Our 2011 students arrive this Sunday! Michelle and I will have just a week with them before we go to Liberia. We are really looking forward to the trip. It will be bitter-sweet trip for us. It will be bitter because one of our most promising students there, Watson, passed away with typhoid since our last training. He was 26 years old, an elementary school teacher and the youth leader in his church. We will miss his passion for young people, his great interactions during the training, and his contagious optimism. It will be sweet because our country leader, Trokon, was married in December to his high school sweetheart, Ube. It will be great to see how they are getting on.
It’s also a time of real change and uncertainty for us. We are with J-Life for just 2 more months, and after that we don’t know a whole lot for sure. I can’t say that I’m apprehensive about the future, except maybe that I will fall into the trap of living in the future instead of savoring every moment. Will I be able to connect with the students this year when we know that we won’t be completing the year with them?
Two months is a really short time, especially as we will spend 2 weeks of that in Liberia. There are a lot of details to work through (like shipping things to the States, selling the car) and thinking about what we are going to do on the other side (where to live and work). Michelle has finished her grad school applications so we are also waiting for news on that side. I have been doing the job search thing.
We also have a wedding happening here for 2 J-Life staff members, a 10 year celebration for J-Life, and our Africa Summit all happening in February. So there’s going to be plenty happening on this leg of our journey. We are praying that we will be a blessing and encouragement to the work of “mobilizing disciplemaking movements among the youth of Africa” even in these last weeks.
If you are in the States, we hope to connect with you when we get back. I think it might be a challenging for Michelle to re-adjust, so whatever support and encouragement you can give to her would be appreciated. She’s not as used to moving across oceans as I am. We plan to arrive in Houston on March 19th.
Miah
Down-side – our flat is just a bedroom and a bathroom. So we have to go up to use the campsite kitchen to cook our food. And no living room. The internet is so slow it’s almost non-existent.There are a lot of flies, and if the wind blows in a certain direction, all you can smell is cow manure. We are 30 minutes from shopping (Heidelberg) and 1 hour from our church, running club, and most of our friends. It’s funny how you just adjust though. When we go to town, we just make a full day of it, and it doesn’t work out so bad.
Up-side – Just to give you a picture, last week Michelle and I helped with a 7th grade school camp. I woke up to the sight of the rising sun on beautiful green mountains/hills (if you’re from Colorado or Switzerland they are definitely hills; if you’re from Michigan or Texas they are definitely mountains) and the sound of birds. The grass was still wet from the last night’s thunderstorm as I made myself coffee and sat on the veranda. Then I realized my schedule for the day was:
Play soccer
Breakfast
Hike up the mountain
Paintball/ life lessons
Lunch
Raft building/ life lessons
Dinner
Capture the flag
Bonfire
That was my day of “work”. And I wondered if life gets any better than that.
The end is near for Michelle and I and our time with J-Life. And we trust that God has bigger and better things in store for us over the next stage of life. Right now we are pretty much working on the projects that we need to finish by next February. These include finishing our training material for J-Life’s new training model which we’re calling GC2 groups. We are thankful for some of the new staff members that will be joining J-Life next year and we trust that they will be taking the movement forward with great gusto!
Applications for the South African team, 2011, are rolling in. On top of that, many new additions to the J-Life headquarters are nearing completion including the new toilet and shower block, accommodation in some old farm silos, and the new hall/training facility. We have a team from Iowa coming to put the roof on the new accommodation later this month!
We are also gearing up for our annual summer camp and hoping that 240 teenagers will show up. Our theme this year is “Your Story,” challenging kids to see their lives as part of God’s story in the world.
Our next trip to Liberia is also fast approaching. Praise God for those who gave to make it possible for Michelle to be involved! We will be heading there for 2 weeks right after the New Year! J-Life is seeking God’s direction in starting work in 2 new countries next year. It looks like Congo is a definite. Other options include Uganda, Egypt, and Togo. It’s sad to think that we won’t be able to help with those!
As our time for leaving approaches we also spend more time thinking about life after J-Life. Michelle is working on graduate school applications and I’m trying to figure out what kind of work I would like to do. I do have a lot of peace about everything right now, which is about all I could ask for.
]]>Evangelicalscism
The word “evangelical” isn’t used much in South Africa, and it’s certainly less politically charged than it is in the States. I remember while living in Texas that if someone asked me “So, are you an evangelical?” I would have to pause and ask them first “What do you mean by evangelical?” If their response would have been “You actually believe that the Bible is true and you believe that Jesus was raised from the dead” I would have gladly responded “Yes, I’m an evangelical.” But that is not usually how they responded. More often I would get something like “Evangelicals are people who hate gays and blow up abortion clinics.”
“In that case, no, I’m not an evangelical.” I’m not too concerned about hanging on to any label that is not beneficial.
However, the Lausanne conference brought together Christian pastors, missionaries, scholars, businesspeople, social activists, and bloggers from across the world (197 countries) and across the denominational spectrum, all who consider themselves evangelicals. And I have to say that I’m so encouraged and honored to consider myself part of that movement.
