At the invitation of Pastor Asis, we joined the Bengali congregation at his church, Coolinga Baptist, this morning for their service at 8am. Coolinga was the first Bengali church founded in Kolkata in 1821.
The service was in Bengali, but we were able to recognise some familiar tunes of the songs that were sung, even if we didn't understand the words. Nicola, Michelle and Ali sang ' Be still for the presence of the Lord' together before Pastor Asis acted as translator, first for Ali to give a testimony and then for Karen as she preached. We shared together with communion and then, once the service was over we visited the Deaf fellowship that meets in the building next door. It was great to be able to communicate with them a little. They use Indian Sign Language, but Ali was able use a little of the British Sign Language she knows to introduce the team as they use the same finger spelling alphabet.
The service was in Bengali, but we were able to recognise some familiar tunes of the songs that were sung, even if we didn't understand the words. Nicola, Michelle and Ali sang ' Be still for the presence of the Lord' together before Pastor Asis acted as translator, first for Ali to give a testimony and then for Karen as she preached. We shared together with communion and then, once the service was over we visited the Deaf fellowship that meets in the building next door. It was great to be able to communicate with them a little. They use Indian Sign Language, but Ali was able use a little of the British Sign Language she knows to introduce the team as they use the same finger spelling alphabet.
It was lovely to experience worhsip in a different culture.
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