Worship with Magubike parish

Today Dan and I traveled with Gary and Carol Langness, Don and Eunice Fultz and two translators from the diocese office out about 30 -45 minutes on the Tungamalenga Road for Sunday worship. First we left Gary and Carol and Msigwa (one of the translators) off, to preach at the Kidamale parish. Then we drove on to our destination. Magubike is set among hills and tobacco fields as well as huge rock structures. The corn was growing well, but it did appear to be quite dry. Along the way we saw a number of mosques and Greek Orthodox churches. In addition, there were at least two secondary schools, which I believe were government schools. We were warmly greeted by a group of enthusiastic children as well as the pastor and his wife and the cooks who were preparing our tea and lunch. Magubika is a congregation which originally was one of the preaching points for Kidamale, which is supported by Shepherd of the Hills back in St. Paul. At present they have no partner parish affiliated with them in the US and definitely would like one.
First we were served milk tea with chipati (which were huge and warm) as well as boiled free range eggs. During this time we learned that the pastor has been serving this parish for the last 2+ years. The congregation had built his house together for about 1 ½ million schillings (roughly 1500 dollars). The house appears to be very well built and is equipped with electricity. Next we went into the pastor’s office at which time the pastors put on their robes and stoles and Don handed us hymnals so we could follow the service and Eunice gave me page numbers for the order of the service.
Like the pastor and his wife, the congregation is quite young and is very spiritual and enthusiastic. Dan believes that they initially thought that Dan and I were there as a potential partner.
The choirs were fantastic. There was an adult choir and a children’s choir as well as an offshoot choir from the adult choir consisting of four men and one woman drummer. They donned fuschia colored robes and got up and sang a song about grace. One man sang a verse about how he had been living a life with Satin, but that the Lord’s grace had rescued him from this life. This verse went perfectly with the lesson upon which Don Fultz’ sermon was based: Matthew 20:1-16; the story about the workers in the vineyard.
The children’s choir was led by two young girls; their singing and choreography were very impressive. Following the service they presented gifts to us of buckets of tomatoes, beans, onions, and a chicken. Each of their preaching points had sent a bucket of food items. Following the presentation of gifts, they had the customary auction of food items which members give as their offering. One item was a chicken, another was a bucket of onions and another was a lovely piece of Kanga cloth. These auctions are interesting in that the initial bidder puts in the bid amount and each subsequent bidder puts in the increment that the bid had increased. So, the winner of the item doesn’t necessarily contribute the most money. Following the auction, they fed us lunch consisting of chicken, a huge platter of rice, bananas, ugali, beans, and soda. Soon after lunch we were back on our way to pick up Gary, Carol and Msigwa. We returned to Iringa around 3:30 or 4 pm. The church service itself was probably about 2 hours long and we spent another two hours there with tea, lunch and the auction. Sunday worship in Africa is not for the faint of heart.
I hope that our Lutheran friends who read this will prayerfully consider passing on this information to their own congregations to thoughtfully consider the commitment of a partner congregation in Tanzania. Magubika is a very special congregation which is hard working, and eager to share their love and commitment with a partner congregation in the US.

Pastor and his wife greeting us:



Church with bell that is rung to announce the service. This bell is a steel disk, often it is a car wheel.


Children's choir with two children directors:


Boy imitating the drummer:


Auction after church where items given in the offering are converted to cash. They have a different bidding system here where each bidder pays the increment and the last bidder wins the item, paying just the last increment. Don't ask me why this works.


Lunch after the service. Ugali is made from corn flour and looks like mashed potatoes. It, with beans or chicken in tomato sauce is the staple food here.