One of the things I love most about my role at World Relief is getting to work with teams from McLean Bible Church, my home church back in the states.A couple weeks ago I spent two weeks with the latest team to visit Rwanda.The ten men and women from MBC were here to teach workshops to pastors and lay leaders here on biblical principles of ministry.Their workshops were a huge success, and so was the other ministry activities the team took part in.I saw God working in powerful ways through the team – mostly because the team understood something central to the partnership, and that is that we are each different parts of the body, with different functions, but the same body still (1 Corinthians 12).
One of the most touching things that happened during the trip was when my colleague, and friend, and brother in Christ – Emmanuel Kayijuka – was talking to a group made up of the team members, WR staff, and local church members.He grabbed the hands of an elderly woman from the church who leads a volunteer ministry, and the hand of the church’s pastor and the hand of one of the team members, and along with his hand formed the logo of World Relief.He said, “This is World Relief, the local church volunteer, the local pastor, the World Relief staff, and the church in America all coming together to help the poor.”This moment was a real reminder of how the body of Christ can come together and be the hands of Jesus.(see the photo at the top of this post)
It’s great to see MBC stepping up to embrace what it means to be a part of the global body of Christ.Five teams have headed to the AGL already, the church is partnering with the WR Child Survival program in Burundi and the work of Church mobilization in the region.I am serving here for two years and soon will be joined by another long termer for two years and another one for several months this fall.IPJ is raising funds to support the work of WR.Also, exciting is that many in the church leadership are solidly behind the effort.Now I know most of my readers are from MBC/Frontline, so I will close by offering an encouragement to you – to take a step into learning more about what it means to be part of the body of Christ and get involved more with the partnership.
So i know i havent been the best about updating the blog lately, so here are a few random updates to ca
New Passport Pages – Few weeks ago I ran out of pages for visa stamps in my passport and had to get more added at the U.S. Embasy here in Kigali.
At a loss for time – Since the start of the year, I have seen 3 watches go down on me, the first two had batteries die that I haven’t been able to replace here, the third succumbed to water.Maybe God is telling me time isn’t as important as I make it, but like my latest $5 watch picked up at an open air market in Kisumu, Kenya.
Entertainment on two wheels – By far my favorite recreational activity, when I can find the time, is going for long rides on my motorcycle, but I now have a close number two.Watching episodes of the hit TV show CHiPs.(special shout out to my brother Allen for sending over the DVDs.)
50 places to lay my head – For those of you looking for an update on a post of my from back in December and are wondering, what latest tally of different places I have slept since moving to Africa is.
Facebook – Yes!The rumors are true, I finally joined the 21st Century and signed up for Facebook.I must say that it has helped me keep in touch with friends and family back home, but the best part is getting to play scrabble with foes back in the States – my favorite of which is my father.(Think I have about 10 games going on right now…if you think you can handle me, feel free to challenge me.)
I spent the last week or so traveling in Burundi both in the capital of Bujumbura and in Gatega with a team from Frontline that was working with world relief. the day before i arrive fighting broke out between a rebel group and the government. I never was in any danger, but the gunfire and explosions i could hear most nights in the distance were a clear indication that it was a dangerous time for many.
I am safely back in Rwanda now, but the fighting still continues back in Burundi. The western media hasn't really picked up on the story, but here is one report i found from late last week:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7354005.stm
Please be praying for peace in Burundi and that the Church would be the salt and light during this difficult time.
They also asked me to write up an entry for their blog that can be read here:
Do you have a message for frontline…
An unmistakable fact about the world is that it is filled with poverty.You may have first hand experience with it, or just know the overwhelming statistics.In Deuteronomy 10:17 God reminds us that, “there will always be poor people in the land.Therefore be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land.”From this passage and hundreds of others in the Bible, we know that as Christians we are supposed to care for the poor, feed the hungry, and clothe the naked.
The East Africa/Great Lakes region, which is where McLean/World Relief partnership is working, is one of the poorest parts of the world.About half the population here is surviving on about a dollar a day or less.One out of five children born today won’t see their fifth birthday, and millions of people have died from preventable diseases like AIDS or Malaria.Decades of ethnic and political tensions have made violence and genocide heartbreaking reality for most people to deal with.
However, in the midst of this darkness, the light of Christ shines as a ray of hope.In Rwanda or elsewhere in Africa, the local church is suffering right along side its people, but it is also responding to the suffering.I would say that Christians in America – Frontliners like you – have a role to play too, in responding to the needs of our African neighbors.
Our response can’t be one generated out of obligation or guilt, it needs to be Christ like and one that springs forth from our heart with love.
This starts by sharing in the sufferings of the church around the world.(2 Corinthians 12:26)God knows our sufferings, the bible refers to Christ as Immanuel, God with us, and in his life he showed true compassion – suffering with people.If our response doesn’t start with a compassionate then we are falling short of what a true Christ like response.(I talked more about what it means to suffer with the global body in a post on my blog last week.)
