The Agapé African Choir from Makhado (Louis Trichardt) had the experience of a lifetime during their three nation tour from 19 September to 5 October.
They made a unique impact, while doors opened in more than one way. “We had people come up to us and say things like, ‘It made me happy just to look at you.’ Who would've thought that a choir from our little town could touch hearts on the other side of the world? I came to the humbling realization that we actually do have something to offer to the nations of the world. Beyond the sound of Africa, it was the joy and liberty of being African, standing together as mixed races and cultures, and people of all ages that truly touched the hearts of people in Indonesia, South Korea and Malaysia. We stood amazed at what our great God did. All the glory and honour be unto Him!” said Pastor Grant Clifton, the choir director, on returning.
The first stop on the choir’s hectic ministering schedule was in Jakarta, Indonesia. “The traffic is incredible, but the respect people have for each other is evident in the way you can walk into four lanes of peak hour traffic, with your hand raised, and every car and motorbike (of which there must be a million on the road!) just stop for you to cross over, no hooting nor fists waving. The people of the City Vision church in Jakarta, which hosted us, have such overwhelmingly serving hearts. We had a fantastic time performing our show the Saturday and then worshipping on the Sunday with the church,” said choir member Mark Archer.
In Seoul, South Korea, the choir was amazed to see absolutely no litter in the streets and experience that everything was organized and perfectly on time. An unexpected door opened when their host, Nowon Full Gospel Church in Seoul, South Korea, informed Past Sam van Niekerk of Agapé Christian Centre that they would send a five-member delegation on a fact-finding mission to the Agapé Church this year. Nowon is a church of 40 000 members.
In Seoul, the choir had six ministering opportunities. “When our choir sang Amazing Grace together with the Nowon youth choir, the blending of the young South Korean voices and ours was incredible. Another major highlight was when we were taken to the prayer mountain in Seoul, a Christian retreat dedicated to intensified prayer and fasting by Christians. The auditorium on that mountain seats 10 000 people. The prayer caves, where individuals can retreat to fast and pray, were an eye opener to how much South Koreans believe in the power of prayer. When they start praying, you feel the presence of God flowing,” said choir member Bev Dube. From Seoul, the choir departed for Kota Kinabalu (KK) in East Malaysia, where they were hosted by the Glory Christian Centre (GCC) of Dr Willam Vun.
For Pastor Sam, a multi-racial choir was a dream that he had cherished in his heart since 1983. He never imagined what impact this choir would have on other nations. “We had some flash mob performances, but the flash mob in the KK city mall was the highlight of the tour for me. After the flash mob, people who had never been to GCC arrived there for our performances. Our last performance drew a full house of 2500 people. Dr Vun said that the choir had opened a door for GCC to the city that had been shut before,” Past Sam said.
The Agapé African Choir will perform locally on 24 October. For more information, see the calendar page.
