Worshiping God involves communing with Him. During worship we are uplifted in spirit and we often try to use the rarest of words to praise and eulogise God. At such times using words from a second or even third language may not be befitting. Your choice word, most certainly, will not convey the root meaning of what you intend to say. In almost every culture, there is a language the people commune with God which cannot be successfully interpreted in a “foreign” language.

In the light of the above discuss, it is surprising to note that the diocese of one of main churches in Lagos does not allow the use of languages other than English or Yoruba for all Sunday services.

i have never seen where a church will ask you not to pray in the language you like - you have mis understood their intention.

nodes head!Not again!!!Where did you get that epistle from? God understands all languages. You can pray in whatever language you want. What matters is ur heart.

It's not just in naija, even in America. I know at least 3 Nigerian churches where the pastors get mad as the mad hatter should any member speak coz language other than English.

It.'s so stupid because not everyone speaks English, especially the older members. One time this old woman came up to give testimony and she sang her praise worship song in Yoruba, me course well wishers joined her and it went longer than planned. The pastor was on happy. When it came time to preach, he talked about it saying members had to be respectful of the foreigners in church. First of all, how about respecting your own culture and secondly, there no freaking foreigners in the church, they already already their own English speaking churches.

What's ironic is that the few foreign visitors to the churche have loved it coz it was different from what they were used to. . .what we are trying to be.

It's sad really coz it's only Nigerians who do this. I've been to a hispanic church, a polish church, a Greek church and they all spoke their languages.

@ poster

It only makes sense if the congregation consists of diverse languages. Where the congregation is predominantly of one group or another, then it would make sense for a service in that language.

Sisi_Kill:

It's not just in naija, even in America. I know at least 3 Nigerian churches where the pastors get mad as the mad hatter should any member speak coz language other than English.

It.'s so silly because not everyone speaks English, especially the older members. One time this old woman came up to give testimony and she sang her praise worship song in Yoruba, me course well wishers joined her and it went longer than planned. The pastor was on happy. When it came time to preach, he talked about it saying members had to be respectful of the foreigners in church. First of all, how about respecting your own culture and secondly, there no freaking foreigners in the church, they already already their own English speaking churches.

What's ironic is that the few foreign visitors to the churche have loved it coz it was different from what they were used to. . .what we are trying to be.

It's sad really coz it's only Nigerians who do this. I've been to a hispanic church, a polish church, a Greek church and they all spoke their languages.   

In a way I can understand that, in another I don't.  This is not unique to Nigerian churches.

Many churches have found a way around this, one church arrangement springs to mind; there was translations for those whose first language wasn't English.  When someone wanted to give a testimony, there was always a translator available.

I'm sure it's not that difficult for Nigerian churches to do the same if they do not want to have services in specific languages.

Very ridiculous.

Sisi_Kill:

It's not just in naija, even in America. I know at least 3 Nigerian churches where the pastors get mad as the mad hatter should any member speak coz language other than English.

It.'s so silly because not everyone speaks English, especially the older members. One time this old woman came up to give testimony and she sang her praise worship song in Yoruba, me course well wishers joined her and it went longer than planned. The pastor was on happy. When it came time to preach, he talked about it saying members had to be respectful of the foreigners in church. First of all, how about respecting your own culture and secondly, there no freaking foreigners in the church, they already already their own English speaking churches.

What's ironic is that the few foreign visitors to the churche have loved it coz it was different from what they were used to. . .what we are trying to be.

It's sad really coz it's only Nigerians who do this. I've been to a hispanic church, a polish church, a Greek church and they all spoke their languages.

in the us it is considered rude to speak a language wher not everyone involved understands it. greek, polish, hispanic churches have a singular language while nigeria has 3 main and dozens of other dialects. english is what they are most likely to have the most people understand. if you want to attend a nigerian church that speaks in the native tounge you are going to have to look for one that caters specifily to your dialect (youba, igbo, housa, whatnot) same etiquite applies in european countries