Judy's Reflections

Sunday, October 31

We estimated that the LCCN Church in Jalingo is built to seat about 2,000 people. However, when the Fellowship of Lutheran Women in Nigeria came for their annual national convention, the church is overflowing. As of Saturday, 6,165 women had registered, so the pews were crowded, the aisles packed; every bit of space was occupied with women dressed in the dresses made from the special bright yellow/orange Women’s Fellowship fabric. Women were hanging in the windows to hear, and sitting in close by rooms. The convention had the feeling of and old time reunion, mixed with passionate presentations, joyful singing, and many, many opportunities for prayer.

The Women’s Fellowship is strong and a powerhouse in here in Nigeria. They are grateful for their partnership with WELCA of our Synod and the Deaconess Community of the ELCA. Because we represented their American partners, we were the honored quests: Kris, Sister Melinda, Carolyn and I. Honored guests meant that we had seats up front, plenty of bottles of water, pink plastic hand fans, sat by a huge fan, had more food that we needed, and very often heard apologies for the high heat and humidity.

What did we experience in the day and a half that we were a part of this faith filled community of women?

Passion! Women were encouraged to practice anad teach peaceful ways in their homes and to their children, so that Nigerian Christians would be known as people of peace. They were told that they had no reason to not be about telling the Gospel story. If they could not preach, they could sing. If they could not sing, they could show God’s love in what they do daily, and how they would do it. As the mothers, sisters, daughters of Nigeria, they had an important role in the development of faith and of the nation.

Joy! Singing, singing, singing! So much wonderful singing! Songs in response to the presentations, songs to welcome and songs to thank. There was even a competition between the singers of various dioceses. Each group singing their own unique songs, complete with special hand motions, and even props. It is the tradition when the singing is good; one comes to show gratitude by showering the song leader or the singers with naira. It is especially good to see if the naira bills placed on your forehead will stick! So, if you are from the Todi Diocese for example and your group is singing, you really want to show the strength of your sisterhood by showering your sister singers with money, which of course all goes into the Fellowship’s treasury. On Saturday, Archbishop Nemuel Babba attended the morning session, and there was a great shout when he came up to shower two of the groups with naira! All is done with great joy, which bounces from the walls of the church.

Commitment to evangelism! This LCCN is committed to evangelism and this was demonstrated so clearly, as one of the women leaders spoke with great energy about the new projects and possibilities of the Women’s Fellowship for the next year. She then called for an special offering for evangelism. It seemed like everyone came forward to give something for this offering. Women came forward with happy smiling faces, rejoicing as women hugged each other while stood in line or danced forward. The offering took at least 20 minutes for everyone to come forward, and a total of 104,700 plus naira was raised! That’s about $700 in US dollars. Here is a place where we can definitely learn from our Nigerian sisters!

How important was this Convention in the life of women? Important enough not only for over 6,000 women to attend, but to attend knowing that they would have to provide their own food, sleep in the church or on the church grounds, with little of what we would consider comforts. Imagine wall to wall women, with some small children, and a few men camping out and sleeping outside, taking care to prepare their own meals; so that they could be together in Christ? We left and there was still another day and a half of singing, listening, laughing, offering, and encouragement to go. We should not wonder why the LCCN is the fastest growing Lutheran church in the world!

Happy Halloween!

Rev. Judy Burgett Winzig

P.S. Carolyn brought along glasses with a nose for all of us to wear this hallowed night, so those of us who are back at the hotel will greet our returning visitors from Kubi when they arrive.