The first Sunday after the earthquake, I walked into church, expecting to take my usual seat about halfway to the front of the sanctuary. Instead, I found that the only seats left were a few toward the very back. As the service continued, more people crowded in. By the time the pastor came up to preach there was standing room only. This was a far cry from the week before when about a third of the benches were empty.
There was a different feel amongst the congregation as well. The casual talking of teenagers mid-service was silenced and the occasional Amens and mmm huhs of agreement louder and more frequent. Grown men bent forward as the pastor preached and middle-aged women wiped tears away during the special music.
The prayer which started with the repetition of the phrase “Ou se Bondye. Ou se Bondye. Ou se Bondye,” (You are God. You are God. You are God.), continued long past the usual ten minutes. And the service ended with a string of testimonials. People who had been trapped under rubble or had lost family members came to the front and told stories of their new decision to turn back to God.
This testimonial time has become a normal part of the service since the earthquake as each week more people give their lives to Christ. I heard one story about a little boy who had been in a school building when the earthquake hit. A falling rock hit him in the back and pushed him outside. The school collapsed behind him, killing all of his classmates. He knows it was God who kept him safe.
And the stories and the people keep coming. Four weeks after the quake, and churches are still full. Just last week during the nationwide prayer time, I could not find a seat in the church. The pastors there, at the Wesleyan Church in town, had moved all the benches outside to make more space for church attendees to sit on the floor, and still they ran out of space. They even arranged the benches outside to create three sections of seating for those who came too late to get in the doors.
They may continue to need extra seating in the coming weeks as more people come to Christ. Since the earthquake, they have seen 120 converts at the Wesleyan church alone. Churches all over town are seeing a similar trend. In the week since the prayer time, we’ve seen evidence of this trend ourselves in the number of people who have come asking for bibles.
