GOSHEN, Ind. (Mennonite Mission Network) – Three Beninese pastors pumped high-octane spirituality into the Waterford Mennonite Church during their four-week visit that ended Oct 17.
Celestin Djimadja, Alphonse Godonou and Germain Noupakou preached with their hands as well as their voices. They coached the congregation in audible prayer with individuals all speaking from their hearts at the same time, creating the sound of Pentecost in the sanctuary. When the West Africans taught a praise song in the Goun language, certain members of the normally sedate congregation scrambled for percussion instruments.
Perhaps most significant, on a Friday night at the end of football season, nearly one-tenth of the 300-member congregation turned out for a three-hour Bible study.
Three years ago, Benin alumni, work team participants and Mennonite Mission Network staff at Waterford Mennonite Church in Goshen, Ind., inspired the congregation toward a partnership with Benin Bible Institute. The congregation hoped to gain a greater awareness of what being part of Christ’s global body means.
Since 2003, the congregation has hosted a total of seven Beninese guests on three occasions, and five members of the Waterford congregation have traveled to Benin on two visits.
Tina Schlabach, one of Waterford’s pastors, treasures the times of mutual encouragement and prayer the congregation’s pastoral team shared with their Beninese colleagues.
“We need to guard against the assumption that African spirituality is superior to North American spirituality,” she said. "As our partnership matures, we are increasingly able to ask each other questions, to appreciate the strengths of each faith tradition, and challenge each other to grow out of a relationship of respect and spiritual friendship."
The influence of culture on the way people pray emerged as a question for Schlabach. She noted that African churches generally pray more loudly and emphatically than North American congregations do.
“I wonder whether it is right and good that a culture that has known colonialism and great suffering cries out to God with raised voices and whether it is also right and good that a culture that is known for its busyness becomes quiet in prayer,” Schlabach said.
Members of the Waterford congregation eagerly vied for the opportunity to host their African friends. During their month-long stay, 30 different households hosted the pastors overnight or for meals. Organizers’ real challenge came in finding enough mealtimes for all the families who requested hosting privileges. The Beninese pastors participated in 23 church activities, each taking their turn to bring God’s word on Sunday morning. They also toured 15 area industries and attractions and spent a day each in Chicago and Detroit.
Such hospitality overwhelmed the Beninese pastors, even though their continent sets a high standard in welcoming guests. Noupakou expressed the concern of the Beninese pastors over the busyness of North Americans’ lives.
“All day long you are in constant motion,” he said. “But when it comes to your spiritual life you touch down just for a moment — ” his index finger landed lightly on the cloth of a well-laden supper table to emphasize the brevity of the spiritual encounter — “and then you’re off.”
The Beninese pastors gently reproved their North American hosts for not allowing them enough time to pray.
“The things you struggle with only seem to be part of the material world,” Djimadja said. “Your problems are really spiritual battles, and they can only be solved with spiritual weapons, like prayer and fasting and immersing yourselves in God’s word.”
That biblical immersion happened during the three-hour Friday night Bible study. Two years earlier, another Beninese pastor pointed out that Waterford Bible study mostly occurs during the Sunday-school hour. However, just as the class he was teaching got to the heart of the biblical text, the closing bell rang and everyone jumped up and ran on to their next responsibilities.
This year’s intercultural Bible study explored the Jerusalem Council passage in Acts 15 looking for key concepts and ways to apply the decisions of the early church leaders in 21st century lives.
Common threads emphasized by both Africans and North Americans included the centrality of the debate around salvation by law or grace, the necessity of differentiating between practices growing out of culture and those inspired by faith, the vital role of personal experience and the importance of listening to each other.
Discussion about the qualities of a good church leader revealed cultural differences. North Americans saw the early church leaders drawing out all points of view and coming to a consensus after careful listening.
The African pastors emphasized that strong leaders must take authority in decision-making. It was James, they said, who discerned God’s will and made the final decision in Acts 15:19, “I have reached the decision…” The members of the council accepted James’ word as God’s word in verse 28 and the gentiles in Antioch received it willingly.
Godonou pointed out that although James exhibited strong leadership from the sending church in Jerusalem, he didn’t fall into a colonial mode of mission. Rather, the Gentile believers were treated as equal members of Christ’s body. This resulted in rejoicing and a strengthening of the church at Antioch.
“We were breaking new ground with this intercultural Bible study,” said Neil Amstutz, Waterford’s lead pastor. “A spiritual spark ignited the possibility for increased faithfulness at Waterford. Perhaps, it can also be a model in other congregations.”
Amstutz called the month of interaction a “spiritual shot in the arm” for himself, Waterford’s pastoral team and many members of the congregation.
After leaving the Waterford Mennonite Church, the three Beninese pastors spent a week in Ontario with another partner congregation, St. Jacobs Mennonite Church, before returning to their ministries in Benin.
Benin Bible Institute, a shared ministry of Mennonite Mission Network and 60 different denominations in West Africa, seeks to equip church leaders through biblical and theological training. Since BBI opened its doors in 1994 more than 500 church leaders have graduated.
Waterford Mennonite Church designates a portion of its annual Mennonite Mission Network contributions for the BBI partnership. For more information on partnerships, contact Mennonite Mission Network at Partnership@MennoniteMission.net.