I had the pleasure of joining
fellow believers at Riverside Mandarin Baptist Church to give glory to our great God. It was awkward, fun, and enlightening; an
experience that I would recommend to any brother or sister in Christ. Before my wife and I entered into the sanctuary to sing songs with believers who speak a
different language, the first thing I noticed was the absolute authentic love
that these Mandarin speaking believers had. I have visited other churches where
I felt like I just met new friend who didn’t know when to back up and give me
some room for the Holy Spirit. Not these guys. Their love was so evident and
natural, that I felt as if we had been a part of each others live for much
longer than 5 minutes.
Walking into the sanctuary was a
much more intimate environment than I am presently used to. I have been to
small churches, but this church building probably didn’t hold more than 100
people. Seeing the banners in English and Mandarin on the ceiling only
reinforced the fact that this is a church committed to unity no matter the
barriers that diversity has the potential to create. After finding a seat and
looking through the bulletin, I noticed that when this church sings to our
Creator, they do it in both languages at the same time. It was strange for about
6 seconds and then I couldn’t help but join in on the opportunity to sing to my
Savior. The humility and rawness of the worshipers brought me to the undeniable
reality that we come to Christ with what we have and He is the one to makes it
beautiful.
After that moment of worship those
members of the church that were English speaking left for another room of the
building to go and hear a message from the English speaking pastor. But not my
wife and I; no we stayed for another new experience in this great thing we call
the universal church. As the pastor began to speak I was confronted with the
reality that I don’t know Mandarin. This would have been problematic if a dear
sister in Christ didn’t continue to inform my wife and I of what Bible verse
the pastor was talking about; thank you dear sister.
I forgot to mention that a friend
of mine Broderick was also partaking in this delight with me and my wife. He
and I agreed, this was a wonderful opportunity to step out of the familiar and
see a bit of the greater picture of the body of Christ. Although I won’t be
making RMBC my home church, I would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone who
lives local to the Riverside area.
