Our first Sunday Service

We had our very first Sunday service yesterday!  Femi came down and preached for us.  Okay, in the interests of full-disclosure, only the oldest and youngest members of our group came.  Gaz happened by and chatted for a moment before continuing on.  We also took our first official “offering” at our first official Sunday service.  Femi reminded us of what the Bible teaches us about the importance of giving and thinking about others.  It’s a little awkward taking an offering in a group of ten…but probably more often for us Americans than for the nationals there.  We’re sooooo preoccupied with who has it, who doesn’t, who’s giving and who isn’t.  We want to begin incorporating aspects of church life into our core group fairly early.  Certain things need to be incorporated in the DNA from the beginning.  Because of the amount of foreign aid that has poured into Kosovo, there is a growing tendency in the population to look outside for support, rather than looking within.  Femi has reported, for example, that if every national in the mother church tithed, for example, they could meet their budget without foreign aid.  This is the goal, to build churches that are “three-self:” self-governing, self-supporting and self-propogating.”