Thursday, June 11, 2015

The Flooded Church

The rain fell rapidly, washing away the ground beneath us. The men struggled to keep the tent from collapsing under the weight of the pooling water.

Minutes before, we were in the car with one of the missionaries headed to a church plant in an area of Abidjan. I wasn't sure what to expect. It is the rainy season here in Abidjan, and it looked like the sky was about to burst.

When we arrived, I saw something I was not expecting. The church was a tarp held up by metal poles, full of scattered plastic chairs. It was beside a concrete wall—the wall of someone's house. I am not sure how to describe what I saw; it was an eye-opening experience. I saw the true church, the called out people of Christ who have been flooded with grace upon grace.

Together with our Ivorian brothers and sisters, we worshiped the risen Christ. We sang, danced, and shouted "amen!"

I did not understand most of what was said—the service was in French. God did, though, and our time was but a shadow of heaven—people from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation gathered around the throne of God in glad-hearted worship.

Pray that God would continue to draw people to himself in Abidjan, that he might be glorified through the worship of those whose sins have been washed away.

By Carley