In this week's Gospel lesson, the "Widow's Mite," Jesus is observing the parade of Temple goers as they bring their offerings.
He watches the prominent religious leaders make a show of their generosity out of their wealth. (Let's not hate them too quickly. Maybe they just read the most recent book on church stewardship that encouraged modeling by the community leaders, and they were announcing the lead gifts to begin the fall campaign.)
Then came the widow who gave her two small coins, giving all that she had out of her poverty. She, according to Jesus, out gave them all on that day.
In worship one Sunday in a church in the Kamina District, I was sitting where I had an unobstructed view of the offering box. The Tithe Offering was called for. The choir sang, the pastor exhorted, but no one came. Like a ton of hand made bricks, it hit me: These people tithe in real time. No one got paid this week. There are very few jobs, and those who have them, don't always get paid what is promised.
The Thank Offering came later in the service. Every one came, even those who had no money. With singing and dancing, it was clear that many had much to be thankful for, and those who had nothing took joy in thanking God before hand.
There was another offering that day: the harvest in-gathering for the pastors' families. Church members were extremely generous in providing for their pastors and their families. There was very little money for salaries, but there were bags and bags of manioc and maize that day.
The people of the Congo live somewhere between the Thank Offering and the Tithe Offering, trusting in God for all that they need, not yet rewarded for their hard work. This is where we are appointed: to sit with, walk with, to stand in the gap, as the Church and community move boldly toward sustainability and a hearty Sunday morning parade of tithers.
Bob
Friday, November 6, 2009
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Projects for 2010
It was pretty exciting to work this summer with the district superintendents, pastors, and lay leaders in both the North Katanga Conference and the Tanganyika Conference on proposed projects for 2010. The good news is that they/we have some great projects in the pipeline. The hard news is that the price tag breaks through the $500,000 ceiling. (We’re all trusting that God will provide enough friends; the friends will provide the money.)
1. Church and parsonage construction tops the list, along with construction of schools and clinics. Folk continue to ask us how much it costs to build a church. The answer is, “a lot more than it used to.” Costs for cement are climbing faster than oil prices. Transportation is the big problem in getting cement and roofing to the churches. All of our churches (hundreds of them) are building. We don’t build one church at a time. When a congregation gets to a place in construction where they need the cement or roofing, they petition the district superintendent, who in turn, petitions the conference construction coordinator. The answer is “yes,” if we have the cement and roofing and if we can get it to them. Often, we can’t. 2009 donations from the Evansville District have made it possible to answer “yes,” but even then only to accessible locations. Getting materials to churches in the remote districts of the Tanganyika Conference is the challenge for 2010.
2. Transportation is second. The bicycle program continues to be our best investm
ent. However, the availability and low cost of motorcycles have invited us to think about providing motorcycles for our district superintendents, who have large districts to cover. In addition, some of our districts are accessible only by water, those along Lake Tanganyika or the Congo River. We’re looking at two boat projects. One will resurrect and repurpose (for evangelism and community health) an old commercial fishing boat on Lake Tanganyika and the other is the construction of a new boat for the Congo River. Together, the projects will cost over $100,000.
3. Education for the children of our United Methodist pastors and lay leaders is a great concern. Our pastors and lay leaders, who are highly educated, are not making enough to keep their children in school. We are in danger of having a generation less educated than their parents, at a time when education is critical. It is particularly disconcerting, as these families are our friends and their children are like nieces and nephews to us.
The needs expand from our short list: safe drinking water, medicines for our clinics, agricultural development, women’s centers, orphanages, on and on. The three major projects we’re working on in 2010 are platform projects for the others and are about as much as we can say grace over.
Your generosity puts us in the field there to work with these wonderful folk and provides the cash to purchase needed materials. Thanks so much for every gift.
Bob
1. Church and parsonage construction tops the list, along with construction of schools and clinics. Folk continue to ask us how much it costs to build a church. The answer is, “a lot more than it used to.” Costs for cement are climbing faster than oil prices. Transportation is the big problem in getting cement and roofing to the churches. All of our churches (hundreds of them) are building. We don’t build one church at a time. When a congregation gets to a place in construction where they need the cement or roofing, they petition the district superintendent, who in turn, petitions the conference construction coordinator. The answer is “yes,” if we have the cement and roofing and if we can get it to them. Often, we can’t. 2009 donations from the Evansville District have made it possible to answer “yes,” but even then only to accessible locations. Getting materials to churches in the remote districts of the Tanganyika Conference is the challenge for 2010.
2. Transportation is second. The bicycle program continues to be our best investm
ent. However, the availability and low cost of motorcycles have invited us to think about providing motorcycles for our district superintendents, who have large districts to cover. In addition, some of our districts are accessible only by water, those along Lake Tanganyika or the Congo River. We’re looking at two boat projects. One will resurrect and repurpose (for evangelism and community health) an old commercial fishing boat on Lake Tanganyika and the other is the construction of a new boat for the Congo River. Together, the projects will cost over $100,000.
3. Education for the children of our United Methodist pastors and lay leaders is a great concern. Our pastors and lay leaders, who are highly educated, are not making enough to keep their children in school. We are in danger of having a generation less educated than their parents, at a time when education is critical. It is particularly disconcerting, as these families are our friends and their children are like nieces and nephews to us.
The needs expand from our short list: safe drinking water, medicines for our clinics, agricultural development, women’s centers, orphanages, on and on. The three major projects we’re working on in 2010 are platform projects for the others and are about as much as we can say grace over.
Your generosity puts us in the field there to work with these wonderful folk and provides the cash to purchase needed materials. Thanks so much for every gift.