There were 4200 delegates at Lausanne, as well as nearly 1000 serving on the congress team (most of them volunteers who paid their own way to help at the congress). Some people would question a gathering of this size and expense – “That money should go to the destitute,” they would say. This is always a legitimate issue to raise, but I’ve got a sneaky suspicion that it was all worth it. And I was so encouraged by some of the Acts like economics that happened around the congress:
• Each country was required to pay a congress fee based on the economic standing of that country. The western nations paid the most so that the poorest countries could be nearly fully subsidized. This meant that the congress could be represented by every nation, not only by those who could afford it.
• On top of that, hundreds of homes around Cape Town were opened for Congress delegates to stay in Cape Town free of cost. Many of the host families even provided transport to the Convention Center for their international guests.
• A really cool story came out from China who decided that they would work to raise the full amount for all 250 of their delegation plus enough money for 100 delegates from poorer countries. When the Vietnamese heard about this, they refused to be outdone and also raised for other nations. The Vietnamese made it to the congress unlike the Chinese who had their passports confiscated at the airport.
Filling up the suffering of Christ
Amidst many great intellectuals and practitioners who spoke throughout the week, great men and women from all over the world addressed a number of pressing topics facing the global church. But it was Jesus who said “I use the weak things of this world to shame the strong.”
On the second night of the conference an 18 year old North Korean high school student took the stage and shared her life story. When her father became a Christian in China, she returned with him to North Korea to share their new faith. He disappeared under police custody in 2006 and she has not heard from him again.
She held it together as she spoke about these things until the end when she described God’s love for the people of North Korea and her desire to return there after studying political law in South Korea. It was a beautiful moment as she received a long standing ovation that she wouldn’t have seen unless someone brought her back on to the stage about 3 minutes later…
As others spoke of the suffering they face for not giving their full allegiance to oppressive governments, or following the religious status quo of their communities, I felt that I was beginning to understand the significance of Christ’s suffering more deeply. It’s as if these people are living parables pointing back to the cross; to God’s love for the world. And this is the true glory of suffering for the gospel.
No matter what I do from here on, I want my life to be a parable for those around me, a retelling of Christ’s sacrifice. (Col. 1:24)
Don’t Underestimate
Daniel Singh was a young volunteer from Bangalore, India, who worked with us at registration. He was a pretty unassuming guy, but he turned out to save the day with his super-nerd abilities. On day one the internet system at the congress crashed. This was the same system used to beam the World Cup soccer to the world. It is the best broadband that Africa has ever seen. As one blogger put it, the system could handle billions of soccer fans and thousands of vuvuzelas but it couldn’t handle to the height, depth, width and breadth of the love of God…
Actually, we later found out that 66 sites in China had managed to clog up the system and bring the Lausanne Congress organizers to their knees.
Next, Daniel and another Indian volunteer, Vijay, put their hands up to fix the problem. I think Daniel (who is a pastor back in India) finally figured out why he got a doctorate in computational biology. They managed to fix the problem and on day 3 we were back on track. Daniel and VJ then got back to the work they really came for: hooking up printers to laptops.
I’m learning not to underestimate people.
One guy who worked with us during the conference at the information table was VJ (not his real name), from Uzbekistan. You need to hear his testimony, especially if you work with children…
In 1989, the iron curtain fell and Uzbeki children were given the opportunity to learn about the West through a pen-pal program. VJ (13 years old at the time) signed up and soon received a letter from an 11 year old girl in Kentucky. They began to converse back and forth. She then sent him a Bible and they discussed her faith in God. After 4 years of contact VJ, at the age of 17, put his faith in Christ. He was one of the only believers in Uzbekistan at that time.
Now there are 5000 believers in Uzibekistan, which is still one of worst persecutors of Christians. VJ is now a church leader and planter there and one of the coolest guys you will meet. I think I do a pretty good job at imitating his awesome Russian accent.
Israel
When I was in Israel with Global Youth Initiative in 2008 we went to Bethlehem to meet with some Palestinian Christians. Since that trip I have been anxious to have a conversation with a Christian Jew about some of the theological and political questions that I was left with.
The guy I connected with at Lausanne is a Messianic Jew who works for an evangelical organization reaching out to Jews around the world. He told me that so-called evangelicals often unquestioningly support Jewish Israel without even considering the actual Jewish and Palestinian Christians. Instead they work directly with the Israeli government, which is heavily influenced by the very extremist rabbis and religious elite.
My Jewish friends’ conclusion was as follows: Israel is big enough for Jews and Palestinians to live together peacefully and prosperously. That’s really unlikely to happen unless God’s work of reconciliation through Christ has a much stronger voice in Israel.
The next day’s theme at Lausanne was reconciliation. A Palestinian women and a Jewish man shared the stage and spoke about their work to break down hostility in Israel and to get people to listen to each other.
Makes sense, doesn’t it?
A few other significant discussions at the conference were…
There was a commitment by the congress to reach out to oral cultures with oral Bible traditions and biblical storytelling through indigenous music.
“When the gospel takes root in our lives it wakes us up to horror of injustice and to the truth of eternal suffering. To ignore one is to have a broken gospel or a broken heart.” – A final word on the apparent disconnect between addressing social concerns and proclamation evangelism? Probably not, but I think it’s pretty great anyway.
