I attended the main service at the Neno Evangelism Centre with two friends. Once again, I was glad to have a Kenyan friend with me, as almost everything was in Swahili. We arrived at the centre as we thought the service should be beginning, but were told that the service would not start until an hour later. In this time, we were able to speak to the assistant pastor about his understanding of church. It was interesting to see that when we asked to speak to someone, the ushers were very suspicious and concerned that we might be from the press. Despite this, we were eventually taken to the pastor’s office.
Much of what he said seemed very typical of any church with a low ecclesiology. I have highlighted the more interesting aspects. The pastor did not seem to consider church to be an important concept, except as a gathering place for believers. He stated that it was just the name Jesus gave for his followers. He was more concerned about leadership. Twice he took us through the idea of an apostle being someone who was sent by Jesus himself with authority to found a new ministry. He used the stories of Elijah and Moses to illustrate this, explaining that they passed on their visions to Elisha and Joshua, who did not have the same authority, but simply followed in their footsteps. This same illustration was later used by the apostle about himself and his followers when he spoke in the service.
First person account of a large church in Kenya. I've said it before and I'll keep saying it: Africa needs discipleship. The same sort of description is not uncommon for what goes on in churches where we are as well. Go and read the whole post, if you have the time...