Awana Yesu Asifiwe

Wednesday is an office day. This means Pastor George spends time having open office hours for parishioners to come visit with him and to provide them with any assistance they may need. For your viewing pleasure, here is a photo of the Sukari Parish where I’m working.

The day began with the staff fellowship. This was part worship and part staff meeting. It began by singing hymns (fortunately I knew one of them) and clapping. This help center everyone for the next part where Pastor shared a bible lesson on Mark 13:32-37. Following the lesson everyone shared prayer concerns and then we prayed while holding hands in a circle. The fellowship ended by singing a song in Swahili and greeting one another by shaking hands while singing. Apparently this is how every fellowship ends and is deeply meaningful for the staff. The Music Director is going to translate it so we can sing it in English too. We spent the rest of the day visiting Parish members in their homes. In total we did 14 so that was a lot of socializing today! In the Presbyterian Church of East Africa (PECA - the denomination I’m serving while I’m here) the Pastor is expected to visit each member of the congregation in their home. Typically there is one Pastor per church and sometimes a pastor serves multiple churches. The Pastors receive annual reviews by the presbytery and if they do not visit everyone they could be dismissed from their parish. Needless to say, it’s imperative that we do these visits. Typically we do them 3 nights a week. There are 20 districts in this parish. Districts represent neighborhoods and typically have around 14-20 households. Each district has an elder and a deacon to represent them. Each district meets at least weekly for fellowship and worship in someone’s home. I’ll probably get to attend one of these at some point but it’s apparently kind of like house church. The fellowships follow a specific format. The Pastor, Intern (me!), Elder, and Deacons enter the house singing in Swahili (that was an adventure because we did a different song in each house and we all know how great I am at speaking Swahili lol). Each person shakes hands with everyone in the room while singing and then the Elder begins the fellowship in prayer. This prayer always ends with the Lord’s Prayer which typically, but not always, is said in English (fun fact: they say trespasses instead of debts which has also been an adjustment). After the prayer, each person present is introduced in order of their status. These introductions typically go something like this: “Bwana Yesu Asifiwe! (Praise be unto Jesus) My name is _______ and I profess faith in Jesus Christ who is my personal Savior. He died for me - insert long testimony about faith - praise Jesus! I am a daughter to ____, a sister to ____, and I do ______ for a living. Karibu (welcome).” This formula is followed when each person in the room introduces themselves. After the introductions the Pastor (and occasionally me) reads scripture, prays a prayer of illumination, and then gives a brief lesson. Tonight we used Matthew 11:28-30. Following the lesson, members of the home share any prayer requests they may have. This period of the fellowship provides an intimate and honest space to share joys and sorrows. It allows the Pastor to connect with his flock and the flock to feel cared for. Although these visits only happen annually for each household, they help establish firm relationships with the Pastor so that he has preexisting relationships with them should crisis arise. This was definitely the highlight of my day and the best day I’ve had so far. These visits put into practice many of the theories and skills I learned about in my Pastoral Care class this spring. I loved that class and I love doing congregational care in these visits. I guess it’s a good thing my Practical Theology concentration is pastoral care.... Sorry that was a lot of explaining and I hope it didn’t bore you. I’m learning multitudes and am so excited to share what I’ve been learning. Thanks for reading! ~ Blessings to you from Nell in Nairobi