A call to repentance for our failure to live out the gospel
A call to integrity, simplicity, and humility; this included a challenge to stand up more firmly to the gospel of materialism.
A call to collaboration and partnership: - A great story was when one organization was raising money for a medical missions boat gave that money to another organization who was raising funds for the same thing!
Some of the serious social issues addressed where human trafficking and climate change
New Friends
The real highlight was making new relationships with believers from all over the globe. Lausanne is truly global. If we find life on Mars, I’m sure they will be invited to the next Lausanne gathering. Even our volunteer team was made of people from all over.
I’d never had real friends from Norway, Bangladesh, Singapore, Japan, Trinadad, Denmark, or Uzbekistan before last week. That alone was a huge blessing, and something that I will carry with me for a good while.
Glory to God.
]]>John and the rest of the staff have been really supportive through our whole process. I think leaving a ministry is always a hard and painful decision to make. We dreaded telling the staff. I can’t help but feel like I’m abandoning them. But John has assured us that he thinks we are making the right choice in this matter.
When we first discussed our thoughts about leaving J-life, John asked us to help with Liberia before we left. We agreed to do that, and we are very glad we did. It is been a great challenge and blessing and something that has grown us a lot. We will go to Liberia again in January and then return to help with the new South African Students until about February 10th. After that we will be heading back to the States.
It has been an amazing experience for me to have been here and to work alongside my amazing wife. Michelle is an incredible missionary, and she has put her heart and soul into everything she has done over the past 3 years. I’m super proud of her. In hindsight, I recognize that it was crazy for us to move across the world just a few months into our marriage. But I believe we are returning to the States much stronger as a couple, and we thank God for that.
Our passion for Africa remains strong. I have experienced leaving Africa before, but Michelle doesn’t know what she is in for. I am praying that it will not be too traumatic for her! I am so thankful for everyone who has supported us! We have never gone hungry, and we’ve never had to say no to a ministry opportunity due to a lack of funds.
We recently had an Open Day at J-Life, something we have started to attract perspective students to see what we are offering. I led a panel discussion of “x-J’s” for them to tell about their experiences. They all shared the ways in which J-life shaped them into the people they are today. It’s such a privilege to have been part of their journey in life and faith. It’s great to know that this movement is African at heart, and it will continue to be driven by Africans, as the life of Christ is taught and lived out around the continent.
We won’t be coming back to the States with a lot of possessions, but we will be returning with minds full of great memories, and hearts full of wonderful African friends. I have no doubt that we will stay closely connected to Africa, and to J-Life, in the years to come. And we know that we’ll be back again soon.
As for the rest of our time here, Michelle and I are going to be heading to Cape Town for the Laussane Conference of World Missions. We are attending as volunteers, serving the 4000 delegates from over 200 countries. I can’t wait to spend time with all these people, and hear what God is doing in every corner of this world. I am praying that we will be inspired and directed as to how God is going to use our experiences over the past 3 years into the future. We will hopefully strike up some new partnerships with J-Life as well.
I am planning on making my last trip to Liberia from the States sometime next summer to finish up our project there. And if I could just find a job that would give me about 10 weeks off per year, I would also love to try to start some work in Sierra Leone, but we will have to wait and see if those doors are open.
Then towards the end of the year our teams will be returning for a week of re-integration, and then we will host our annual youth summer camp in December before heading to a good friend’s wedding (it happens to be Jason Price who is the mutual friend responsible for Michelle and I meeting!) After Christmas it’s back to Liberia and then we’ll finish off with the South African training into February.
If you are the praying type, here a few things to put on your list for us:
That J-Life would be able to recruit more staff to keep up with the ministry opportunities presenting themselves around the continent
That Michelle would be accepted into a good, affordable psychology program
Pray for the rest of our time here; that we would use the next 5 months to invest into J-Life and the people
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Josh.
Josh is an ex- child soldier from the war who is trying to readjust to society. The most amazing thing was that Patrick and Trokon are mentoring him as he adjusts back to the Monrovian lifestyle. He was always so polite to us and we watched him cleaning our yard, and bringing us water day in and day out without asking for anything. My heart was filled with extra compassion for him because of his gentle spirit in spite of all that he had been through.
Liberian Jokes.
Jo Jo? Johhhhhhhhhh. This is how you introduce your jokes in Liberia. In Liberian English, you never pronounce the endings of words, you just let them fade off. And if the word is longer than 2 syllables, you never say any consonants after the first syllable, just the vowels. So, as you can expect, it sounds very strange and it is almost impossible to understand when they speak quickly and with their slang. This quick Liberian English is what they use to tell most of their jokes because as they start laughing, all consonants become too hard to pronounce and they just mumble the vowels.
