problems, requiring theological solutions at the root. All that means is that the Holy Spirit is desperately needed to open eyes to God and His truth, and to sanctify people.

I’m proud of you if you made it this far in the blog entry. You are probably more confused than ever. I know I am. If you’re still unclear, come over here and see for yourself! Why not? My desire for the church is that she would be a pure, spotless bride before Christ. That we would present every person complete in Christ. To labor for the joy of the peoples. I want them to know God more, to worship Him in spirit and in truth. God is seeking such worshippers, and may more true worshippers be born as we proclaim God’s truth. I resonate with the cry of the Psalmist: “May the peoples praise You O God! May all the peoples praise You!”

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