As part of our pre-field training, we have been asked to read The Hole in Our Gospel, which I read last week and LOVED. It is a seriously good book which asks some really hard questions about the way we live as Christians. Anyway, there is a chapter in the book called “A Tale of Two Churches.” The first section describes a fictional, but typical American mega-church, while the second section describes a small, fictional village church. As I read that section, I was in tears at exactly how much it sounded like the little church in Torpuot that we attended that Sunday. So, because it moved me so much, I decided to use that excerpt from the book.
The Church of the Suffering Servant (from The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns, 2010):
“Our second church is located in Africa. The Church of the Suffering Servant is a small congregation of fifty that meets under a large shade tree because they have no building. Its members live a simple life of subsistence as they work the land to provide the food they need to survive. There is great joy in their worship as these people cry out to the Lord and feel His comfort in the midst of their need. They rely on God for every mouthful of food they eat, for every child who is born to them, and for the rain that waters their crops. There is pain in this church, born of illness and hardship; they are well acquainted with grief. They have endured two decades of civil war [five decades in Sudan] in their country due to political instability. Every family has suffered some loss at the hands of the armed rebels who have ravaged the land wave after wave. Men have been killed, houses burned, women raped, children kidnapped, and land and possessions stolen. Food is scarce, and the children often go to bed hungry. Clean water is not available, and the two-hour treks to the waterhole may quinch the thirst, but they also sow the seeds of disease. The many sicknesses bring terror, because there is no doctor to visit when things become grim. It is not unusual for children to die from simple diarrhea (many before their fifth birthday) or for mothers to die in childbirth- and there is growing death from AIDS. It has left so many children orphaned.
“A school is available, but few can attend, because the children are needed to fetch water, work the fields, and tend the livestock. Money is in short supply; most live on barely a dollar a day, so even the basic necessities are out of reach, like medicines, clothing, and supplemental food. No new farming tools, fertilizers, or better seeds are available, and there is no vehicle with which the community can transport its heavy crops to the market twenty miles away. Only what can be carried can be taken.
“But it is Sunday, and this small community comes together to worship and to celebrate the gospel. Such good news, such amazing news- that God loves them and has actually sent His Son to die for their sins, save them in their brokenness, and grant them eternal life with Him!” (pp. 174-175)
Snapshot of Sunday:
-Waited for the boat to arrive
-Rode over to Torpuot in time for church
-Attended the beautiful church service (too dark for pictures) and wept as the people brought food up to the alter as their tithe
-Walked out to the new borehole for commissioning ceremony and toured the school
-Walked around Torpuot, hopped on the boat, rode back to Nasir
-Walked out to the radio tower to work on the satellite
This first photo is incriminating, but as I said in yesterday’s post, the heat gets to people! =) This is Kerry giving us his best modeling pose…
Sobat River…
She has a baby in that basket…
At least their graffiti is academic!
Blaise and I’s brother, Kim…
John Chuol’s daughter and I…
Out at the tower again…
Tools are not readily-available in the bush of South Sudan, so when one breaks, you either have to fix it or you are out of luck. Buay, fortunately, is handy and so he was working on fixing this pick to bust some dirt…
Here, the guys are assembling the satellite, which will eventually stream the radio programming live from Houston!
While the men built the satellite, us ladies were drafted into helping Buay dig the hole in which the pad for the satellite would be poured. It was dirty work, but we laughed and had a pretty good time!
