One More Random Thought
3. ...on the collection plate. (Yes, really. I said it was random.)
We do the offering a little differently at MCC than back at home. When it is time to take up the collection, someone sets the plates on the table up in front of the church, then the choir sings while people file up to the front to deposit their offering. As the person in charge of counting the Sunday collection, I will tell you that Mbale offerings can be quite a bit more interesting than what you'd find in Fort Worth. For instance, it is common to find two or three different types of currency among the donations. Also, people here frequently give of their first fruits, so it is not at all unusual to have a bag of beans or a stalk of bananas presented on Sunday. By the way, let me pass on a rather important discovery I've made: A bag of beans will usually fit in the collection plate; a stalk of bananas usually won't.
Sadly, a few weeks ago I made another important discovery: Someone was defining the term "collection" a bit too loosely and was collecting shillings from the plate. Evidently, we were making it simple for him because everyone here tends to fold their money into a small, discreet, extremely stealable packet before placing it in the plate. What to do? Most of the stores in Mbale have armed guards stationed at the doorway to discourage thieves, but somehow I didn't think a uniformed man standing on the platform with a rifle trained on the church members was going to set quite the tone we wanted. In fact, you could make the argument that it might discourage giving. I opted for having offering boxes made as our theft deterrent. The boxes are quite handsome and appear to be working out perfectly, although I am a little worried about how someone is going to fit a bag of beans through the slot. And definitely, let's hope no one brings a stalk of bananas any time soon.
Offering time
And for those of you who are wondering -- as the MCC leadership committee did -- how I could be so certain that someone was stealing from the offering plate, well, it's quite simple, really. The burglar made one rather unfortunate blunder: He stole my offering.
(Coming next: SAFARI!)
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