Bob
Preaching in Lebanon
This Sunday morning, I'm preaching in Lebanon, Indiana, at Centenary United Methodist Church for two very good friends, Pastors David and Marcy Patrick. They follow the lectionary, so in an effort to make my arrival not a time-out-for-a-mission-infomercial, I'll use the epistle lesson, Hebrews 4:12-16, as the sermon text. The title of the sermon: Jesus Is the Answer. Now, What Was the Question?
The text presents an opportunity to talk about how we use scripture (the word of God) to reflect back to the community the issues they are struggling with and lay "naked" their generative themes. In other words, scripture texts make obvious what we've been hiding from ourselves. When the questions become clear, the answers flow freely.
The second half of the text allows us to connect what we are doing today in war weary Congo (and in county seat Lebanon) with the high priestly work of Jesus on our behalf. The biggest theological struggle for Congolese Christians is puzzling through the question of how much of our future is dependent upon God and how much of it is built by our own hard work. Texts like this one link our own hard work with God's grace. It becomes not an either-or, but a both-and.
Here's a homework exercise for friends of Friendly Planet Missiology:
Cholera is killing our children. Why? Answer #1: The drinking water is contaminated.
Why is the drinking water contaminated? Because we are drawing water from the lake that is receiving our waste water.
Why are we doing that? Because there is no electricity to run the pumps.
Ask the Why? question at least six times and see what you come up with. Eventually, it becomes a theological question. If you are a pastor or Sunday school teacher, think of a scripture passage that asks the same question.
Now you're doing missiology. Congratulations, you are a missiologist!
Bob
Plainfield (Amitydale)
The text presents an opportunity to talk about how we use scripture (the word of God) to reflect back to the community the issues they are struggling with and lay "naked" their generative themes. In other words, scripture texts make obvious what we've been hiding from ourselves. When the questions become clear, the answers flow freely.
The second half of the text allows us to connect what we are doing today in war weary Congo (and in county seat Lebanon) with the high priestly work of Jesus on our behalf. The biggest theological struggle for Congolese Christians is puzzling through the question of how much of our future is dependent upon God and how much of it is built by our own hard work. Texts like this one link our own hard work with God's grace. It becomes not an either-or, but a both-and.
Here's a homework exercise for friends of Friendly Planet Missiology:
Cholera is killing our children. Why? Answer #1: The drinking water is contaminated.
Why is the drinking water contaminated? Because we are drawing water from the lake that is receiving our waste water.
Why are we doing that? Because there is no electricity to run the pumps.
Ask the Why? question at least six times and see what you come up with. Eventually, it becomes a theological question. If you are a pastor or Sunday school teacher, think of a scripture passage that asks the same question.
Now you're doing missiology. Congratulations, you are a missiologist!
Bob
Plainfield (Amitydale)
Monday, October 5, 2009
Exhausted
This Facebook message came from good friend Lorna Shoemaker at Christian Theological Seminary:
It was on this day in 1877 that the Nez Percé leader Chief Joseph surrendered to the U.S. Army in the mountains of Montana. He said: "I am tired of fighting. … Hear me, my chiefs; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever!"
My response to her: One of the UN peacekeepers/military observers in Kalemie (eastern Congo) said to me: "The people are tired of the war. They are exhausted from the fighting."
One of the issues we are facing in rebuilding church and community is that people are exhausted. The simple daily tasks of life require so much energy, energy that is not there. Food, clean water, school fees, housing, all come before grand dreams of good governance, peace building, community development, and even evangelism.
Leadership development can be as simple as paying our pastors enough to feed and school their children.
Bob
It was on this day in 1877 that the Nez Percé leader Chief Joseph surrendered to the U.S. Army in the mountains of Montana. He said: "I am tired of fighting. … Hear me, my chiefs; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever!"
My response to her: One of the UN peacekeepers/military observers in Kalemie (eastern Congo) said to me: "The people are tired of the war. They are exhausted from the fighting."
One of the issues we are facing in rebuilding church and community is that people are exhausted. The simple daily tasks of life require so much energy, energy that is not there. Food, clean water, school fees, housing, all come before grand dreams of good governance, peace building, community development, and even evangelism.
Leadership development can be as simple as paying our pastors enough to feed and school their children.
Bob
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Life in Lusaka
above: Jakarandas in bloom in Lusaka, Zambia
Taylor here.
Somehow a month has passed since beginning my surreal life in Lusaka, Zambia. I’m trying to be a supportive embassy wife (yes, I do attend the Diplomatic Spouses Association meetings) while keeping focused on my ministry, but it has been a big adjustment. Bouncing between Congo and the USA every few months can mess with your head. Bouncing daily between the social circles of Lusaka’s upscale neighborhoods and its slums---now that takes prayers for sanity. I pray a lot these days.
I’ve begun itinerate preaching in United Methodist congregations in the poorer parts of the city. District Superintendent John Ilunga selects where I go each week, and Brian, the District Secretary, serves as my fabulous interpreter. Brian and I meet each Saturday to reflect on that week’s lectionary texts (after spending the week studying them). Brian tells me what comes to his mind when he hears the texts—particularly in the context of the congregation we are about to visit. Then I propose a sermon outline, and he tells me if he thinks it will resonate. Brian has remarked that the themes I identify in the lectionary each week keep getting at the heart of the issues for congregations we visit. He says that we keep arriving in congregations at exactly the right week on the lectionary cycle.
above: Brian and DS Ilunga
The weekly sermon-prep Bible studies with Brian have been enlightening for both of us. He has asked that I start a study group with the other church leaders. I think I might do so soon. However, in addition to requests that I start offering classes, Superintendent Ilunga has dropped a big one on me: He is convinced that I am the person he has prayed for to come and start a United Methodist ministry on my side of town [i.e. expats and wealthy Zambians]. I am still discerning how to respond to this proposed appointment.
