westernization

This morning we all went to church at KPC Central (Kampala Pentecostal Church, now called Watoto Church.) This is a church founded by a husband and wife pastoral team from Canada, and I can’t quite decide if I liked it now that I’ve fallen in love with village churches. The worship was amazing, and reminded me of the Vineyard in Holland, a church I absolutely love. However, there were some points within the service that really struck a chord within me. I can’t pinpoint it exactly, but in talking to others who felt the same way, they were thinking it sounded like we were being arrogant westerners. However, this church has started babies homes and orphanages all over Uganda, which is amazing. The thing that really made me angry though, was when they played a video in the service telling everyone how many billion shillings they spent building a new church. It just boggles my mind that a church that sees and recognizes the dire need for orphanages and babies homes, & etc. would even dare to suggest spending that much money on another church, and then tell all the Ugandans in the congregation, many of which are financially suffering themselves, that they were using that money to build a church that looks like America. A church that has the lighting effects, that has very expensive video and entertainment equipment, making it more of a show and less of a worship service.

I was talking to a very wise friend about this, and she showed me that she believes, and I agree with her, that church is supposed to be an act of service. Just as much as going on a mission trip, as volunteering in the community, all the things that society has labeled under “service” and has thus limited our use of that sacred term. That the bottom line is we should be worshipping God in the best way possible, that we should sacrifice our time, money, hearts, and lives, to Christ in that time. In order to do this, do we really need all the flashy lights and shiny equipment? Are we really that selfish that in order to enjoy worshipping God we need to be visually entertained?

I don't know, I guess I just wished I would have gone to Kyampisi for my last church service, but I still had a nice devotion time in the house on Sunday and ended up spending some more time with the people I have grown to know and love as if we have known each other all of our lives.