When I was lying on the mattresses with the girls one day, one of our favorite pastimes, they started wanting to tell jokes. But they really wanted me to understand, so they told them to me in better English than usual. I still didn’t understand them. One thing that I have really learned over these last few years is that humor is most definitely a cultural thing. Many South Africans think it is hilarious to make fun of other races. I get offended by this, but I now understand their intent. Liberians think it is funny to tell civil war stories. I am honestly really disturbed by this, but because they are laughing so hard, I can’t help but laugh with them. Seriously, Liberian laughs are very contagious. Here are a few examples of jokes:
Jo Jo? Johhhhhh. There was a pastor who held a church meeting during the war. He began to talk bad about the rebels and speak against them. Then, there were some rebel soldiers walking by the church and they heard him speaking bad about them. They went into the church and pointed their guns at everyone saying, “Who is it that is speaking against the rebels? We will shoot him right now.” Everyone was quiet. They said again, “Whoever was speaking against the rebels should identify himself or we will shoot everyone!” Then the pastor said, “ Whoever begins cursing is not the man who was speaking against the rebels!” And the pastor started cursing.
That is the end of the joke. Now, I’m sure like me, unless you are a Liberian, you are sitting there with your mouth open or waiting for them to continue on to the punch line. There is no punch line. That is the joke, and I am telling you that these girls could not hold back the laughter as they told that last line and then everyone just erupts in laughs. In some ways it is disturbing beyond belief and in other ways it is comforting to know that even these girls, most of whom stayed in Liberia during the war, are finding it easy to laugh at some extremely hard circumstances they went through. I think it is therapeutic to them as I think laughter all over the world is used to comfort people when they are troubled or sad. That is why I think South Africans use humor to deal with their new country after Apartheid. It is overwhelming to think of what people might have been through psychologically during these periods of political turmoil, but I now know that jokes can lighten that load and make things seem less daunting. And as long as these girls can still laugh, life can go on, and things can get better. And ideally, they will never have to go back to a time when those jokes were actually a fearful reality in their lives. Okay, with that said, here is one more joke that I want to write just so that I can remember it and their faces and accents when they told it. I’m going to spell things how they say things:
Dare wuz a Liberya wooma who ha two cheedre. Wa of doze cheedre wuz baaah, and wa wuz goo. Wa chai was goo to hah, wa wuz reelay baah. She luh da wa chai, buh da oder she hat. Den, one day, da baah chai dah, buh da goo chai wuz stee aly. Weh peepo cay fo da funero, eeyeh deh wuh cofateen heh, she say, “ Gaw, wah you go tay, den you doan tay? Gaw wah you gotta go tay, den you doan tay?”
Translation:
There was a Liberian woman who had two children. One of those children was bad and one was good. One child was good to her, one was really bad. She loved the one child but she hated the other child. Then one day, the bad child died but the good child was still alive. When people came for the funeral, and they were comforting her, she say, “ God why you go take, then you don’t take? God why you gotta go take, then you don’t take?”
(as they say this they motion one hand to one side and then the other hand to the other side, basically saying she wanted God to take the bad child and not the good child and was complaining to him.)
Struggles of a missionary.
There is a proverb here in Liberia that says, “White teeth, black heart.” And they use it to describe how people like to put up a front in order to make themselves look good, but on the inside, they are struggling. I know that most of the time, missionaries are only supposed to write the great inspiring stories that everyone wants to hear. At least that’s what has been done in the past and that is what we feel pressured to do whether people tell us to or not. It is hard to be open about struggles when someone else has never been here or felt the things we have felt, and sometimes it might seem like the struggles sound too much for the missionary if we write about all of them, and people will ask us to come home or abandon the mission we started out doing. But, I am a firm believer in sharing my burdens with other people and being open about my problems. Not in a needy, obsessive, pathetic way, but in a discerning way in order to let others help me. I think that this is something we are told by Jesus and Paul to do as believers, and I don’t think we do it enough.
Okay, I will stop preaching and tell you how God moved in my mind and my life in a powerful way in the time I was here in Liberia.
I think that missionaries like to pretend they are fearless. But I cannot take on this pretense. I am not any stronger, nor do I have any less fear than any other believer, but I believe that faith is trusting God in spite of fear and without knowing for sure what the results will be. There are times when I can be very afraid of the places I go to and the situations I live in, but I accept this weakness in me so that Christ might be made known, and His power can be displayed through my life.
During my time in Liberia, the Lord led me to read the book of Acts and be inspired by the early church and their radical lifestyles of worship to God. They knew how to sacrifice in order to preserve community and equality. For the first time the words, “ and they had everything in common and they gave to anyone who had need”, really convicted me. I have always been passionate about community and about sharing with other believers, even to a point where this makes me seem strange or backwards to my family and others in my culture. But it was this trip that showed me that I am still so limited in how I share with my fellow believers and how I look after those who follow Christ alongside me. But the early church, the ones who had been with Jesus, took this type of community very serious. I noticed that this type of community is even more serious to God, who took His wrath out on those in the early church who lied in order to keep some possessions for themselves. Read Acts 4……..Wow! I just can’t help but ask the question, “What does God think about our understanding of “community” now?” But the accounts of the actions and lifestyles of the early church became a deep solace for me as I wrestled through my selfishness and fear while living in community with my Liberian sisters.
