Singing could be heard all the way at the bottom of the stairwell, even thought the meeting was on the 4th floor. The family party was a little loud, but they sang unhindered and unashamed. We Americans had been traveling for a week to do some preparation work for next year in another city, and I couldn’t wait to be back to our group of regulars, the brothers and sisters we’ve seen come into the family and mature over the last 8 months. I gave a light knock on the door, and someone opened it for me. As I entered the room, I looked around for a seat, but there was none! People quickly shifted and pulled out another stool, but there was barely anymore space around the living room. Even though there was no funiture except a couple tables and many stools, all the wall space around the room was taken. I squeezed in between two friends.
After the songs were finished, some of the brothers and sisters disappeared into a side room. This was not part of the normal format for a family party, and I wondered what was happening. They emerged in straight lines and stood at one end of the room, ready to perform!
Before I left on the trip, one of the sisters had approached me and asked me to help her start a choir. She comes from a thriving church and has been in the family for a while. Now that God has her at a new university and at a new family party location, she had it on her heart to start a choir. I encouraged her to submit her idea to the leaders at the weekly leaders meeting to see if she could get permission to organize one. I had briefly shared about how she could put a group together but didn’t get into much detail. Now, I saw she had received a green light from the leaders and had already started a choir! Even though a choir was not exactly what I thought the family party needed, I could see some benefits. What a great opportunity for brothers and sisters to learn more worship songs!
Things have really progressed in the past few months! I came to this campus only knowing a handful of people, but now I know dozens of people who are growing weekly in their relationship with Christ! It’s been amazing to be a part of this work!