Church Crawler: The Waterbrook

I wake up on an exceptionally bright Sunday morning, wondering what I will make of my day. I sit at my computer and my eyes scan a web page I opened the previous day: Ynaija’s ‘Date-Venue-Time’. Scrolling down to Sunday, I catch a name – The Waterbrook.

My first attraction to The Waterbrook is that the name is written plainly, with the words “people, music, life” as an epithet. The conventional label of ‘Church’ or ‘Assembly’ is missing – there’s nothing to give you the idea this is a religious organisation.

As I walked into the prestigious Oriental Hotel in Lekki, still trying to get over the church’s ‘unique’ name, I was shocked to discover that the meeting was to hold at the bar! Church in a bar – isn’t that an oxymoron of some sort? I doubt that I was the only one, who at the beginning of service, was continually gazing at the drinks on the counter, wishing I could have one. Once we got into service though, I settled in.

Expectedly, music is an integral part of the worship at The Waterbrook. The music radiates directly into your soul and you feel the presence of the Divine. Like Peter, I just wanted to build three tents there – one for me, one for the saxophonist and one for the others. And if that was not possible, I hoped I could kidnap the saxophonist and have him play continuously for me at home.

The highlight of the service was the message by Mrs. Rapu. She talked about the persistent void that remains in the life of every individual and the need to fill that void with God’s presence. She talked about the fact that God’s presence is not necessarily found in what we are, but in who we are. She emphasised the point that, unlike the traditional view, our activities in Church does not necessarily translate to a relationship with God. As I listened to her, I thought about how this message was indeed one of the guiding principles at The Waterbrook, a place where the norm is to break away from the unnecessary conventions in Christian worship. Perhaps to justify the point, there was a request for questions after the Sunday message. Now, that’s unconventional.

Service ends and the Church Crawler has to fill the ‘first-timers’ card since his ‘new face’ has been spotted. I noticed that the form asked for my BB Pin alongside phone numbers. That way, I could choose to either continue to receive communication from the Church or not.

True to its name, The Waterbrook is refreshing. Those who are searching for something different will fit right in. It was announced that Gospel music legend, Dr. Ron Kenoly, is going to be in Nigeria on Sunday the 26th exclusively for The Waterbrook. That’s more than enough reason to want to attend service that day.

Comments (7)

  1. Very well written post. It will be helpful to everyone who usess it, as well as myself. Keep up the good work – can'r wait to read more posts.

  2. lol@In love or not

  3. errm @inloveornot

    if you are female and attractive, you can drop your contact here

  4. Wow! I like d way u write! R u in need of a partner by any chance? I wanna experience all these with you!

  5. BB pin? Lmao..its def of gatherin of the rich!do they use this venue every sunday??hmm some offerings they must be receivin.all in all, good piece.

  6. The church crawler paints it beautiful again! If I read your article weekly, I'd jst end up church prostituting cos now every church you visit seems to have an ambience I wanna experience. Anyways, thanks for making me confused with choices. See you here next week!

  7. Wow, seems really nice. I'll visit sometime. Don't laugh, sometimes it's too cold in church (too much money for airconditioning) and I'll rather be in bed or somewhere warm.

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