It's sometimes said that culture is like a river. To fully appreciate its flow, you need to get in it. I had the privilege of putting this into practice recently when I visited a church with a predominantly Nigerian membership.
Rather than observing from a distance, I got to swim in the stream of their worship. It highlighted several ways in which my own multi-ethnic church values certain things differently. This doesn't automatically mean either set of practices is better or worse. But the customs reveal the creeds underneath. Experiencing the differences first-hand helped me sense what was going on under the surface.
Time
I walked into the main gathering space a few minutes before the start. It was already busy: loud with conversation and a passionate band rehearsal. My own church often fills up after the service has started like a slowly rising tide. It turned out they had also been in discipleship classes for an hour before.
When the phone comes to church
We’ve been studying Romans 14 at church recently, and the teaching has covered "disputable matters" – issues where Christians, in …