So You Think You Can Dance?

by Leah Barker

This has been a question since the beginning of our trip here to Brazil. This is an area that is not looked highly on in the Church of the Nazarene but you know that here in Brazil it is part of the ministry in the Campinas Central Church of the Nazarene. To be honest, I think that America and its media has put such a bad impression of a beautiful gift that God has given people and has turned it into provocative, sexual, and seductive trash. Just because someone can move to a certain beat, and they love doing so, they shouldn’t just give up because others hate it.

Here, my ministry has been working with the Nazateens. There are anywhere between 100-200 teens with whom we have some kind of contact. I specifically work with the teen girls, attending their Friday night Bible studies as well as observe, support, and encourage them as they practice their dance routines. Just like anything else in order to be good they have to practice. It was Easter Sunday with I realized how important dance really was to these teenage girls. In the evening service I arrived and they invited me to watch them perform in the children’s services. So I did and this is what I saw; seven girls putting their whole hearts into glorifying God through dance and song. Before hand, while taking pictures I noticed that this one girl who usually smiled for everything did not want to smile for the pictures, but wow, when she got on that stage the only thing on her mind was God and dancing for his glory. That smile could not be wiped off of her face even if you had wanted to. That is what I call dancing in the presence of God.

This past weekend I was invited to spend the weekend with one of the teens and her family. So, Saturday morning, at 8am we arose and off we went to Ballet practice. Now for me, ballet is not a style that I particularly enjoy watching, but this Saturday I did. The reason was because to Thayla this is her life and dream. She wants to make a life using her dancing ability. She loves to dance all kinds of music and you can tell. When you see her perform she glides right along that platform with love passion in her eyes.

In the Bible, God doesn’t say not to dance; in fact he encourages it in a way to glorify Him. No matter if you like dance or not, try to look it as a way that some use to glorify Him. That is why this particular ministry formed: by a person’s love for dance and love for God. Now two women lead this group and they have impacted a lot of teenagers’ lives. Some may be the only Christians in their homes but their love for God and dance has helped them have a good Christian support system. Let us worship God in any way we feel lead to worship. Praise God we are free and can worship him whenever and wherever.