In the meantime, I am busy taking care of two dogs we just adopted from the shelter, cleaning our large government-assigned house (Come visit!), planting a vegetable garden, hitching rides to the open-air market, baking bread, e-mailing friends in Congo and the USA, attending embassy parties, taking ballet lessons (yup, you read correctly; the troupe’s winter production is raising funds for school construction), and eagerly anticipating the repair of the used car we imported from Japan so that I can spend more time out in the community.
Our new dogs adopted from the local shelter.
Please keep me in your prayers,
Taylor
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Back Home Again in Indiana
Just a blog to let folk know that I'm back in Indiana. I've been decompressing for a week. Teri and I took a couple days down in Nashville, Indiana, and in general I've been mostly just puttzing around the house. For those who have been following our family on Facebook, Robbie and I mowed the yard. I've disassembled and cleaned all our bird feeders. The MG started up first crank. I can't remember what was wrong with it when I parked it. It's now my daily driver.
The first public appearance was at the Residents in Ministry retreat at Camp Tecumseh, Monday and Tuesday. Good friend Cyndi Alte was the retreat leader and I was allowed to tag along and do the closing Bible study. The group of wonderful new pastors and deacons was very gracious to allow me to use them as I talked through my transition from the Congo to Indiana. We used the two texts I preached on at the annual conference in Kamina.
I'm struck by two conflicting feelings. First, how low the stakes are here compared to there. I'm not getting that from the pastors at the retreat, but from listening to the morning news shows. I want to run through the streets shouting, "There are whole communities dying today and we don't see them!" It's hard to get into the health care debate after being with people who will never see a doctor. My greatest fear is that missions in the Church has become the equivalent of charity fluff pieces on the Today Show. Clearly, I'm ranting incoherently now. More decompressing needed.
On the other hand, I'd really like the Church to see that community development/peace building is the same exercise here in Indiana as it is in the Congo. Our pastors here have exactly the same job as our pastors in the Congo. If we could change one mental model, it should be away from a neocolonial mission model and toward a mental model of collegial connection. These pastors and congregations in the Congo are not an uncountable, unnamed mass of poverty and despair. They are our colleagues in ministry. They are our friends. They are us.
I'm looking forward to the upcoming fall preaching schedule. Pity the churches, if I can't get the message clear in my head in the next few days.
Bob
Plainfield
The first public appearance was at the Residents in Ministry retreat at Camp Tecumseh, Monday and Tuesday. Good friend Cyndi Alte was the retreat leader and I was allowed to tag along and do the closing Bible study. The group of wonderful new pastors and deacons was very gracious to allow me to use them as I talked through my transition from the Congo to Indiana. We used the two texts I preached on at the annual conference in Kamina.
I'm struck by two conflicting feelings. First, how low the stakes are here compared to there. I'm not getting that from the pastors at the retreat, but from listening to the morning news shows. I want to run through the streets shouting, "There are whole communities dying today and we don't see them!" It's hard to get into the health care debate after being with people who will never see a doctor. My greatest fear is that missions in the Church has become the equivalent of charity fluff pieces on the Today Show. Clearly, I'm ranting incoherently now. More decompressing needed.
On the other hand, I'd really like the Church to see that community development/peace building is the same exercise here in Indiana as it is in the Congo. Our pastors here have exactly the same job as our pastors in the Congo. If we could change one mental model, it should be away from a neocolonial mission model and toward a mental model of collegial connection. These pastors and congregations in the Congo are not an uncountable, unnamed mass of poverty and despair. They are our colleagues in ministry. They are our friends. They are us.
I'm looking forward to the upcoming fall preaching schedule. Pity the churches, if I can't get the message clear in my head in the next few days.
Bob
Plainfield
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
2 Corinthians
Never been a fan of 2 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians, now that’s some great stuff! But 2 Corinthians not so much. Until I went to Kalemie.
In Kalemie, in the worst of the war induced famine, people were reduced to eating the husks of the cassava plant. In the Church they called the husks “Corinthians” from 2 Corinthians. I had to read 2 Corinthians to see what they were talking about.
Wow! Has a book of the Bible so come alive to a hungry people! From the opening greetings, Paul could have been talking directly to the Church at Kalemie. Affliction matches affliction.
Beyond that, the whole conversation around missing a promised visit is a living conversation here, where honor and shame are the primary motivators and visits are a high moment for a community and where transportation problems, as in Paul’s days, often postpone or cancel promised visits. Where feelings are hurt deeply when promises are not kept. It’s no wonder that it was a big deal that I was the first missionary to visit since the war.
The church politics in 2 Corinthians are raw. People saying things behind one another's backs. Ministries slandered. Paul does not over react or respond in kind. Rather, he offers a calm observation that there is no perfect church, just a plain clay jar, holding a treasure.
I arrived in Kalemie entirely dependent upon the hospitality of the Church. I get Paul’s desire to not be a burden. And yet, the importance of inserting himself into their problems.
Personally, the line I love is “I have been a fool! You forced me to it.” How Paul struggled with his relationship to and responsibility for the Church at Corinth.
Want to get some sense of the struggles of the Church in the Congo? Read 2 Corinthians with an open heart and mind. Try to get into their heads, and Paul’s head.
Bob
Kamina
In Kalemie, in the worst of the war induced famine, people were reduced to eating the husks of the cassava plant. In the Church they called the husks “Corinthians” from 2 Corinthians. I had to read 2 Corinthians to see what they were talking about.
Wow! Has a book of the Bible so come alive to a hungry people! From the opening greetings, Paul could have been talking directly to the Church at Kalemie. Affliction matches affliction.
