Sister Church Program The Presbyterian Church of Markala Unity Church of Albany
	The Presbyterian Church of Markala, Mali and the Unity Church of Albany NY are learning about each others' cultural and spiritual orientations via a 'sister church program'.  As part of the program, which is evolving between the ministers and congregations of the churchs, questions, music,  sermons, and other things can be shared.  In Markala, Stephen will take pictures, tape record parts of services, and have questions and statements translated in English. He will then send physical items to the Unity Church, and post pictures and other descriptions on this website.  As of April 2, the Church in Markala supplied its first tape recording with music, questions, and part of a sermon. As you can see from the pictures , the church in Markala is simple. It does not have stained glass windows, padded seating, piano or organ.  A typical service starts at 9 am and goes to 11 am. There is music and some prayer for the first hour or more. Men sit together, as do women, then children. There is a choir. Instruments are 2 drums and 2 gourds with shells on them. After the first hour of music, the minister talks (in Bambara language) for about 45 minutes. They are very Bible oriented, every lesson being taken from the old testament.  There are a few announcements and business reports presented also. I am lucky because one of the congregation members is a school teacher who speaks English fairly well. His name is Togo, and he acts as my translator and that of the sister church program also. In their first exchange, the Markala Church offered some of its history, having been formed in the early 1990s. About 2 percent of the population in Mali is Christian. About 95 percent are Moslem. Others are anamist, the native African spititual tradition which the French did their best to minimize during their colonialization. Next in their offering, the Markala Church wanted to know about the Unity Church. For example, how many people attend, at what time, how many children, and what training does the minister have?  (The minister here went to a special training school for Presbyterian ministers in Mali.) So there you have it, the start of a cultural and spiritual exchange which can develop as both congragations and ministers steer it.  I will supply updates here and via pictures in the future. Unity Albany will have the sound recordings from Markala. Have fun!