water, water everywhere... but nothing to drink

that's my attitude about churches right now. there are churches of every size and denomination at every other street corner, but sometimes it feels like i won't be able to find a church "home." well, maybe it is a bit too early to make this judgment since i've only been to two churches.

the first one i visited is the main anglican church in lusaka (cathedral of the holy cross) but the service is a bit too traditional and unengaging for my liking. however, it's theologically sound, there are families and older people, and it's nice that the kurians go there. a cool thing is that they serve real wine from a communal cup during communion.

the second chuch i visited i like to call "american megachurch meets zambia" i.e. Miracle Life Family Church. the pastor seems to be a less-better-looking version of joel osteen; he preaches an unashamed, undiluted health-wealth-prosperity theology. my first experience listening to something like it. Check out the recent Time article for a description of the growing prosperity movement amidst evangelical churches. i appreciated how the pastor directly approached difficult yet relevant sin issues during his message -- poverty, sexual abuse, divorce, incest, rape -- topics that most zambian pastors skirt, supposedly. [also, a friend of mine commented that he could get away with preaching about these touchy ( i.e. sexual) issues to zambians because he was white] but at the same time, i just couldn't stomach all his partially true statements [Our God is a God of gold and silver, he wants the best for his children....he does not want us to be poor or sick" .... "all you need to do is to ask God in faith... the woman who touched Jesus was healed because of her faith... if you have faith, you will be healed" ]... there are "altar calls" where they call up sick people to the front and the pastor and the "healing" team pray for physical healing [and then ask them to raise their hands publicly if they have been healed]. this church is located next to the richest shopping mall in lusaka, and its congregation is filled with "yuppie" zambians... (yes, there is actually a yuppie class in lusaka...)..after service, people like to go shopping, surf the web, catch a movie, etc after service... sort of like how part of the reason i liked going to bcec was I could go eat delicious dimsum afterwards.... or like how i'd always go out to lunch with emmanuelites after service..   in a way, it feels too comfortable, too yuppie, too urban American...  I feel like i'm sitting at another typical american evangelical church, except that it's all africans and there are no asians.

so ... I'm going to explore.