Every Thursday night is house church. My team and I each
grab a plastic lawn chair and make the minute or two walk down the road to our
pastor friends’ house. I’ll be honest, sometimes after a long day of ministry,
bus rides and shoveling down dinner in the 10 minutes we have to spare, the
last thing we want to do is try and keep our eyes open during a church service.
But I also look forward to it because I know the kind of encouragement it
brings me.
Most of the time we’re a song or two late (actually I’m
convinced they start early), so we discretely sneak in the back…. Ya, that was
a joke. Most of the time the song becomes accompanied by the screeching of
chairs as everyone shifts to make room for a few more of us just inside the
door. I’ve been lucky enough to sit
right underneath the fan the past two weeks so we’ll see how long my luck holds
out 🙂 The songs they sing are similar to home – older songs that remind me of
going to church as a kid.
I like to look around
at the faces as they worship. What humble hearts. Their sincerity strips away
my own pride as I enter into the throne room with them. I honestly feel honored
to be worshipping with these people! Every single word they say is like a cry
of love to the Savior of their souls – the very hope they CLING to every
moment. I feel like the worship times here are uncomplicated, refreshing
choruses from the depths of our hearts that truly must be a sweet sound to the
King. My favorite is when they sing a
chorus in Hindi that we know the words to in English, and the room is filled
with a stunning mesh of two languages worshipping with the same heart.
The sermons preached are so simple. (I think that stopping
every other sentence for the interpreter to catch up might have something to do
with this, but nonetheless…) Straight out of the Bible and no sugar coating it.
But even in the simplicity of the message I’m in awe and truly envious of the
depth of knowledge believers here strive for. Religion is such a big part of
the Indian culture. Believers here know
that they’ve found the one and only TRUTH and being surrounded by so many false
teachings they know they need to be deeply rooted in that truth.
A lot of people here look up to us as Americans. Especially
the women we work with. But I’m the one who looks up to the believers here with
a tremendous amount of respect. It’s true, India is a spiritual warzone that
requires you to be fully equipped with the armor of God and deeply rooted in
your faith day in and day out. But it’s also just as true that America is a
spiritual warzone of the same magnitude. Christians EVERYWHERE are called to
the same standards as the bride of Christ. I’ll challenge you with the same
question God has been challenging me with this past week, “How deep are YOUR roots?” Because
a day is coming when the winds of warfare are going to be just as strong
for one believer as the next, and your roots will make all the difference in
the outcome of the storm.
