God's House

Does it make a difference what "God's House" looks like?  Where we went to church 2 weeks ago was in sharp contrast to where we attended today.  Both buildings were in Monrovia, but one was down a dirt track and the other was on a 4 lane highway.  The one was unfinished with 1 wall of cement blocks, 3 walls of woven mats, a zinc roof, a dirt floor, and benches with no backs.  The other was a church that will be celebrating its 50th anniversary next year and has a large building with ceiling fans, a sound system, choir with robes, a keyboard to accompany singing, and benches with backs.
What do you think?  Was God's presence more apparent in one building than the other?  Was worship more meaningful in the nicer building?  Actually the Bible teaches us that God lives within a believer, not in a building, so when believers entered either building, God went in with us.  It makes absolutely no difference what the building is like.  Worship takes place in the heart, not the building.  And the "church" is a group of believers, not a building.
This morning I attended the women's Sunday School class and what a blessing it was.  I saw something I had never seen in Liberia and it was awesome!  The ladies had a good discussion and expressed their views which were well grounded on Scriptural principles.  What I had experienced years ago was ladies who didn't have much to say.  I'm not sure if that was lack of confidence, lack of understanding, or cultural, but what I witnessed today was a most welcome change.  I love it and praise the Lord for the opportunity to see it for myself.
I'm not sure how much "ministering" we will be doing on a weekly basis since the Liberians are so capable.  I have mentioned in other posts that we are here mainly in an advisory capacity.  That means we will help put out any "fires" that might erupt plus be involved in training seminars for church leaders.  The Sheppards were much more involved than we will be since they knew the ins and outs of areas that needed attention.  We just praise the Lord for the opportunity to be here to do what little we can.  God is good!