Beyond that, the whole conversation around missing a promised visit is a living conversation here, where honor and shame are the primary motivators and visits are a high moment for a community and where transportation problems, as in Paul’s days, often postpone or cancel promised visits. Where feelings are hurt deeply when promises are not kept. It’s no wonder that it was a big deal that I was the first missionary to visit since the war.
The church politics in 2 Corinthians are raw. People saying things behind one another's backs. Ministries slandered. Paul does not over react or respond in kind. Rather, he offers a calm observation that there is no perfect church, just a plain clay jar, holding a treasure.
I arrived in Kalemie entirely dependent upon the hospitality of the Church. I get Paul’s desire to not be a burden. And yet, the importance of inserting himself into their problems.
Personally, the line I love is “I have been a fool! You forced me to it.” How Paul struggled with his relationship to and responsibility for the Church at Corinth.
Want to get some sense of the struggles of the Church in the Congo? Read 2 Corinthians with an open heart and mind. Try to get into their heads, and Paul’s head.
Bob
Kamina
Monday, September 14, 2009
Fall/Winter Tour
I’ve prepared 2 sermons, a Bible study, and a workshop for this fall/winter. Would love to visit your church, cluster group, Sunday School class, do a retreat, talk with a youth group, lecture in a seminary class, etc.
Sermon #1
Revelation 7:9-17
This is the sermon I preached at the North Kantanga Conference Memorial Service, modified for an American congregation. It celebrates the courage of our pastors and church leaders in the midst of a horrific series of wars that have taken over 4 million lives and left a people devastated. This is a story few United Methodists know. In spite of the terror, it is a story of remarkable spirit, filled with hope.
Sermon #2
Matthew 23:9
The social, political, economic setting of 1st century Galilee is a perfect overlay of present day Congo. Here, I don’t have to say, “In Jesus’ day, things were like…” Jesus’ teachings jump off the page at us! Jesus is the answer. Now, what was the question?
Can also be a Bible study.
Bible Study
Genesis 4:1-15
A study on the sin of jealousy, what it can lead to, and how we might master it. We cover the 3 questions Cain did not ask God. This sin of jealousy is killing us here in the Congo, but this conversation can also be helpful to an American audience around how one measures one’s own success (or lack of) in life. Maybe pastors and their appointments?
Workshop
Designed to cover Congo 101 to Missiology 900 in 45 minutes. Give me more time and we can talk about it. If these people believe in God, are pure of heart, and preach a solid Wesleyan theology, why is it not working for them? Or is it?
Love history? Love theology? Love seeing them talk to one another? This workshop is for you.
This workshop will be presented at the Pastors Convocation in Columbus, Indiana, in October. If you are a United Methodist Pastor in the Indiana Conference, be sure to sign up. Otherwise, invite me to come to your district or cluster.
What do we charge?
Here’s the deal: We figure that we need to raise $500,000 for 2010 for the building/rebuilding of The United Methodist Church in the North Katanga and Tanganyika Conferences. I know that this is some serious sticker shock, but we’re in a deep hole here and the costs of anything imported (cement, fuel, roofing) are sky rocketing. We’re looking for fearless partners who want to help us find that kind of money. Write a large check, make a big pledge, join the network of friends. I don’t want to scare you off, but one of the smallest churches in our conference, Baker Chapel, gave $10,000 for church construction and got this whole movement started.
Can Taylor come? (We’ve heard that she is the better preacher.)
Yes. Just add $3,000 for airfare from Zambia.
Actually, watch for dates when Taylor will be in Indiana.
Bob
Kamina
Sermon #1
Revelation 7:9-17
This is the sermon I preached at the North Kantanga Conference Memorial Service, modified for an American congregation. It celebrates the courage of our pastors and church leaders in the midst of a horrific series of wars that have taken over 4 million lives and left a people devastated. This is a story few United Methodists know. In spite of the terror, it is a story of remarkable spirit, filled with hope.
Sermon #2
Matthew 23:9
The social, political, economic setting of 1st century Galilee is a perfect overlay of present day Congo. Here, I don’t have to say, “In Jesus’ day, things were like…” Jesus’ teachings jump off the page at us! Jesus is the answer. Now, what was the question?
Can also be a Bible study.
Bible Study
Genesis 4:1-15
A study on the sin of jealousy, what it can lead to, and how we might master it. We cover the 3 questions Cain did not ask God. This sin of jealousy is killing us here in the Congo, but this conversation can also be helpful to an American audience around how one measures one’s own success (or lack of) in life. Maybe pastors and their appointments?
Workshop
Designed to cover Congo 101 to Missiology 900 in 45 minutes. Give me more time and we can talk about it. If these people believe in God, are pure of heart, and preach a solid Wesleyan theology, why is it not working for them? Or is it?
Love history? Love theology? Love seeing them talk to one another? This workshop is for you.
This workshop will be presented at the Pastors Convocation in Columbus, Indiana, in October. If you are a United Methodist Pastor in the Indiana Conference, be sure to sign up. Otherwise, invite me to come to your district or cluster.
What do we charge?
Here’s the deal: We figure that we need to raise $500,000 for 2010 for the building/rebuilding of The United Methodist Church in the North Katanga and Tanganyika Conferences. I know that this is some serious sticker shock, but we’re in a deep hole here and the costs of anything imported (cement, fuel, roofing) are sky rocketing. We’re looking for fearless partners who want to help us find that kind of money. Write a large check, make a big pledge, join the network of friends. I don’t want to scare you off, but one of the smallest churches in our conference, Baker Chapel, gave $10,000 for church construction and got this whole movement started.
Can Taylor come? (We’ve heard that she is the better preacher.)
Yes. Just add $3,000 for airfare from Zambia.
Actually, watch for dates when Taylor will be in Indiana.
