God

Moses, Lazarus, Thomas, Samuel, I t’s common here for men to have biblical names. Religion is really big here, there are churches of all kinds of denominations and there are religious slogans on many of the buses and lorries. Even some of the street food vendors have boards saying, ‘God is salvation’, or ‘Glory to the Lord’, or something similar. 

One of the team members at Sabi Sands told us he was also a church pastor, he trained for two years in Johannesburg in order to qualify. So as well as serving us at table he also led the staff in daily worship and had a congregation of 200 back in his home village. When we asked him what kind of church he led he looked slightly surprised and replied, ‘Pentecostal, of course’.  He preaches from the New International Version, which I think means his teaching is conservative. Maybe that’s what we expect in close knit rural communities. 

On Sundays we have driven past churches holding services out doors and featuring impressive loudspeaker systems and smartly turned out congregations. It looks much more fun than a Church of England morning service. 

In Nigeria things have gone to the next level and their TV is full of religious channels promoting evangelical churches - along the American model. We’ve seen nothing like that in the countries we have visited. Maybe that’s because TV isn’t yet part of the everyday experience. For the present churches here seem to be a simple and traditional part of village life.