Worship encompasses much more than the 1-2 hours we spend in church on Sunday mornings: as we orient our lives toward God and submit to Him as our Lord, living with Him at the center, we offer our worship to Him. We constantly fight the temptation to put ourselves at the center, worshipping ourselves as we go about our lives, even our ministry work, lost in our thoughts about the here-and-now. We’re always worshipping something or someone.

However, we know from Scripture that there is something special about gathering with God’s people for worship, and as cross-cultural workers, those hours of the week can often be some of the hardest! When we first moved abroad and were settling into life in our new country, I cried every Sunday for many weeks. It wasn’t that I was miserable in my new life, but the hours spent in church reminded me of the losses I was feeling. I could not understand what was being said in the service, so I didn’t feel like I was able to participate in worship or to be fed spiritually. I missed the familiarity of my home church – not just in language but also in style and in the bodies that filled the room. It all just seemed so foreign.  

Gradually, Sundays became easier. I understood more and more as my language ability increased, and I got to know people at church. I learned some of the songs and began to love them as I loved songs in English. Church seemed less like work and more like worship. But even after many years abroad, sometimes Sundays are still hard! I still miss being in my home culture at Christmas and Easter, for example, singing the familiar hymns that those seasons bring, even though I’ve come to love my church family where I am.

If you find yourself struggling with Sundays, please know that you are not alone! I cannot promise that things will drastically improve; I do not know each individual set of circumstances and situations and do not want to make false promises! But I do know that God is faithful and that He will sustain you in this season: His promises are forever sure.