Bob
Kamina
Sunday, September 13, 2009
This Morning's Sermon
Attended worship this morning at the "Ville" parish. Service ended with a grand harvest in-gathering of maize, cassava, and peanuts for the pastors and their families. Humbling on several levels.
The pastor's sermon was excellent. He preached on relying upon God for your problems. Solid theology and good interaction with the congregation. He ended with Psalm 33:16: "A king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength." (To paraphrase the Joker/Jack Nicholson, Where does he get all these wonderful texts?)
So I am wondering, if they believe in God, their hearts are pure, and their theology sound, why isn't it working for them?
This is what Friendly Planet Missiology is about. Asking the "why" questions. And not settling for the first easy answer that pops up.
First, what if it is working? What if they've got it right and we're out of line with God's creation? It's important not to rush in with our solutions, especially since the invasion of our way of life caused the problems in the first place. Appreciating that the Congolese pastors may very well know the way forward, and that our piece of the solution is to support their work, is a good first step.
On the other hand, one can't look at the suffering of war and disease and pretend that this is working for anyone. This is where a deeper reading of the Gospels is helpful. As a minor league biblical scholar, my greatest thrill has been to discover that the social, political, economic setting of 1st century Galilee is a perfect overlay of present day Congo. The issues are identical. Therefore, it makes sense that the solution is found in the teachings of Jesus. A radical idea, I know, but Jesus is the answer. Now, what was the question?
I'm being called to Sunday lunch.
Bob
Kamina
The pastor's sermon was excellent. He preached on relying upon God for your problems. Solid theology and good interaction with the congregation. He ended with Psalm 33:16: "A king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength." (To paraphrase the Joker/Jack Nicholson, Where does he get all these wonderful texts?)
So I am wondering, if they believe in God, their hearts are pure, and their theology sound, why isn't it working for them?
This is what Friendly Planet Missiology is about. Asking the "why" questions. And not settling for the first easy answer that pops up.
First, what if it is working? What if they've got it right and we're out of line with God's creation? It's important not to rush in with our solutions, especially since the invasion of our way of life caused the problems in the first place. Appreciating that the Congolese pastors may very well know the way forward, and that our piece of the solution is to support their work, is a good first step.
On the other hand, one can't look at the suffering of war and disease and pretend that this is working for anyone. This is where a deeper reading of the Gospels is helpful. As a minor league biblical scholar, my greatest thrill has been to discover that the social, political, economic setting of 1st century Galilee is a perfect overlay of present day Congo. The issues are identical. Therefore, it makes sense that the solution is found in the teachings of Jesus. A radical idea, I know, but Jesus is the answer. Now, what was the question?
I'm being called to Sunday lunch.
Bob
Kamina
Saturday, September 12, 2009
RETHINK CHURCH
My RETHINK CHURCH shirt is hanging on the line drying. Elton John is into an 18 minute studio version of Burn Down the Mission, and I’m reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance for the second time this trip. I’ve been working on my book, a book that started out as an unreadable thesis for my DMin degree. It has now morphed into a history/theology of the transfer of power from missionaries to indigenous church leadership right here in the North Katanga Conference. I’m calling it The Last Missionary. Six people may eventually read it.
Here’s what Pirsig wrote in today’s reading that jumped off the page and sent me to the blog:
It wasn’t like other people’s thinking, even then, before his insanity….He felt that institutions such as schools, churches, governments, and political organizations of every sort all tend to direct thought for ends other than truth, for the perpetuation of their own functions, and for the control of individuals in the service of these functions. He came to see his early failure as a lucky break…
Matthew 23 comes to mind, especially in the context of the whole gospel story. It’s amazing how raw the gospels are here. Not so much as a critique of African life, but of the Church’s self understanding. What if the Church put what people are struggling to become ahead of it’s need for institutional perpetuation?
Peter Senge calls this level of understanding that I’m stuck at, the Implicate Stage. It‘s where you see something, know you see it, but don’t yet have the words to describe it. In Pirsig’s story, it’s the stage just before they take you off in a straight jacket. Never the less, Jesus taught something profound that the Church never learned, and I’ve almost got it.
I don’t have my Gospel of Thomas with me, so biblical scholars help me on this one. It goes something like, “The one who asks receives, the one who searches finds, and when one finds, one wonders and is troubled.”
Something like that.
Bob
Kamina
Here’s what Pirsig wrote in today’s reading that jumped off the page and sent me to the blog:
It wasn’t like other people’s thinking, even then, before his insanity….He felt that institutions such as schools, churches, governments, and political organizations of every sort all tend to direct thought for ends other than truth, for the perpetuation of their own functions, and for the control of individuals in the service of these functions. He came to see his early failure as a lucky break…
Matthew 23 comes to mind, especially in the context of the whole gospel story. It’s amazing how raw the gospels are here. Not so much as a critique of African life, but of the Church’s self understanding. What if the Church put what people are struggling to become ahead of it’s need for institutional perpetuation?
Peter Senge calls this level of understanding that I’m stuck at, the Implicate Stage. It‘s where you see something, know you see it, but don’t yet have the words to describe it. In Pirsig’s story, it’s the stage just before they take you off in a straight jacket. Never the less, Jesus taught something profound that the Church never learned, and I’ve almost got it.
I don’t have my Gospel of Thomas with me, so biblical scholars help me on this one. It goes something like, “The one who asks receives, the one who searches finds, and when one finds, one wonders and is troubled.”
Something like that.
Bob
Kamina
Friday, September 11, 2009
Build Motorcycles in Kamina?
The other day, before I went to Kalemie, I was accosted on the road by a man on a bicycle who was jabbering something about the junk motorcycles that are being imported by China and how he wants to build strong motorcycles right here in Kamina. I think that's what he said, my French being just able to catch key phrases. I had no idea if I were talking with a serious business person or a crazy guy. I didn't smell alcohol on his breath.
