A lively church in a half-open building

And a man who speaks from experience

During the course of our lives we have experienced the whole range of church services.  During our specialisation time in the UK we sat on the hard pews in Anglican the Methodist Churches.  In the US we joined a small free church.  Living in Soweto, South Africa, the majority of our church congregation was coloured.  But irrespective where we opened our hymnbooks we always searched for Christians who believe what they preach.

Curahuasi meanwhile has about ten evangelical churches.  The CBC (Centro Bíblico de Curahuasi) has the distinct advantage that one enjoys the fresh air, since there are no walls at the rear of the building.  As an added bonus the front wall offers a direct view onto flocks of parrots.  No other way to put it as an ideal ambience!  Surely one must miss the luxury in this building.  But be that as it may the church is bursting at the seams.  100 (mostly young) people attended today’s service and even after two hours none of them showed any signs of tiredness.

A roughly 40-year-old man told his story: he grew up in difficult circumstances and then some years later slipped into alcoholism, but the power of God freed him.  Now he was becoming a member and to underline his declaration of faith he was being baptised.

He told us his life-story simply and without any brilliant rhetoric, but I cannot help thinking that this Peruvian has more to say about faith than some church functionaries sitting behind their desks in Europe.  And the shell of this church building probably surpasses, as regards spiritual life, many cathedrals, domes and minsters in the Western World.

A decision for life.

After the service two staff members baptise the new Christian in a small swimming pool during which time the congregation sings a song that is sung on all continents at such a moment: “I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back!”

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