First reflections on a difficult task

Okay, so I know it is Christmas and I am supposed to be thinking about Jesus being born and making sage observations of theological and/or spiritual significance.  But actually, for the last six weeks or so I have found my spare moments occupied with the thought that it is ten years since we finished out time with OMF International.  It is hard to leave a group of people that you love; it is sad to let go of membership of an organisation that you have been part of for nearly twenty years.

The three month sabbatical with which we finished off was totally inadequate for the trauma that came before, but I don’t suppose anything different could have changed the fact that it would take years to manage thee grief of all that the leaving entailed.  So, after ten years I have decided to reflect deliberately on the time just before … the three years of being the National Director for Southern Africa and what made it so hard.

When I decided to do this every time I sat down to write nothing happened.  It was as if my fingers knotted themselves and declared me dumb.  Eventually I managed a word-storm with pencil crayons on paper! So now I try again with the first thoughts about the three years.

Interestingly first words flung onto that page were about relationships.  People: too many to count and so many only met once, or never met at all.  But there were deeply significant relationships, which became then part of the loss to be grieved.

This task that I was assigned was not only a task; it was a position.  It was a position with a history and so a lot of the way people related to me had nothing whatsoever to do with me!  This required humility and gratitude.  There were all these people supporting and loving me just because I had been appointed to do this task.  But that was, alas, something of a minority.  Over quite a long period OMF-ZA had been through a very hard time and there were a lot of people who had disagreed with some of the decisions taken by my predecessors.  So I had a lot of people who related to me with suspicion – they didn’t trust the guys who came before and they were not about to trust me.  But there was worse.  A number of people had built up considerable anger with leadership of the organisation, and they were naturally extremely angry with me.  It was so interesting to be on the receiving end of this rejection that wasn’t really personal. 

Oddly enough I didn’t find this difficult at all.  I think God really enabled me here.  I felt an overwhelming tenderness for all the precious people who became part of my charge.  The anger and resentment didn’t hurt at all.  I found myself delighted by the wonder of all these different people, and experienced a deep longing to touch their lives positively, to somehow show that they were loved.

I had ideas for how to go about building relationships and plans for showing people that they were respected and loved.   But there is the rub.  The responsibilities were vast.  There were five distinct defined groups of people:  the missionaries (in East Asia and on home assignment in South Africa), the staff employed in South Africa to help run OMF here, the board supporting and making decisions, the people who led OMF prayer groups, and the pastors of churches which were “home” to missionaries.  There were also the more occasional and intensely important applicants.  Now that is a lot of people, but there was also a large amorphous lot of people who would be called “supporters”.

I was incapable of giving the pastoral time to all these people.  It was a constant tension for me, a sorrow. 

The Proactive Pastor

This is Pastor Felix of "Those who Trust in the Lord Church" in Montana (Western Cape, South Africa).

In June they are having a mission event hosting a speaker from Nigeria.  Big stuff.  Big expectations.

But Pastor Felix knows that most big events just make everyone already in the church feel excited for a few days and proud that they have done something important.  Then, it is business as usual.

Enter "Discipling Nations" (see post from 19 January).

Pastor Felix is also on the board of Discipling Nations (now you can see how forward-looking he is).  So he called Martin in to have a conflab, becasue Martin is the chair while Willem is on sabbatical.

The upshot?


A Storyboard Street Art course will run 22-23 July to enable the members of  "Those who Trust in the Lord Church" to get out onto the streets with the good news in a form people are able to receive.  Told in a way that allows people to move off with a story in their hearts which can speak to them until they are ready to find out more.

Right through the BIble

... in about 75 minutes!  

Trying to help everyone make sense of each bit as they read it.

walk the hub

Last night the weather forecast was for rain again this morning.
We decided that whatever the weather, we would take the morning to walk and pray in the various spots where we hope to have street art events over time. 

We prayed for God to show us clearly whether, where and when we should do the "free to live" installation. 

We also prayed for God to show us how he wants to communicate with people in these places through street art.

Serve by Prayer

To pray is to act.

All other actions should arise from prayer.

Please note:  As with all our sharing about the things behind what we do and how we do it, we are not saying that this is how all Christians should work.  We are telling you what we understand of how God has asked US to work!
We are challenged constantly by this aspect of the way God has asked us to serve.  It is counter-intuitive like so much of the Christian life; waiting for ideas and choices to emerge from prayer is different.  Building a life of prayer is one of the hardest things we do; but without this we are not serving in the way God asks us to serve. 

This is much more than praying about choices or activities. 

This is praying as a choice; praying as the primary activity; praying as life and work. 

This street theatre, Easter 2009, was this direct result of prayer.

I am sure you can see the issues rolling in like breakers in a storm.  When, why, how, what, where ... does the prayer happen?  How do you get around to other things?  Surely prayer can't be real action - I mean God surely wants you to DO stuff too?  Yes ... we feel the questions too.  I mean a photo of me sitting here praying is not exactly riveting excitement for people who are hoping God is actually using us to achieve things.  What about proper strategy?  What about being organised?  What about getting things done?  Don't you need to do some pushing, some moving and shaking?  Err ... it is hard to put this gently.  Basically, no.  We have found (through sometimes quite tough experience) that all these excellent approaches to ministry is not the way God uses us. 

But ... Prayer is hard work.  Prayer is not a meaurable-achievement activity.  Prayer demands flexibility.  Prayer is a privilege.  Prayer is adventure.  Prayer is never-knowing-what-will-happen-next.  A very resected colleague of ours once said:

When I work, I work.  When I pray, God works.



the Francis principle ...

