I was going to attend the Sevent Day Adventist church last Sunday. Until I remembered that they meet on Saturday. Doh! So I went to their church this morning.
i looked up the time on their website and it said 10 AM. I arrived at 0950, ten minutes early, or so I thought. As I was parking I noticed a black couple parking at the same time. Terrible parking. (The wife was driving) It was clear they were SDA so I decided to talk with them and enter church with them.
I had read their website which included pictures of the congregation, so I was prepared for the fact that the congregation is around 90% black people. (I am white) What i didn't realise is that it's customary to greet everyone by saying "happy Sabbath", but I caught on quickly and joined in.
The couple I met outside were friendly and they got me a copy of the Bible (King James Version) and an SDA hymn book. They said they would get me a copy of the bulletin which has the programme for the meeting. Another member said he would give me a copy "as soon as they are printed".
I met one white man called John who is local and has been in the church a long time. Maybe around 50 years old he was quite shy.
We entered the main hall and I was invited to join one of two Bible discussion groups that were forming. I was ready to take my place when the couple who brought me inside insisted I change group and join with them instead. We rearranged the chairs so we were facing each other. We were a small group of six people, but that was to change as I would later discover.
When we sat down a black lady, around 60 years old, spontaneously prayed and began preaching to the small group. Following a spiral bound programme, she informed us that we would consider Romans chapters 1 and 2. A phrase she used repeatedly was, that we are learning about "the condition of humanity". It was about sin and redemption and judgement. She invited us to read various verses from the chapters and people joined in and read the scriptures apparently spondpatneously and with little or no direction. As this was going on more and more people arrived and as they sat down they each said their own private prayer before joining the group. There was a lively discussion of the meaning of judgement and how that is compatible with not judging others. The discussion was quite heated and there was difference of opinion whether emphasis should be on warning sinners or on not judging people. There was also disagreement about what work could be done on the Sabbath. The woman leading the group said she would clean the church on the Sabbath if it was dirty. Another woman disagreed and later told me it was important to do what God says in this matter. They also referred to homosexuals getting married and how other churches now want to bless gay marriage. One woman also told me that other churches are rejoining the Catholics after 500 years and this is a sign of the end of the world. One man commented that the Christianity is growing in Africa where they reject homosexuality but declining in the West where they show tolerance.
One man had a battered paperback copy of a book by Ellen White called (I think) The Last Events. But it was not used during the service and no mention was made of the book or Ellen White during the whole meeting. One brief mention was made of "the leadership, elders and deacons of the church". One woman mentioned that in certain parts of the world only 1 in 25,000 people are SDA and there is much need for preaching in those lands. Another man said if we cannot preach in those lands we can donate money to support those who do.
After half an hour a man came over to our group and told us to finish because another part of the meeting was to begin soon. As the other man was beginning, the woman leading our group said a prayer which overlapped. Like many parts of the day, this seemed a little chaotic and not well timed, but everyone was fairly relaxed about the loose structure.
Apart from one man taking a lead in the main service. He told the congregation at one point that church begins at 0945 and please try to be on time! (A lost cause I would say!) This was news to me because the website says 10 o'clock. In fact he asked my name and asked me to stand up. He told the congregation, "see this young man here for the first time was here on time this morning, let us welcome him". And they all said welcome at once. In fact there were a few phrases which the congregation often repeated. They wished each speaker "good morning" and when the speaker said "everything that comes from God" the congregation responded "is good", then he flipped it around and the congregation said "comes from God". There were frequent "amens" and other comments from the congregation too.
As the meeting progressed more and more people arrived and during the first part of the meeting others were talking loudly in the hallway and some people were apparently playing with tambourines in another room. When the meeting began around half the seats were taken. As the meeting progressed, more and more people arrived until almost all the seats were taken, and extra sets were placed in the central aisle. I estimate there were around 120 to 150 in the church by the end of the service. On the website it said there are 140 members of the church, so there seems to be a fair correlation between membership figures and attendance.
The meeting comprised many small parts and did not appear to follow the timing on the programme closely. A video was played in one small section lasting around 5 minutes. The video had an American accent (most present locally had African accents) and said there is a hole at the centre of the galaxy, which I found striking but I forget the rest!
The most charming aspect of the whole service was a fifteen minute segment where the children went to the front of the church (around 20 of them) and were instructed by a teacher in front of the congregation. She asked them what they did in their school holidays (this week) and asked them if they helped their parents. One small boy was invited to say a prayer and it was a lovely prayer. He said please let us be kind and good.
Other parts of the meeting included a young woman reading an experience. It was about a young man in an African country who learned massage therapy. He became very skilled and high government officials called on his services and he was able to tell them abiut the church. The woman seemed careful not to say what country this happened for some reason.
The sermon itself was based on Romans 1 again. This was delivered by a young man with a French accent who was wearing a very smart suit. Others in attendance, including speakers were more casual. Some wore ties and others did not. A few wore jumpers and jeans. This was the least interesting part of the service for me and I fell asleep. Which caused me to drop my Bible and song book which woke me up again!
There were two collections during the service. Most people dropped in coins, a few notes, and some gave nothing. I gave a fifty pence piece and one pound coin each time.
The singing was quite loud and also chaotic. One song got off to a false start so the congregation started again. The songs were accompanied by live music on the piano and tambourines. A young white woman was playing the piano and a young white man the tambourine. They were among only 10 or so white people in attendance. There were around 15 or so Asian people all apparently from a certain country. If I had to guess I think they were possibly from the Philippines. One of the while men in attendance was apparently the husband of one of the Filipinas.
One of the songs repeated the phrase "the power is in the blood" which seemed quite distinctive.
During the sermon the preacher read Revelation 14 and said the 144,000 are going to heaven, which piqued my interest. After the meeting a woman told me the 144,000 are the ones who go to heaven when Jesus arrives. "Health" was mentioned throughout the service, as was a training meeting for women where they learned that they are "armed and dangerous" (I guess with the word of God). Mention was also made of a youth meeting later in the day and "media training" in the following weeks. Plus all were encouraged to preach to good news, but it was not explained how this is done.
I talked to a number of people after the service. This included a young man and his wife who seemed to be Eastern European. It sounded like a Russian accent to me, but we don't get many Russians here so I guessed they may be Bulgarian or Moldavian or something like that. I decided not to ask in case they are fed up being asked that question. The woman was strikingly beautiful and I self consciously looked at the man and not his wife during the conversation, although both were friendly. He wanted to meet with me during the week to discuss "Bible prophecy". He joined this church 4 years ago. He says it is not perfect but it is good.
Antiher man I spoke to told me he is from Zimbabwe and that a lot of the congregation is from Zimbabwe. But not everyone. The couple I met outside are from Zambia, and the man who gave the service is from Martinique. I resisted the temptation to ask the woman from Zambia what she thinks of JWs. I didn't want to talk about JWs. I just wanted to learn more about SDAs and I didn't want to get distracted from that.
Everyone was friendly and they seemed comfortable in their own skin and relaxed about the church and its activities. More relaxed than JWs tend to be around a newcomer, and less pushy. The couple I met outside invited me to stay for lunch. I waited and chattet for around half an hour but there was no sign of lunch. My wife called and told me to come home already so I obeyed and made an excuse to leave. They said next time bring your wife.
There is lots more I could say: I've only scratched the surface, but I've run out of time.
Overall I enjoyed this service very much and I would give it 9/10. (Compared with Mormons 5/10, JWs 6/10, Church of Scotland 7/10 and Pentecostals 1/10) It was especially nice to be among people who still use the BIble instead of tablets and who know how to locate scriptures.