Church Quirks

On one level, worship has similar elements around the world, and so there are things at our church that can easily lead us in worship. But there are also many things that are counter-intuitive to us, that make church uncomfortable or surprising.

Can you imagine digging through the offering basket to find change for your large bills? Or requesting change from the usher? Or passing a larger bill to someone else to give you change from the offering? Those would all be pretty embarrassing things for us, but common occurrences at church here to ensure you can give a reasonable size offering.

In the States people will lay an infant down on a blanket,
but this child just looks so much less comfortable on a cement floor.

Last week we shared a prayer request for our children with a new Sunday School program starting. We just assumed that the new Sunday School program was going to be for children. But no, it is really a Bible study time for adults. This is good and makes sense, but shows again how we are just naturally focus on offerings for children. Our partner church is holding a conference this spring on how to nurture the spiritual and physical development of children in churches, so hopefully that will spur on more activity.

Announcements are another part it is hard to get used to. Often the organizational secretary of the church will stand up in the middle of the service and read any official letters or notices sent to the church. There is no printed bulletin or newsletter, so I guess it makes sense. Also every Sunday, it’s asked if any of the different committees have reports to give during the service. As you can see, the announcement section can go on for 30 mins. or more.