Church Mania - Sunday, Oct. 11

It was officially Church Day here, and it seemed like it would be simple enough to get groups of us to three different churches for services at 8, 9, and 10am - but that was when we had three working vehicles at our disposal. Yes, we woke up this morning to find that the van had a flat tire. Apparently I hit one of the ever-present potholes a bit too hard, and bent the tire rim. So, Joe and a small delegation went with Efraim to speak briefly to the DRC church at 8am (that would be the white congregation), then Karen brought another group of us to the 9am URCSA service in the colored church at Karlien Park where I was preaching, and then left immediately to bring yet another group to the 10am service at the black URCSA church nearby, where Kent preached. Yep, the churches are very distinctly divided, even though the black and colored denominations have merged into URCSA.

I can't speak for the other church services, but ours was good but odd. They spoke entirely in Afrikaans except when I was preaching - including when they were talking about us. Everyone I met in the congregation could speak English (granted, some better than others), and I didn't need a translator. When they laugh at my jokes, I know they've understood. Many of the hymns were familiar, and even when the liturgy was in Afrikaans, the service is so similar to ours that I could generally tell what was happening. I was half glad to see the service as it usually is, and half puzzled that a little more effort wasn't put into helping us feel welcome. But this congregation has been through some rough times, and is now without a minister because they are still paying living and medical expenses for the retired minister who founded their church, so I should probably cut them some slack.

After the various services were over, we met with representatives from both URCSA congregations for lunch and casual conversation about their history of working together (or not, as the case may be). The black church minister, Francois, has quite the job: he oversees nine congregations with 5,000 members. Yowza. Good thing he has a consistory of over 100 people to help him out. Uniformed consistory members, even - at church, they wear black pants and white shirts with white URCSA-emblazoned ties. I am just imagining what would happen if we asked the consistory members at First Reformed to wear uniforms....or the ministers, for that matter.