Skip to main content.
« Previous entry: Hard lives | Main page | Next entry: Live goats on bicycles »

February 28th, 2013

A Ugandan church service

Today we went to the church in Ogongora for the final time to join the people for a church service.

The singing was amazing. I have posted a video (which may or may not work) which I hope gives an impression, but in summary it was full of joy and life. This is not something I am used to. [Aside: we were told it was OK to use cameras in the service. Wouldn't normally do so...]

I’m not going to pretend I followed every word of the sermon, but one part of it was all about ‘borrowed things’, based on 2 Kings 6, Elisha and the axe. From my notebook: ‘Think of the things you have – are they yours? … Whatever God has given you – use it carefully’.

(This is the nearest thing you will find to a sermon on this blog, so if you come here for sermons make the most of it.)

Bible reading

There were other elements to the service – prayers, testimonies, Bible readings, (above) and whenever there was a gap another song was sung, each time seemly led by a different person without any (obvious) pre-planning. I really enjoyed participating, which is odd as I don’t really enjoy church services with overt displays of enthusiasm, clapping, etc, back home. I can’t really explain this.

All being well I’ll be back later with today’s blog posting, part II.

4 Comments »



Share this on Facebook:

If you enjoyed this post you might also enjoy these (possibly) related articles:

If you liked this post why not send it to someone else by e-mail? Click here to do so.

This is a single post on the Cartoon Blog by Dave posted on Thursday, February 28th, 2013 at 2:49 pm. Click here to read all of the latest posts. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Other things technologically advanced people may like to do: trackback from another site, follow responses via the comments feed, bookmark on del.icio.us or digg.

4 Responses to “A Ugandan church service”


  1. Simon H says:

    Thanks for this Dave – the video does work and the singing sounds wonderful!

    February 28th, 2013 at 3:53 pm
  2. Simon Martin says:

    I see from Bex’s Day 4 photos that you got to ride a bike! Having taken Joseph on as a passenger there, maybe you could introduce the ‘boda boda’ on your return to UK?
    Continuing to enjoy all your (collective) blogs & photos, and to pray for you all and those you meet.

    February 28th, 2013 at 6:43 pm
  3. Dave says:

    Simon H – Thank you, my technology here is a bit limited so I’ve only been able to watch it at low quality.

    Simon Martin – I did indeed! See the latest blog post…

    February 28th, 2013 at 8:17 pm
  4. Beth Kessler says:

    I know why you wouldn’t be comfortable with a service here with clapping. It’s not what we are used to. That sort of thing is part of their culture and used at other times as well. It’s fine and great for them, but for us would be phoney if we suddenly started to do it. As for joy, why do people think that one cannot experience joy at an Anglican Eucharist, and life is not expressed only in noise. I would be delighted and honoured to have an African or Gospel choir visit our parish church, but Christian worship varies all over the world. I don’t think it’s a great idea forcing ourselves to copy others.
    Sorry this is long. Have a wonderful trip and every blessing on you.

    March 1st, 2013 at 10:53 am