Second, action is required.We can’t just be filled with grief and sorrow and pain and do nothing.James exposes this common inadequacy in human response by asking the question, “Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.If one of you says to him, ‘go I wish you well; be warm and well fed,’ what good is it.”
The action taken must inevitably be one that costs us something.Whether its our time, our hearts or our financial resources, God is calling us to give ourselves away – to sacrifice.Paul urges us in Romans 12:1, “to offer our bodies as living sacrifices, Holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.”He is saying that the way we live our lives is an act of worship.I would argue that way we live our lives in relation to the poor is part of that life of sacrificial worship.
The purpose of worship is to bring glory to God, and that is just what we do when we are open-handed to the poor.When Todd and I spoke during his message on Sunday at Frontline, I referenced Isaiah 58.In this chapter of scripture God is compelling us to make our fast before God dedicated to: loosing the chains of injustice, setting the oppressed free, sharing our food with the hungry, and clothing the naked.In the midst of that chapter is a powerful “if then statement.”Isaiah 58:10 reads:
If you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness and you night will become like the noonday sun.
When we care for the poor, Christ shines through us.Our spirit led actions on behalf of the poor, means the message of Christ is lived out, and his message is what explains these actions.The way we live our lives and the way we worship is inseparable.And there is great opportunity to worship God by loving and caring for the poor.
So I would close by urging my brothers and sisters at Frontline to allow yourselves to be moved by the suffering of those in need, (both in your neighborhoods and around the world) and to take that suffering on as your own. Respond to that suffering sacrificially, and allow that sacrifice to be an act of worship that brings glory to God.
This year really has started off with a flurry of activity form me.I have been working like crazy – probably the hardest I have ever worked in my life – and I have been on the road a lot.Several preaching and teaching engagements, a number of visitors to host and trips to the field and other countries, and many long days that turned into long nights in the office.I also find myself giving just about everything I have over the work that I have been called here for.My eyes are being opened in new ways almost daily, and my heart is being broken time and time again.
In the first six weeks of the year I have made two week long trips to Kenya, a trip to DR Congo, and visit to the area of Rwanda hardest hit by a recent earthquake.Kenya is in the midst of turmoil stemming from a recent violence that erupted following an earthquake.Tens if not hundreds of thousands have been displaced from their homes and many have been killed and injured.Congo remains a country overcome by a seemingly endless cycle of violence and death.Here is a recent article from the NYTimes about the situation over there.In the last few weeks, Southwestern Rwanda has experienced a series of devastating earthquakes – which have left dozens dead and tens of thousands homeless.
Poverty is before me almost every day, I have lived in the midst of it since I got here – I can’t forget it exists.Serving the poor in East Africa is why I have been called here. However, the suffering and pain I have seek in the last few months is the kind of pain that pierced my heart in a new way and I know will leave a mark for life.
Whether it’s the look of desperation that was on the faces of the people at a food distribution for the people of Kenya’s, Kibera slums who have lost the little they had in the violence; or whether it’s the families in Rwanda who have been sleeping outside for two weeks now because the houses are crumbling under the repeated earthquakes, my heart has been broken over and over again as of late.I can’t help but forget that I am surrounded by poverty, hunger and vulnerability.
See for me what has been hardest is that in the midst of this suffering, I find myself suffering to – feeling pain.And I think that should be at the heart of a healthy reaction to the suffering of others.1 Corinthian 12 talks about the body of Christ, and the fact that we are all interdependent on one another.Verse 26 says, “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored every part rejoices with it.”And that’s the thing we have to remember if the Church and its people are suffering – as brothers and sister in Christ – we are suffering too.
In a recent meeting with WR staff from all over east Africa, a colleague of mine from Congo stood up and said, “As long as there is war and violence in Kenya, we will not have peace in Congo.When Rwanda is hurting from an earthquake we are hurting.If ethnic tensions are high in Burundi, we face trouble too.”These words moved me.they were a powerful reminder that we as Christians are not in this alone.When we hurt others hurt – and when others hurt we are all supposed to feel that pain.
The meaning of the word “compassion,” as derived from Greek, is literally, “to suffer with.”In the new testament, we see the word compassion a dozen or so times in relation to Christ’s compassion on others – and in each case it prompts him to action.This suffering we experience for our brothers is supposed to compel us on to action – be loving to those without love – be open handed to the poor – correct injustices where we see them – carry the light to the lost.
So I will just close with this thought, that as long as millions die from AIDS every year we are having brothers and sisters die, as long as there are Christians in this world being persecuted we are suffering for our faith, as long as blood shed happens in the middle east we are without peace, as long as their children going to bed at night without food or clean water, we are all starving.WE MUST have compassion.It is the response that we are called to.
First, it is probably important to note that it has been many weeks since I posted on the blog.I appreciate all the encouragement and requests for updates that I have gotten.I have been busy – and having a tough time processing some of the events of the last few weeks into thought out postings, but I think my break is over and you can expect a few posts to be popping up in the next couple weeks.
