Singing because we’re God’s children

For decades after coming to Africa, Brethren in Christ missionaries prohibited dancing in church.

A century later, worshippers at the Mennonite World Conference assembly appeared to have the most fun when they let the music move them.

A certain song – “Hakuna Akaita Sa Jesu” (There Is No One Like Jesus) – was the one that really got them going.

It wasn’t even in the assembly songbook, but worship leaders kept bringing it back by popular demand.

And so on Sunday morning, one more time, about 7,000 Anabaptists with smiles on their faces were turning in circles and swinging their arms as they sang in the Shona language a song that translates as:

There is no one like Jesus.
No one is like him.
We ran and ran everywhere.
We went round and round everywhere.
We searched and searched everywhere.
No one is like him.

Throughout the week, one way to tell that a song had generated special enthusiasm was to listen for a high-pitched cheer – “le-le-le-le-le!” – from African women.

Probably knowing that many non-Africans didn’t have the confidence to cheer like that, an African song leader on Sunday urged everyone to “make any sound you can think of.” He also encouraged people to wave their Bibles over their heads.

“Our forefathers waved their spears and shields,” he said. “We wave our Bibles. That is our weapon.”

Adding a Western tradition to the week’s concluding service, the congregation sang “Praise God from Whom,” known to many as “606,” its number in a popular North American Mennonite hymnal.

In the Sunday sermon on Ephesians 5, Nancy Heisey, the new president of MWC, noted that singing brings diverse people together. “As we are filled with the Spirit, how do we respond? By singing!” she said.

“That should come as no surprise to any Mennonite or Brethren in Christ person here, especially not after this week . . . Singing is something we do because we’re human, but now it is also something we do because we are God’s children.”

—Paul Schrag