Welcome to Wycliffe College

Dear friends,

Here are 4 photos on a praying-and-worshiping theme from Aksum and Addis Ababa.

Aksum--men quietly--really, motionless--praying outside the famous St. Mary of Zion Church on the last morning I was there. I am a squirmer so i can`t imagine how they can stand motionless for long periods of time without twitching or scratching something!

Praying outside the church of 19th century King Menelik II, on EnToto mountain overlooking Addis Ababa. These persons had not moved from the moment I entered the compound until I left, nearly an hour after touring the church and palace. Question: How many people do you see praying?

Youth service on a late afternoon at a church on EnToto mountain--very colourful and energetic; the Coptic church is adapting its very traditional worship to include more youth and lively music into its liturgy; in large part to counter the flood of its members--especially youth--to the Protestant churches.

Addis Ababa--Worship team at the mother church of the Pentecostal group I am studying

If I have learned anything in my limited exposure to global Christianity, it is that there are churches that look and act so differently in worship to be barely recognizable to a conventional westerner. Here are two guidelines for the uninitiated:

A good question to ask for openers is: 'Why do they do that?'

The one question that will immediately reveal your arrogance and general empty-tank-curiosity is: 'Why do they have to do that?

David