I came home yesterday to have the following conversation with my Nigerian roommate:
CS: It's hot. [ We have no air conditioning at the moment .]
MNR: Have you been indoors all day?
CS:No, I walked to church and then home and then to work.
MNR: Oh, where do you go to church?
CS: [ ILEOS ] Episcopal Church over the way [ I wave toward downtown Laodicea ]
MNR: Oh, so you are a Pentecostal?
CS: No, I'm an Anglican.
MNR: That's kind of like Catholic, right? [ Which is exactly what most Protestants say in this country. MNR is a Baptist. The Catholics I know seem to like comparing us to Lutherans. )
CS: You must be from the Catholic part of Nigeria.
MNR: Yes. Though I might know some Anglicans, I think.
CS: I've always been told there's plenty of them in Nigeria.
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The explanation for the Pentecostal guess is the use of Episcopal. MNR never has heard of Episcopalians, so he guessed it was a new Pentecostal group, being the most likely guess for something he hasn't heard of in a Nigerian context. I did not probe for name recognition of Peter Jasper Akinola, for whom we continually pray that he may not number the godly among the lawless.
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