The other words of inspiration that God used to comfort me and edify my soul during this time were the words of Martin Luther King. I have been reading Martin Luther King’s autobiography, and what he was able to do and to lead others to do because of his faith, in the face of violence, persecution from all sides, misunderstanding, and fear, was phenomenal. Mostly, his accounts of what he went through in his head before and during his times of going to jail for the movement and suffering for the movement really spoke to me while I was in Liberia. People would criticize Dr. King for trying to bring integration too quickly or rushing the process when the time was not yet ready for it. This is the same temptation that Satan uses in missions. He makes us think that if we go to a certain place too soon, they might not be ready for the Gospel, or wait until the doors are open or they are out of war and then they will be ready to hear and it will be “safe” enough to go. We would never say this temptation out loud, but it is something that has plagued us in the Church. Dr. King knew this trick and rebuked it straight up. Here are some of his words about waiting for the perfect, ideal time for things.
“ Frankly, I have yet to engage in a “direct action” campaign that was “well-timed” in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word, “Wait!” It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This “Wait!” has almost always meant never. We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that justice too long delayed is justice denied”. …. “Such an attitude stems from a tragic misconception of time, from the strangely irrational notion that there is something in the flow of time that will inevitably cure all ills. Actually, time itself is neutral; it can be used either destructively or constructively.”
I think that if we really see ourselves as co-laborers with God, if we really believe that we are to fulfill the Great Commission as Christians, we must see that the Gospel too long delayed is the Gospel denied. MLK’s words spoke the message to me so strongly that no matter what you have to go through or what obstacles you will be faced with, if you truly believe in your end goal, that belief will overcome.
The passage of scripture that we memorized on our training program this year was Romans 12. There is a verse in this passage that God spoke to me over and over again during these two weeks and it was, “Do not be prideful but be willing to associate with those of low position.” The funny thing is that the longer I lived with these people, the more I realized that they are the ones who fulfilled this scripture in our training.
Lastly, I will end with some lyrics of Lauryn Hill, which witness with my life that He is continuously working out His salvation in us:
“Mounting down the walls of inhibition. Evaporating all of my fears. Baptizing me into complete submission. Dissolving my condition with His tears.
Bathing in a fountain of His essence. He’s drawing out my nature with his hands. Humbled on a mountain by His presence. Burning to be worthy of His lamb.
The concept of Christian counseling has been talked about and tossed around, misconstrued, and misunderstood and yet few people have truly tried to define in detail what Christian counseling actually is. There are many different pieces to the Christian counseling puzzle that must each be looked at meticulously in order to consolidate in our minds a clear, succinct definition. These pieces include biblical, theoretical, and practical, aspects of counseling as well as the integration of theology and psychology.
To begin understanding this subject, we must look at what we define Christian counseling to be and then discover what scripture says about this subject in general. I believe that Christian counseling is the imperative calling on our lives as we follow Christ to carry each other’s burdens. In doing so, we fulfill the Great Commission as the helping relationship between the counselor and the counselee sharpens them into greater disciples of Jesus. Counseling plays out practically in that the Spirit filled counselor empowers the counselee through psychological and theological insights to grow into wholeness through the Word, through prayer and in community with other believers.
There are two categories of scripture that give us a calling to lay counseling as a ministry (Tan, 1991, pg. 23). We each, as born again followers of Christ, have a calling to the laity, or in other words, “the royal priesthood”. We are all given a responsibility to each other and no specific group of people is required to do all the work God has given to that church. Paul lays this out for us clearly as he tells us that we are all members of one body, and we each have individual functions (Romans 12:4-5). This calling to a purpose in the body includes helping each believer to fullness in Christ and building each other up in love (Ephesians 4:4, 16).
The second category for a scriptural foundation of Christian counseling is the calling we have to counseling. Lay counseling is something we are all asked to do as we follow Christ together. I believe that parts of lay counseling will naturally happen in our relationships as we carry each other’s burdens and really encourage and strengthen one another to become more like Christ (Galatians 6:2). But we are also specifically called to confess our sins to one another and to exhort one another daily (James 5:16, Hebrews 3:13). This word to exhort one another in Hebrews is the same word as is mentioned in the gifting of exhortation in Romans 12:8 and it is to be in a “paraklesis” relationship or a helping relationship with each other. The gift of exhortation is a specific calling to counseling for some believers and indicates that this gifting is a part of the body and therefore essential to the health of the Church as a whole. The word “paraklesis” is also an essential biblical aspect to Christian counseling in that it is the same word that is used to indicate the Holy Spirit in Luke …….
As Christian counselors, we are to rely on the Holy Spirit at all times. We must realize that the Holy Spirit is The Helper and The Counselor and we are in turn helpers alongside of Him. Being Spirit-filled as a counselor is essential in terms of truly being effective in people’s lives and having wisdom to bring people into the glorious freedom of being the sons of God (Romans 8: 21). So throughout all of our goals and methods and approaches, it is through the Holy Spirit that we operate and improve as Christian counselors.
As Christians have become more and more aware of the need in the church for Christian counselors and even psychologists, we are faced with the dilemma of the integration of theology and psychology. For many Christians, the only referencing material needed in counseling is the Bible. The Bible for them becomes the complete authority on any problem, an exhaustive guide to any human condition. If we take this belief to the extreme and to the ultimate end result, the counselor’s own theology would suffice for their counselee’s problems and the integration of psychology would not be necessary, and in fact, integration of psychology might even be edging on the side of heresy.
