Go to Church on a boat!

1.2 Dad’s Blog Post no.3

Andy and Margaret Andersen have been working to plant churches, on some of the many islands of Lake Victoria (by the way it’s over a hundred miles wide and three times larger than Wales!) for more than 15 years. Many churches have been started, and Andy seeks to pastor and encourage the pastors. Sunday was a regular visit to see how one of the congregations was doing.

Andy has two boats and is a highly competent sailor. This Sunday we used his catamaran (I think that means it has two hulls?), a motor when the lake was calm and sails when there was a breeze.

When we arrived, after a journey of more than an hour, we had a short walk up into the village. We arrived unannounced but were made so welcome it was quite overwhelming. Especially given the obvious material poverty in which the people lived. I say “material” because these dear people had a warmth and a genuine hospitality that is rare in our own society. It reminded me of the Macedonians in 2 Corinthians.

After the church service we were invited to a meal that had been prepared since we arrived. It was obvious that they had used their best rice and fish and we were expected to take what we wanted whilst they would have what was left over.

Margaret had brought some Swahili Christian booklets and these were received and read with obvious eagerness. What a joy to see real spiritual hunger for God’s Word!

Please pray for the preacher. He walks for an hour each way – from another part of the island – to lead their services, but a bicycle would make the journey so much easier for him. And he could get a good one for a mere £50.