I referred him to Fabrice, the conference staff person, and Africa University grad, who works with Kamina Friends, our small business development partners from up state New York. (Shout out to Kamina Friends! Take note.) When I returned from Kalemie, Fabrice told me that the man had come to see him, and seemed pleased with the contact.
Today, while out on a stroll, I met the man again. He persuaded me to accompany him to the factory. It is one of the finer industrial compounds in town, over next to the brewery. I'm suspecting a connection. The compound is all new and freshly painted. Inside sit two Land Rover Defenders. You already know what that means to me. Serious investment by someone. In addition, there are two Chinese made motorcycle based trucks, the kind you see a lot of in Asia, but not here.
He showed me the prototype. Pretty impressive. The frame and body panels all made right in the shop. Nothing fancy, but strong, as he promised. All that's needed is to source the engine and drive train from Yamaha or Honda, just as the Chinese do.
What has killed small factories like this in the past is a random tax code enforced by any number of government agencies greedy to take profits before a company can get off the ground. Maybe these people have enough influence to protect themselves before they get looted.
This is another argument for a dependable rail service. However, he thinks the parts can be flown in. I need a good translator to grasp the details of his plan. I'm not even sure what his position, if any, is in the company.
This isn't in my portfolio, and I wouldn't mess with it, but I've said all along that the local business community needs to get into small manufacturing, especially of things that are growing this economy. If only they could make cell phones here.
Here's a number that blew me away: A one percent increase in Africa's share of the global market would produce more than 7 times what is given in aid. That number comes from the African business community. The Zambian Embassy Facebook page gives a more modest 3 times what is given in aid. Either way, a fair place in the market would eliminate the need for aid.
This is the richest country in the world in terms of minerals in the ground. The global market is happy to take the gold, copper, and coltan, and leave the people hungry and dieing of disease and war. But there are other resources here, yet untapped. Human resources with imagination and great spirit. This is where development becomes a theological issue and where the Church becomes the one institution equipped to help.
This is Friendly Planet Missiology. Doing leadership development from a theological base.
(If this works out, I may try to talk them into building trailers for bicycles and turn all these bicycles into trucks. That they could do with local resources.)
Bob
I referred him to Fabrice, the conference staff person, and Africa University grad, who works with Kamina Friends, our small business development partners from up state New York. (Shout out to Kamina Friends! Take note.) When I returned from Kalemie, Fabrice told me that the man had come to see him, and seemed pleased with the contact.
Today, while out on a stroll, I met the man again. He persuaded me to accompany him to the factory. It is one of the finer industrial compounds in town, over next to the brewery. I'm suspecting a connection. The compound is all new and freshly painted. Inside sit two Land Rover Defenders. You already know what that means to me. Serious investment by someone. In addition, there are two Chinese made motorcycle based trucks, the kind you see a lot of in Asia, but not here.
He showed me the prototype. Pretty impressive. The frame and body panels all made right in the shop. Nothing fancy, but strong, as he promised. All that's needed is to source the engine and drive train from Yamaha or Honda, just as the Chinese do.
What has killed small factories like this in the past is a random tax code enforced by any number of government agencies greedy to take profits before a company can get off the ground. Maybe these people have enough influence to protect themselves before they get looted.
This is another argument for a dependable rail service. However, he thinks the parts can be flown in. I need a good translator to grasp the details of his plan. I'm not even sure what his position, if any, is in the company.
This isn't in my portfolio, and I wouldn't mess with it, but I've said all along that the local business community needs to get into small manufacturing, especially of things that are growing this economy. If only they could make cell phones here.
Here's a number that blew me away: A one percent increase in Africa's share of the global market would produce more than 7 times what is given in aid. That number comes from the African business community. The Zambian Embassy Facebook page gives a more modest 3 times what is given in aid. Either way, a fair place in the market would eliminate the need for aid.
This is the richest country in the world in terms of minerals in the ground. The global market is happy to take the gold, copper, and coltan, and leave the people hungry and dieing of disease and war. But there are other resources here, yet untapped. Human resources with imagination and great spirit. This is where development becomes a theological issue and where the Church becomes the one institution equipped to help.
This is Friendly Planet Missiology. Doing leadership development from a theological base.
(If this works out, I may try to talk them into building trailers for bicycles and turn all these bicycles into trucks. That they could do with local resources.)
Bob
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Meeting Doc Graham
The missing transport with the 150 bicycles and 300 sets of farming tools did finally arrive in Kamina. No major breakdown, just slow going. This was one of the mammoth trucks loaded to the sky. It took 6 weeks to get here. That's the lighting speed of 100 km per week.
The bicycles are in the Episcopal office compound being built up for distribution. Conference staff will take it from here.
While in Kamina, I met Dr. Charles Dayton and his lovely wife Lucille from Hilo, Texas. I instantly recognized him as Doc Graham. (Burt Lancaster in Field of Dreams) 80 years old and spending his vacation time teaching at the nursing school, and in general, being a village doctor. It was a pleasure sharing meals with them. Lucy is your favorite Sunday School teacher. Both are 99 and 44/100th% pure of heart.
The team leader for the group from Texas was Melody Ball. She brought her sister Cynthia from Tennessee. Melody directs the Kamina Vision Center, partially funded by the Lions Club. Melody is famous for riding on the back of a motorcycle all the way to the Kabongo Hospital. That's 193 brutal kms. Cynthia made sure the team was having fun.
I took them to the old colonial era swim club. (whites only) Although seemingly invisible to most residents of Kamina, it stands abandoned, except by the ghosts of European families who lived here. I'm not sure of the meaning, but there is something very troubling there. Much like the cemetery of Welsh and Scottish miners in Kitwe, it is a fading reminder of an almost forgotten time.
