Bow-Tie Church

This is not a call for more formality in the dress code of the African church! Nor is it a post about any new fashion statement I have started.

Because the names of the African villages are often difficult to pronounce, much less remember, I try to think phonetically when trying to help others pronounce the names of the churches. While possibly causing a chuckle, it will hopefully encourage you to more effectively remember these people in prayer.

Yesterday, we went to a new village called Gbotayidohoue. Can you guess the phonetic spelling? That's right, I'm calling this "bow-tie-yee-doe-way" or what Kelly and I call, the "bow-tie" church. For example, I might say, "hey, sweetie, I'm going to the bow-tie church this afternoon and I'll be back around 5pm". Alot easier to squeeze into a conversation. Hopefully you'll find it just as easy as you pray for these people.

My friend, Ega (pictured below in yellow shirt in another posting), has been talking to me about this place for several months. He’s been going there and says there’s a lot of interest about hearing God’s Word. It is about a 45 minute bicycle ride for him (he’s crippled with polio; a friend usually acts as his “chauffeur”). Ega is excited about proclaiming the Good News in this village. Ega’s first church plant happened last year about this time. That village is called Dandihoue, or following the same rule of thumb, we’ll call it “donny-way” (my brother loves this one because he can actually remember it!) Ega was responsible for the planting of the Kingdom in that village, has been the primary pastor in that church for the past year, and now has stirred them to joining him at the bow-tie place.

Ega asked me to come along for the initial meeting. Here in Africa, we rarely do one-on-one studies, because the people here are so group-oriented in their thinking and in function. So this was a large group of about 40 people (men, women and children). It was exciting to see how receptive they were to our delegation of believers (Ega, myself, and others from “donny-way” and Ega’s church, “kite-emmy”…isn’t this fun?!)

Ega and the other Aja Christians gave brief testimonies about how each of them had come to Christ (there were 8 of them). Then I spoke for about 20 minutes about God’s heart for the lost world. Just a simple overview of the gospel message. Not too many details, but a snapshot of God’s love for them and His desire for reconciliation and their repentance. The 3-hour visit included some Q&A (“several years ago, there was a church started by some Nigerians but later they left and the church stopped meeting…will that happen with you, too?”) and lots of singing and yes….dancing! African evangelism is a lot different than American! At least it is in this effort where we are not bound by traditional American church boundaries. During some of the singing, some people just broke out into a spontaneous dance!! Don’t let the elders see this!!! (Actually the Richland Hills elders have encouraged us to support indigenous styles of evangelism…thank God for people who are free in Christ!)

As we left, our delegation was so joyful as we returned to “donny-way” and to “kite-emmy”. Pray with us that the people at “bow-tie” will be eager to hear more of God’s Word and grow in their understanding. Typically our evangelistic lessons stretch over a period of 2 months before a “call for decision” comes.

Here’s the 5 churches in which we currently work:

Kaiteme (kite-emmy)
Aflantan (ah-flah-than)
Tchatehoue (chah-tay-way)
Dandihoue (donny-way)
Dekpo (deek-po)

May God be glorified in each of these places and in new villages as well!

-Rockin Randall