The other end of the argument is grounded on the theology that “all truth is God’s truth”. Ultimately, the belief here would be that God reveals truth to us in different forms, specific, general, and personal. In this line of thought, the integration of psychology and theology is completely relevant and almost necessary as God can and does reveal Himself and His truth through secular and scientific discoveries.
More practically, Larry Crabb suggests that there are four different ways of integrating psychology and theology (Tan, 1991, pg 32). The first approach is that psychology and theology are considered as separate fields but of equal value. This is more of a complimentary perspective where the counselor can use each field, but must separate them in their sessions. The second is that the counselor can integrate a little bit of both, a “tossed salad” approach. In this approach, the counselor can mix the two fields and just hope that they come out making sense. The third approach is called “nothing buttery”, where psychology is irrelevant and only scripture is needed for counseling. And lastly, there is the integration of the two fields of study called “spoiling the Egyptians”. This approach uses whatever psychological models are relevant but keeps a theological basis for counseling.
Growing up with scientists, I have naturally upheld the theology that all truth is God’s truth. In Romans 1: 19-20, Paul writes, “ For what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made…”. I do not have a problem filtering secularly discovered truth through scripture and through other Christian perspectives, but I am also not fearful or skeptical of using scientific facts to further develop my faith. Therefore, my perspective of integration would be similar to that of Tan in that I would prefer to integrate the psychological models that would be effective and beneficial to my counselees in terms of their wholeness, spiritual growth, and effectiveness in ministry. I would also be careful to verify that these methods do not contradict scripture or give space for demonic influences in counseling. But I believe that the two fields have a dynamic relationship in counseling and that they must both be used in order to be fully effective in our gifting as Paul urges us in Colossians 3:23,” Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men”. Therefore we have a high calling as followers of Christ in the field of counseling to use psychology and theology for the glory of God and for the equipping of the saints for His service.
As followers of Christ, I believe we also have a very different end goal in what we are trying to accomplish through our interactions with counselees. Christ has given us all a commission to go into all the world and make disciples. Therefore, in our lives as Christians, regardless of what we do, we should strive to make disciples of Christ or people who will walk closely to Him and desire to live life through His example. However, even as this is a calling on all of our lives, we are not called to focus on conversion in our counselee’s lives but to focus on being a helper to that person. This is the kaleo section of the paraklesis model where we focus on developing a relationship of openness and trustworthiness where the counselee can be “moved towards insight and growth”(van der Spuy, pg 52).
Another aim of Christian counseling is to help people grow into wholeness. But even our definition of wholeness would differ to that of secular counselors in that we would include a spiritual dimension with the measure of wholeness being the stature of Christ (Ephesians 4:14-15). Spiritual growth and confession of sins must be included in a Christian counselors objectives as these are biblical mandates but also key in our desire to live healthy lives that are free from the burdens and pitfalls of sin.
I believe that as followers of Christ we have a high standard of holiness that is required of us. This calling to follow Jesus creates in us a completely different standard for dealing with many of the problems of life as well as creating a standard of sacrificial love and a way of thinking that completely changes our lifestyles. Where the aim of counseling in general is to help people deal with problems, change, grief, etc., and to be able to journey through those challenges well, the aim of Christian counseling, while having the aforementioned as a sub point, is to enable people to live the abundant life, and to serve God to their fullest potential. The spiritual dimension to Christian counseling does not limit the depth to which we can aid people, but in effect adds a separate responsibility to our methods and makes our end result a goal that is even more elevated. We are the image of Jesus to our world and this affects not only how we live and how we think, but also how we go about helping people in their time of need.And in order to truly be set apart in how we help people, dependence on the Holy Spirit and prayer are very essential and unique components to Christian counseling as well as using scripture as our standard and authority.
Lastly, we must look at the different models of Christian counseling and evaluate which models we can glean great information and methods from in order to be fully effective in the field. The model that I have chosen to critically evaluate is Tan’s biblically based model of counseling. Tan splits his model into three basic views: a basic view of humanity, a basic view of counseling, and basic principles or techniques of effective lay counseling.
The first important aspect to Tan’s model is the definition of counseling that he uses from Gary Collins:“Counseling can be defined as a relationship between two of more persons in which one person (the counselor) seeks to advice, encourage and/or assist another person or persons (the counselee[s]) to deal more effectively with the problems of life.” (Collins, 1972, pg.13) While I agree with the advising and assisting people to deal with the problems of life, I think that as Christian counselors, we must add in the Holy Spirit and spiritual wholeness into our definition as the Holy Spirit is our key source of wisdom in counseling and wholeness is the ultimate goal, not effectively dealing with the problems of life. These two things cannot be subtracted from our end goals or our definition.
Tan introduces His view on humanity as central to forming his biblically based model of counseling. I agree with most of Tan’s views of humanity, but I would add that we all have physical needs as well that can deeply impact our psychological and emotional needs.One of the first basic human needs Tan introduces is that we all have a deep need for spirituality and to have spirituality in our daily lives. There is also a proclivity to sin that each of us has which makes us dependent on an outside source for our redemption. I like that Tan does not make sin his proprium for Christian counseling because I strongly agree that not all suffering is a result of personal sin. I think that this changes how we approach problem behavior and problem thinking as it can be a factor, but it is not always the source.