There aren't many mission teams that come here. Getting here is difficult and expensive. If you come, count on spending more money for up country travel than it costs to fly from the States to Lubumbashi. Small medical teams are always helpful and pastors are always welcome. We're looking forward to making 2010 the year of the farmer. (Teams should never be larger than four.)
Maybe soon the train will run on a reliable schedule and you can enjoy the thrill of cross Africa train travel.
Bob
The bicycles are in the Episcopal office compound being built up for distribution. Conference staff will take it from here.
While in Kamina, I met Dr. Charles Dayton and his lovely wife Lucille from Hilo, Texas. I instantly recognized him as Doc Graham. (Burt Lancaster in Field of Dreams) 80 years old and spending his vacation time teaching at the nursing school, and in general, being a village doctor. It was a pleasure sharing meals with them. Lucy is your favorite Sunday School teacher. Both are 99 and 44/100th% pure of heart.
The team leader for the group from Texas was Melody Ball. She brought her sister Cynthia from Tennessee. Melody directs the Kamina Vision Center, partially funded by the Lions Club. Melody is famous for riding on the back of a motorcycle all the way to the Kabongo Hospital. That's 193 brutal kms. Cynthia made sure the team was having fun.
I took them to the old colonial era swim club. (whites only) Although seemingly invisible to most residents of Kamina, it stands abandoned, except by the ghosts of European families who lived here. I'm not sure of the meaning, but there is something very troubling there. Much like the cemetery of Welsh and Scottish miners in Kitwe, it is a fading reminder of an almost forgotten time.
There aren't many mission teams that come here. Getting here is difficult and expensive. If you come, count on spending more money for up country travel than it costs to fly from the States to Lubumbashi. Small medical teams are always helpful and pastors are always welcome. We're looking forward to making 2010 the year of the farmer. (Teams should never be larger than four.)
Maybe soon the train will run on a reliable schedule and you can enjoy the thrill of cross Africa train travel.
Bob
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Kalemie
Kalemie sits somewhat uncomfortably on the side of the hills rising up from Lake Tanganyika. Almost every household, rich and poor alike, has an unobstructed view of the harbor and the lake. I'm told that in the rainy season, one can see the mountains on the Tanzanian side, but in the dust of the dry season, the lake disappears into the hazy horizon. In another time and another location, tourists would be filling beach resorts. Now, on this beach, women, men, and children wash their clothes and gather drinking water to carry up the steep hillside. UN troops in white trucks compete with bicycles and motorcycles for space on the crowded kiosk-lined main street.
The harbor is a hard working seaport with cranes for containers, but most of the cargo is off loaded by hand. Rusting steel ships and wooden fishing boats share the dock. In the midst of a graveyard of war damaged boats, is one tired United Methodist fishing boat, waiting to be rehabbed and refitted as a lake going health clinic and evangelism platform. This is just one of several projects proposed by the Tanganyika Conference.
We have two new construction churches, a conference office, and a district superintendent's home ready for roofing. The roofing materials are in Moba. We need about $550 to get them up to Kalemie by boat. Our schools and clinics need rebuilt. The United Methodist Women are committed to a Women's Center. For hauling bricks, gravel, sand, lumber, etc. for construction, we need a big truck. Just to get around, a Land Cruiser would be nice. (The conference has zero cars.)
This is to say nothing of the rest of the conference, the bad roads making it impossible to visit or get supplies to. Between the North Katanga and the Tanganyika Conferences, $500,000 would be a helpful start. This is no small rebuilding task.
However, it would be wrong to leave the impression that all is hopeless. Worship is vibrant and hope-filled. Schools are opening, even in inadequate facilities. Our nurse is seeing patients at the clinic, even without needed medicines. Pastors are proclaiming the good news and visiting house to house as Mr. Wesley instructed. Children are laughing, choirs are singing, the Church is alive.
What a beautiful place, what wonderful people, what good friends.
Bob
The harbor is a hard working seaport with cranes for containers, but most of the cargo is off loaded by hand. Rusting steel ships and wooden fishing boats share the dock. In the midst of a graveyard of war damaged boats, is one tired United Methodist fishing boat, waiting to be rehabbed and refitted as a lake going health clinic and evangelism platform. This is just one of several projects proposed by the Tanganyika Conference.
We have two new construction churches, a conference office, and a district superintendent's home ready for roofing. The roofing materials are in Moba. We need about $550 to get them up to Kalemie by boat. Our schools and clinics need rebuilt. The United Methodist Women are committed to a Women's Center. For hauling bricks, gravel, sand, lumber, etc. for construction, we need a big truck. Just to get around, a Land Cruiser would be nice. (The conference has zero cars.)
This is to say nothing of the rest of the conference, the bad roads making it impossible to visit or get supplies to. Between the North Katanga and the Tanganyika Conferences, $500,000 would be a helpful start. This is no small rebuilding task.
However, it would be wrong to leave the impression that all is hopeless. Worship is vibrant and hope-filled. Schools are opening, even in inadequate facilities. Our nurse is seeing patients at the clinic, even without needed medicines. Pastors are proclaiming the good news and visiting house to house as Mr. Wesley instructed. Children are laughing, choirs are singing, the Church is alive.
What a beautiful place, what wonderful people, what good friends.
Bob
Monday, August 24, 2009
Boats and Schools
Went down to the harbor this morning to take a look at our boat. Yes, The United Methodist Church, Tanganyika Conference, owns a boat. Before the war, they had bought a fishing boat from a Greek merchant, and were making a bit of money in the fishing industry, enough to supplement pastors' salaries and build some churches. It was sunk in the war and spent a year underwater. It now sits among a number of other hulks, just a rusting shell. The district superintendent would like to re-purpose her for evangelism and as a floating community health clinic.
