An unxpected grace

I am a stranger in Gemena, traveling in a region new to me and not speaking the local language (though I can understand some.)  If you know me, you can understand how easy it might have been for me to be content with a quiet Sunday alone.  But I felt an unusual compulsion to go out and find a church.

Before I left Kinshasa, Pastor Mpezo, our next door neighbor, told me there was a CBCO parish in Gemena.  He promised to get me the name of the pastor and address of the church so I could visit.  Somehow we never managed to get together before I left yesterday morning. 

So this morning it seemed futile to even consider asking God to lead me to the CBCO church.  Instead my path led out into the northern neighborhoods of Gemena, hoping vaguely to stumble on a Protestant church without blaring loudspeakers.  The path from the Catholic guesthouse led up the hill toward the center of town.  At the top of the hill is a large, multi-story school building.  I stopped to ask a man sweeping the yard of a nearby education office what it was. 

In the course of the conversation, I mentioned that I was a visitor in town and a missionary with CBCO.  He brightened visibly and said, "There is a small CBCO congregation that meets just behind my house.  They just inaugurated a church building."  To be honest, I thought, "Probably just a generic Protestant church - they all look alike to people in the neighborhood."  But I asked directions and it didn't sound too difficult to find.

Three quarters of a mile down the road there was the serious erosion the guy mentioned.  And there was the path going off to the right.  And there was a grass thatched meeting place with palm-rib walls.  AND there were people singing a hymn in Lingala.  I chose a spot on the 2x4 board that served as a bench on the men's side and joined in the hymn.

As the service progressed through worship and intercession, I had a strong sense that God wanted me to give people a message in two parts - not a sermon but a message.  "His love has no limits" and "His eye rests upon this small vibrant congregation."  Why this message is important to this group of people is beyond me.  At the time of greetings, I told how God pulled me out the door of my temporary lodgings and gave me a guide to this particular church, and I passed on the message, with no elaboration.

A visiting pastor preached and closed the service.  We filed out and shook hands according to the custom.  And I talked a bit with the leaders of the church.  The congregation is indeed a sub-parish of the CBCO church in Gemena pastored by Pastor Charles.  And they were just as amazed I as I was that I wandered in.  God leads out paths in unusual ways at times.  God does have his eye on that congregation.  What a beautiful reminder for me this morning.  Pray that His Spirit will continue to work through them, sowing the seeds of life in the northern neighborhood of Gemena.

Ed