In regards to Tan’s view on our basic need for acceptance and significance, I believe God has made us with a need for relationships as it mirrors who He is as a relational triune God (Genesis 1:26). So, there is a basic need for love and acceptance as well as emotional security. I also believe that God has not created us to just exist, but He has given each of us a specific purpose that is unique to only the individual and therefore we have a basic human need to find and live in that purpose.
Tan also says that there is an ultimate goal of humans to know and enjoy God and spiritual health (Tan, 1991, pg. 36). I have seen this human need over and over again in my own life but also in the lives of others and I think that if we ignore this deep need in Christian counseling, that we will be leaving out a huge component to living a healthy life. In terms of practical approaches to counseling, Tan places a strong emphasis on the cognitive behavioral perspective. I think that getting to the root of our problem thinking can be key to allowing the Holy Spirit to bring change in our lives. I also like that he acknowledges that a cognitive behavioral strategy might not always address the real issue but that there are also demonic and physical aspects to problems which must be considered in Christian counseling. I think that as long as we do not suppress possibilities for the causes of problems but constantly evaluate different causes, we can tackle the issue without neglecting the root.
There are many dimensions to a person including physical, emotional, social, and spiritual. My personal story here is of my brother, who is a big reason for my desire to study psychology and counseling. My brother has been diagnosed with many psychological issues including schizophrenia, bi-polar, and social anxiety disorders. Growing up with him, I know that he was involved in witchcraft and demonic activity as well as taking many mind-altering drugs. I am not sure if the psychologists who have assessed him have any faith at all, much less a belief in the demonic factors that can play into problem thinking and behavior. In my perspective, my brother’s situation has many biological, demonic, and cognitive-behavioral factors and, in order for him to be mentally healthy, we must address all of these. I think that another practical approach would be to look at wounds that were dealt to us in the past and how those wounds affect our thinking and our behavior. We deal with wounds in the organization that I work for, and it is powerful to see how God transforms men and women when they have actually dealt with some of the pain of the past. This concept of looking into the past, or inner healing is powerful and I don’t believe that we can neglect this as Christian counselors.
On the topic of the relationship between psychology and theology, Tan uses the integration of psychology and Christianity and it is based on three approaches, nounthetic counseling, people helping, and biblical counseling. I agree with the idea of nounthetic counseling being a main approach to Christian counseling because one of the main reasons I desired to study counseling is that the Lord has already used me many times in my position in J-Life to confront behavioral issues in our trainees. I think that healthy confrontation is something that is lacking in most of our churches today and that this has contributed to a large number of sins not being dealt with until they have done a lot of harm, or sometimes, not being dealt with at all. I believe that as Christians, we have a calling to each other to confront sins and to love each other enough to restore each other to righteousness, although I also believe that this should be done in humility and with much prayer so that we don’t think of our selves more highly than we ought to (Matthew 5:18, Galatians 6:1, Romans 12: 3). I like that Tan uses nounthetic counseling as only a part of the whole approach because it leaves space to deal with the root of the sins so we are not just unveiling the sins. It also gives the freedom to listen, as seen in the people-helping approach, which sometimes is all people really need. In a sense I think people helping has its place in Christian counseling, but I would also steer away from making this a main focus because it can become too humanistic. If you take any of these approaches by themselves, they would be insufficient because each one to the extreme is very unbalanced and can be easily distorted to serve the counselor’s personal agendas. I think that a balance of Tan’s three approaches is the key to ministering most effectively.
Finally, Tan has 13 basic principles for effective lay counseling. I would like to discuss three of them in more detail. The first principle that I deeply agree with is that the relationship between the client and counselor must be authentic and caring. Relationships between the counselor and counselee are very important to the effectiveness of the counseling in general. In our organization it is very evident that the warmth and caring attitude of some of the staff makes the trainees much more willing to open up to them and seek their advice. If I do not have a great relationship with one of the girls that I am counseling, it takes much more time to get them to trust and open up to me. Warmth and compassion is key in forming paraklesis relationships. John Piper, in his article, Toward a Definition of the Essence of Biblical Counseling, says, “Biblical Counseling is done by a person who has a healthy awareness of his own emotions and those of others and what is being felt, even if not expressed, by himself and others” (Piper, 2001, pg. 1). I would also say that if there is too much dependence on you as a counselor and on your relationship, the counseling would not be effective.
Another principle is that counseling involves a process of exploration, understanding, action phases, and changing of problem thinking. This model corresponds with van der Spy’s Paraklesis model in that there is a time for developing a relationship and exploring the issues, then a time of enlightenment into those issues, then periods of action to change the problem behaviors and problem thinking (van der Spuy, pg ). I mostly agree with these two models and believe that it is a dynamic process where the counselee might need to return to previous issues in order to fully sort out some new problem areas and then mature into wholeness. My mentality is that we tackle the issues with the wisdom and enlightenment God gives us for that time, and that we are always growing into wholeness; we will not achieve wholeness completely on earth (Romans 7:14-25).