The harbor is run by the same people who run the railroad. 'Nuff said. Reminds me of a scene out of Conrad's Lord Jim or Heart of Darkness. (or pretty much anything by Joseph Conrad.) A backwater African port, filled with chaos and inefficiency. Beat up ships of rusty steel, out-living their recommended service years by decades. Hard to tell which ships are working, and which ships are taking up dock space. Strong thin young men off loading bags of cement from Tanzania, lady travelers in dresses too fine for the coal dust underfoot, railroad police, harbor police, local police, military police. If you ever wanted to throw yourself onto a tramp steamer and discover Africa, this is the place. Take a multi-day boat ride to Kigoma, or Moba, or Uvira. You're on the lake where Mr. Stanley finally caught up with Dr. Livingstone.
After the harbor tour, our attention went to the schools and clinics. Our school/clinic complex in the upper part of Kalemie was a sight where rebels fought regular army for control of Kalemie. Half of our buildings are completely gone. You can barely make out the old footprints. The others sustained substantial damage. There's a lot of rebuilding to do and our church leaders are without means and, until my visit, have felt cut off from the rest of The United Methodist Church. The Bishop's visit last year provided some needed funds and a plan, but this is going to take a huge reinvestment.
Before coming, I was considering setting a goal of $500,000 for post war reconstruction of The United Methodist Church in the North Katanga and Tanganyika Conferences. Now I'm thinking that I was guessing low. Maybe twice that. $1 million?
I've seen the front line of the Church. It's pastors and lay leaders are exhausted and the resources are spent. Their heroic actions, in the face of the atrocities of this war, have gone unrecognized, and we are this close to abandoning them to their poverty. This cannot be done. In a town that has almost as many white UN Toyota Land Cruisers as there are goats, we don't have a single old pickup. Somehow, we've got to get resources to the front lines.
Bob
Kalemie, DRCongo
The harbor is run by the same people who run the railroad. 'Nuff said. Reminds me of a scene out of Conrad's Lord Jim or Heart of Darkness. (or pretty much anything by Joseph Conrad.) A backwater African port, filled with chaos and inefficiency. Beat up ships of rusty steel, out-living their recommended service years by decades. Hard to tell which ships are working, and which ships are taking up dock space. Strong thin young men off loading bags of cement from Tanzania, lady travelers in dresses too fine for the coal dust underfoot, railroad police, harbor police, local police, military police. If you ever wanted to throw yourself onto a tramp steamer and discover Africa, this is the place. Take a multi-day boat ride to Kigoma, or Moba, or Uvira. You're on the lake where Mr. Stanley finally caught up with Dr. Livingstone.
After the harbor tour, our attention went to the schools and clinics. Our school/clinic complex in the upper part of Kalemie was a sight where rebels fought regular army for control of Kalemie. Half of our buildings are completely gone. You can barely make out the old footprints. The others sustained substantial damage. There's a lot of rebuilding to do and our church leaders are without means and, until my visit, have felt cut off from the rest of The United Methodist Church. The Bishop's visit last year provided some needed funds and a plan, but this is going to take a huge reinvestment.
Before coming, I was considering setting a goal of $500,000 for post war reconstruction of The United Methodist Church in the North Katanga and Tanganyika Conferences. Now I'm thinking that I was guessing low. Maybe twice that. $1 million?
I've seen the front line of the Church. It's pastors and lay leaders are exhausted and the resources are spent. Their heroic actions, in the face of the atrocities of this war, have gone unrecognized, and we are this close to abandoning them to their poverty. This cannot be done. In a town that has almost as many white UN Toyota Land Cruisers as there are goats, we don't have a single old pickup. Somehow, we've got to get resources to the front lines.
Bob
Kalemie, DRCongo
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Cholera and Lawn Mowers
Cholera is a big problem in Kalemie, and it's easy to see why. The town is built vertically up from Lake Tanganyika, small homes on tiny parcels, stacked on top of one another. Especially now that the electricity is out, water is carried in jerry cans from the lake, up the hill. It returns in the form of human waste through open ditches, into the river and lake where people are washing, and children are swimming, and young and old alike are gathering water to carry up the hill again.
There is no grass in the small yards of people's homes. The patches of dirt that surround the homes are swept each morning, and when the rains return, all that dust and dirt will be washed down to the lake. I thought, if only every family had a lawn mower, then the grass would slow the flow of waste water back to the lake.
For those who aren't used to the twisted way my mind works, I am very well aware of how absurd that thought is; however, we are constantly looking for "off the wall" ways to break up the cycles of disease and poverty. Lawn mowers aren't the answer, but we'll keep asking the question.
(Have fun mowing your yard this week and know that you are doing your part to prevent cholera in your community.)
Bob
Kalemie,
on beautiful Lake Tanganyika,
inside the UN Peacekeeping Zone,
Democratic Republic of the Congo
There is no grass in the small yards of people's homes. The patches of dirt that surround the homes are swept each morning, and when the rains return, all that dust and dirt will be washed down to the lake. I thought, if only every family had a lawn mower, then the grass would slow the flow of waste water back to the lake.
For those who aren't used to the twisted way my mind works, I am very well aware of how absurd that thought is; however, we are constantly looking for "off the wall" ways to break up the cycles of disease and poverty. Lawn mowers aren't the answer, but we'll keep asking the question.
(Have fun mowing your yard this week and know that you are doing your part to prevent cholera in your community.)
Bob
Kalemie,
on beautiful Lake Tanganyika,
inside the UN Peacekeeping Zone,
Democratic Republic of the Congo
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