Tale of Two Churches

Church in the Dark (photo light provided by my flash)

At dusk, our taxi driver stops three times asking directions to our destination: Ministerio Cristiano Manantial de Cristo. On the third stop a young man in dress shirt and white pants approaches. “I am going there. You can walk with me,” he says.

We pay the driver the normal fee of 20 cordobas (80 cents) for the ride across town and walk with Alejandro behind a curb-side building toward a barbed wire fence.

“Where is the church?” I ask.

“Here,” he answers.

The building is an aluminum roof suspended above a dirt floor on six poles with 20 plastic chairs and a pulpit. Its pastor Sergio welcomes us warmly. He says there is a neighborhood problem with electricity, so there is no light tonight.

As the sky darkens, the congregation alternates unaccompanied singing with fervent prayer—punctuating both with a ritual response sequence of “Gloria, Cristo, Gloria” that ends in a rousing cheer.

Far above and all around, the stars appear.

We are asked to bring greetings, but in the darkness we cannot read our Spanish cheat-sheets. We stumble around a bit, and Alejandro rescues us. He says gently from his seat, “It’s OK. Speak in English and I will translate.”

Pastor Sergio begins reading the Bible passage by the light of his cell phone. Then someone hands him a tiny flashlight.

We leave early to walk to another service for service three blocks away. As Alejandro guides us there, he reassures us. “Do not worry about after the service,” he says. “The neighborhood is safe, and there will be taxis.”

Indoors at Asemblea de Dios

We join worship in progress at Asemblea de Dios—with its hung ceiling, painted walls, flowers, maroon curtains, and a shining, new tile floor that the pastor says was finished with help from the Nehemiah Center. Lit by bright lights, we read our scripted Spanish greetings. We sing to a keyboard accompaniment.

As we hail a taxi for our return trip, Marlo says, “This second church felt a bit more like ours back home--

“—but I did miss the stars.”