The heat here is not the topic of this communication, but I cannot help but put that in because it is never out of my mind these days…
In our time here in Nicaragua, we have visited 10-15 different churches. There are varying differences in each church, but there are some things that are constants, and almost all of those constants are things that I have heard people in the American church complain about.
Don’t dismiss me yet. Let me share my thoughts with you.
Music, here is a well-known topic. The music here is usually very loud, can often be sung off key, and is often accompanied by random clapping. It makes me giggle almost every week, but ask any missionary here and they will back me up on this.
Environment– minimizing distractions is not high on the list! There are no committees to make sure that things match, leaving the auditorium because you child is making noise is unheard of, and the climate in the room is rarely regulated.
In most Nicaraguan churches there is at least one overy fake looking plant or flowers, multiple hues of the same color are hung next to each other, and often the more shiny the fabric, the better.
At just about every service that I have attended there are been children running around, even walking up to the pastor while he is teaching. They are both cute and distracting to me.
One church we went to had overhead fans, and when we showed up they made a point of turning them on because they knew we would soon be glistening in sweat. The problem was that the fans drowned out the pastor so they had to turn them off.
Comfort– this is not the highest priority. Most of the time there are enough chairs; either metal or plastic. The services can be long, so if you have a place to sit, and a breeze or fan, then you are doing well!
Last week Stephen and I visited a church, and found ourselves next to the window with a cool breeze in the midst of a hot day. Both of us turned to each other at the same time as said, “That is wonderful!”
One more thing that stands out about churches in Nicaragua is their cordialness. You know how in American we tend to hope that the greeting time will be skipped over due to a packed schedule? Here it is customary to greet/shake hands/ give a kiss on the cheek and say “God Bless You” with everyone in the room. If you can’t fit it in before the service starts or after the service ends, then you do it in the middle of the serve.
Often we have experienced people coming in late (extremely common), interrupting the service with greetings, then finding a seat and start taking part in the service. At first it seemed rude, but with time we realized that greeting and a blessing from God is important to the relationships of the people.
So, I have had to slow down, I have had to take the distractions as they come. I have had to be thankful for the music that is familiar, and do my best to find the right beat to clap on. I have had to remember that a bottle of water and a cloth to wipe off sweat is also as important as remembering my Bible.
Finally I have had to learn that there are a lot of things that I have found important in the past, that I am finding are less important in the present.