I was chatting to someone a few weeks ago about relating to people who don't know Jesus yet, especially people of other faiths.  He said:  "Well, you know, St Francis of Assisi said, 'always preach the gospel, when necessary use words.'  I can live with that."

I wonder how many time I have heard this quotation? 
(Incidentally it appears in slightly different forms on different quotation websites, sometimes several forms on the same site.  However the meaning is as above!)
It is nearly always in the context of explaining why one shouldn't really be talking about Jesus with people, but granting that there may be situations in which one absolutely has to say something.  I usually feel rather as it I have been reprimanded for wanting to speak about Jesus. 

On Saturday I was reading the Bible (Luke) an became overwhelmed by how amazing Jesus is.  As I experienced the thrill of his love I was so aware of people for whom he is still a stranger.  How exciting to talk about him; I felt a sense of overflowing.  I thought: I should be so eager to praise Jesus to other people, that the only thing that can stop me speaking is an instantaneous conviction that in a particular situation I need to be quiet.  I should be always seaching for the opening to point to Jesus.

This is the most magical book
about a beautiful person.

So, what about Francis?  But, then my conversation companions often don't know very much about Francis, who was an amazing person and really worth knowing a lot about.  For one thing, he said quite a lot; for example:

It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching.

and
While you are proclaiming peace with your lips, be careful to have it even more fully in your heart. 
and the famous
Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.
There is much more, that is truly worthwhile to invite one deeper into the spiritual journey.

There is more that my companions are neglecting.  When Francis spoke his gentle sayings, he was speaking as one who travelled extensively, with the express purpose of preaching, of speaking about Jesus.  In fact he travelled to Egypt specifically to speak with the sultan about following Jesus; those who were part of the Little Brothers were encouraged to learn the languages of countries where Jesus was not known, in order to communicate more deeply when talking about Jesus. 

In fact words of Jesus from Matthew 10:7-10 were a key part of his conversion.  The first sentence is:  "As you go, proclaim this message: 'The kingdom of heaven has come near.'"  Francis was a wonderfully humble and gently charming man; he loved solitude in nature, however, most of his life was spent living, helping and preaching in the teeming and poverty-ridden cities of his time.  His experience of Jesus was so profound, and so continuous that he lived intensely to share the life of Jesus with others.

So, in spite of the many who try to use Francis to argue against telling people about Jesus, I find him a forceful inspiration for seeking to know Jesus more and in the privilege of that hourly experience to delight in serving people who haven't begun the journey yet.

Serve Invisibly

Jesus talks a lot about hiddenness. 

There is the seed that is planted, and grows invisibly. 

There are the servants who serve well even when the boss is away.

Treasure, yeast, shepherds, giving, prayer, fasting ...

and of course sparrows, seen by the Father, unseen by people.

 

Okay ... I KNOW it's a Cape Robin, not a sparrow! 

We have grown into a strong sense of the high value of invisible service, hidden ministry.  Something about the way God has chosen to use us demands the willingness to do things that look as if they don't count, that seem to have no result.  This can be tough going!  It means getting our sense of worth from seeking God, not from doing great deeds for him. (As if he needs me to do anything for him anyway!)  It means finding people to support us who can see the invisible.  It means learning to value things that we have been taught are of no value. 

We know that this doesn't apply to everything, nor to every ministry, but we know just as truly that this is how we must live and work. 

Serve People

People are more important than plans.

In fact:

People are the plan.

A chat on the steps

We are programmed by everything we've ever been taught to achieve.  We have been brainwashed effectively to know that in order to achieve we must have a plan.  So far so good.

The trouble is, it seems that sometimes (maybe even often) God isn't very interested in our plans.  Now we aren't saying this is true for everyone, and we really do value the training we've had in plan-making.  We are just saying that we don't get to use it very often in the normal, expected way. 

People in the house

People don't fit.  We are awkward shapes in the jigsaw puzzle of life, leaving blank spaces and sudden transitions away from the picture everyone else is building.  No plan we have ever made has happened: almost always because of people. But then, God sends us to people, God brings people to us.

People in the garden

So we have found that one value we need if we are to serve God in the way he wants us to is the people one.  Jesus was constantly stopping for individuals.  He ate lunch with them; he had long conversations with them (even if they weren't 'stratigic' people); he cuddled the babies and took his disciples fishing.

So, there are days when we don't get anything done, but somehow those are the days when we go to sleep with our hearts full of people, carrying joys and sorrows, experiencing hopes and fears.  We think that maybe those are the days when our chaotic lives are most touched by God.





Serve Creatively

God is the creator; we think he made people to be creative too.  After all, we are created in his image!  So we try to approach our work with imagination and innovation.

We use art a lot.  Martin is a capable visual artist; his paintings and drawing invite people into more.  Lesley gets involved in visual art too in her own way.  We try to write an speak aesthetically.  We use drama, role-play and mime whenever we can.  Music is one of the arts more commonly used in Christian activity and we try not to neglect it!  Our children try to keep us up to date. 
We love the flow of ideas that happens when we 'do art'. 
If you follow this blog you'll see more about how we use the arts.

Creativity is more than using art and different media.  It's being willing to clear the slate and imagine doing something as if it has never been done before.  It's going back to basics and being inventive.  We hope to always be developing, always learning, always discovering in the way we serve God and his people.

Boring?  What's that?