Zambia Pentecostalists prompt mixed feelings

My host in Lusaka, Zambia, took me to church on Sunday, an experience that left mixed feelings.

The Miracle Life Family Church in Lusaka is a circular place. 300 people inside, another 200 outside. Middle class, most had come by car. Like the African pasteur, the religious music was stirring – brilliantly performed.

But then there was the matter of American money and the endless interweaving of money into the service. A vast thermometer on the wall talked of $1.3m raised out of $2.6m needed. A convenient half.

Halfway through the ceremony a film was shown depicting builders on the site of a new “mega church” the American pasteur is building up the road. A stark contrast from the 50 Aids orphans I saw in the Catholic orphanage down the road yesterday.

Assuming a lot of the money came from the US (one wonders what parishioners there thought they were donating to), the pasteur made almost no reference to the fact that he was operating in Africa. Many of his anecdotes and metaphors were decisively American.

The subliminal message was: however poor you are, give – it will save your soul and allow you to enter the kingdom of heaven. Yet the sense of community and coming together was impressive.

Can’t pretend I enjoyed the evangelical US Pentecostalist movement’s involvement in it all. Left me feeling queasy, and that’s a pity ‘cos the music left me feeling pretty good.

But then, in the background here on CNN, I’ve just heard a middle American woman saying how much she thinks Mrs Palin should be Barack Obama’s successor.

I am here to chair a meeting of African presidents on a major investment in infrastructure that could transform the economies of landlocked countries in central and southern Africa. I’ll blog on that anon. A fascinating experience.