Is this a waste of time?

I don't know much about the above congregations other than these facts: 1) They are Lutheran, 2) They are in Africa, 3) They speak French.

After one Sunday service in my own congregation (perhaps a year ago or more), I announced that the offerings placed into our mission box would be used to send funds to purchase hymnals for Africa.  A parishioner (who is no longer a member of our congregation) loudly fussed and fumed and declared to anyone who would listen that this was "a waste of time."

She never did clarify what she meant by that.


But to the above three facts, I can also add this: it is never a waste of time (or money) to support our brothers and sisters around the world.  Our Lord did charge us to make disciples of all nations, after all.  And while Christianity is on the decline in the United States and in the west in general - where entertainment is the new religion - the genuine faith is growing in Africa, where suffering and the cross are truly a mark of the church.  By way of example, there are more Lutherans in Madagascar than in North America.

These videos also shatter the myth that the traditional liturgy and hymns are not "missional."  Of course, the word "missional" is a hackneyed overused "hipster" word often employed by those who wish to drive a wedge between Lutheran doctrine and Lutheran practice - often among the professional bureaucratic and political class within North American Lutheranism.  Maybe a better way of thinking of traditional Lutheran worship as it relates to the mission field is that it reflects faith - faith in something bigger and more profound than the shallow American Idol of our own entertainment.  There is no "me-ology" in the ancient hymnody of the church and in the reverent worship that attends genuine belief in a transcendent God who nevertheless deigns to join us (and rescue us) incarnate in our fallen word.

These African saints get it.  I expect their grandchildren will be trying to evangelize our increasingly-dark continent the way the heroic Kenyan Archbishop Walter Obare brought the biblical faith back to Sweden where faithful Lutherans had been held hostage by a diabolical bureaucracy that can only be described as antichrist.

And notice the transcultural nature of traditional Lutheran hymnody and worship.  Even in a simple structure in which to worship, God is there in Word and Sacrament - and He is also adored by people who truly believe in the gifts given by the Lord.  They are obviously not looking for entertainment.

No, indeed, this is no waste of time!  Let us pray for our brethren and financially support them as we are able!  This should not only be our obligation and duty, but our privilege and our joy.