Church

One of my favorite things of living in Liberia is that we can attend a local church.  We don’t have to change the time we go each week.  We don’t have to have weeks at church and weeks at home.  We are free to worship openly.  What a gift!!

Most Sundays we attend Monrovia Christian Fellowship’s early service.  The church is an open air building close to the airport that Noel flies out of.   The service begins with a call to prayer followed by a time of worship through music.  The music is familiar yet uniquely theirs as the worship leader and his team lead the singing.  Some mornings it is a bit loud, but what a privilege to sing along with Liberians, Indians, Europeans, and other Americans.  On the last song before the sermon, the congregation will file up the aisle to give their offering by placing it in the offering container.  On special Sundays, the choir or different groups will all dress in outfits made from the same brightly colored fabric.  I am always amazed how the outfits are all different yet have the same fabric.

After the announcements, the preacher delivers his sermon. The preacher speaks the word with honesty and a desire to teach biblical knowledge as well as application.  In the Fall, he preached through Daniel.   Now he is preaching on various topics.  You never know quite what to expect.  Sometimes he has his main sermon and then his rabbit trail mini sermon. From his preaching, you can tell he is a man of the word and not afraid to boldly proclaim the truth.  This last week, he challenged the congregation to follow God and God alone.  In Liberia, many will profess to follow Jesus but also hold on to superstitions that have been passed down.  He urged the congregation to trust in God not these superstitions.  We are thankful for being able to sit under his teaching each week.

After the service, we sometimes go out with friends to a local coffee shop to chat and catch up on our week.  One couple we often spend time with is from Switzerland and leads the MAF team here.  We value their wisdom and experience as they have been with MAF for over 20 years.  They started the MAF program here about 2 years ago.  We are thankful for their friendship and encouragement.

Pray for the church in Liberia to be bold and speak the truth.  May they seek God and God alone and not hold on to old superstitions.  Pray for the church in Afghanistan where we served previously.  It is still listed in the top 5 countries where persecution of believers is the worst.  Pray that it will grow even with all the obstacles that come their way.

As I end this, you are in my prayers today.  I pray not only for you but also for our team here in this land.   I pray that we will trust in God and God alone.  I pray that our love will be evident in all that we do.  I pray for boldness and guidance to walk daily in the Spirit.

Blessings, Teresa