The last principle I want to unpack is that cultural sensitivity and cross- cultural skills are required. I work in an organization that has trainees staying for four months on a training site from as many as 14 different countries. There are many cultural conflicts that we deal with during the four months and each time that we help our trainees sort things out, I learn something new about a value or way of communication that is different to my culture’s values and communication. The way people think, behave, and communicate is largely based on their cultural background. I believe that as counselors, we must be sensitive to these things especially as Christians because our God has made each of us unique and we do not want to cause psychological problems because of a different cultural value that is not necessarily scriptural.
The subject of Christian counseling and Christian psychology is constantly changing and growing and I have only skimmed the surface of the deep waters of these subjects. I believe that we have a very high calling to counsel one another to wholeness and fullness in Christ and we must not take this lightly (Ephesians 4:1). I pray that as we continue to strive for excellence in the field of psychology and counseling that we are constantly connected to and reminded of Him who is The Counselor and that we continue to live lives that are holy and set apart for the glory God.
Bibliography
1.)Collins, G.R. (1988) Christian counselling: a comprehensive guide. (Rev). Dallas: Word.
2.)Crabb, L.J. (1975) Basic principles of Biblical counselling. Grand Rapids: Zondervan
3.) Meier, P.D., Minirth, F.B. & Wichern, F. (1989) Introduction to psychology and counselling: Christian perspectives and applications. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House.
4.) Tan, S. (1991) Lay counselling: equipping Christians for a helping ministry. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan
5.) Piper, J. (2001) Towards a Definition of the Essence of Biblical Counseling, page1. http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Articles/ByTopic/81/1517_Toward_a_Definition_of_the_Essence_of_Biblical_Counseling/
Michelle’s parents were in Spain for a NASA conference, and they flew Michelle out to spend time with them while I was in Liberia. She had such a great time with them, and we are so thankful for how well it all worked out so that she was able to see them this year. Michelle traveled NASA style, staying in lovely hotels along the coast of Spain and France, and I traveled J-Life style, sleeping in a school classroom with 10 other guys. She says that her trip was amazing, but I think we all know that my trip was way better.
Seriously though, I think God used both of the trips in really cool ways.
Michelle and I are helping to get J-Life established in Liberia with a local guy, Trokon, who I’ve mentioned on this blog before. The trip I took is the 1st of 4 that we will do over the next 6 months or so. Here is a little update on what’s happening in Liberia:
When I landed at the Robertsfield International Airport, I thought we had made a wrong turn somewhere. The landscape looked like Vietnam: flat, green, hot, forests, palm trees. I almost expected to see some US Marines walking out of the bush with green face paint and branches attached to their fatigues. It’s now been 7 years since Liberia’s civil war ended, and although things are peaceful now, there is still a strong UN Peacekeeping presence in Monrovia, the capital city.
It doesn’t take long to figure out that 10 years of war has had a crippling impact on this already underdeveloped nation. There is no electricity grid in the country. High ranking officials, businesses and even the airport have to make do by running generators if they want to use a computer or charge their cell phones. Other basic infrastructures like plumbing systems are also non-existent.
But the war’s greatest legacy has to be in the education arena. Illiterate and semi-literate young adults experienced constant disruption in their schooling for many years, and today there are many adult high schools that run night classes to help people catch up. One of the guys on our training started primary school at the age of 18. He graduated just 7 years later and is now in his second year at seminary. Even today there are not nearly enough schools or qualified teachers to deal with the growing population, and many churches and ministries have opened private schools to cater for the children in their communities who would not otherwise have the chance to go to school.
It was at one of these schools where Trokon and I conducted the first J-Life training in Liberia. Some of the highlights:
• Seeing how well Trokon has carried the values of J-Life into the Liberian context. He is a great teacher as well, which allowed me to hand over to him quite a lot of the teaching responsibility.
• Trying to work all of our material into a totally new context was such a fun challenge. Despite the mosquitoes and the heat, I slept well every night!
• Teaching people who place such value on education. I would find them studying the material in the evenings and discussing it with one another.
• The location of our training was beautiful. We were about a 5 minute walk from the beach. With the lack of any modern distractions, I spent some good time in the water. I even met a South African on the beach who had an extra board for me to go out for a surf with him. He grew up about 10 minutes from me, and graduated from high school the same year as me from one of our rival high schools (Kearsney College). He is working as the financial administrator for a nearby hotel.
There were also some challenges along the way.
• Most of the trainees only started arriving on Tuesday when we were scheduled to start on Monday. Trokon was pretty unhappy about that, but once we got rolling, it was ok.
• Travel in Africa is rough. I was delayed for about 20 hours in Addis Ababa on my way there. Then on my way back, I got to the airport in Monrovia and they told me my flight was canceled. So I was delayed another 24 hours and had to be rerouted through Ghana. For a little while, I thought I was going to be stuck in Monrovia from Sunday until Thursday, and would have missed being with Michelle for our anniversary! Thankfully, I got home in time.
• Although the people there have a great passion for young people, there is almost no youth ministry happening in Liberia, so we are really starting from the very beginning. I am confident that Trokon, along with some of the other guys we have identified as potential partners in the ministry, will be able to start a movement of disciplemaking among the youth of Liberia.
The students now have 6 weeks to try to implement what they have learned before I head back there with Michelle to do 2 more weeks of training with the same group. I will be really glad to have Michelle with me there next time. With her doing some of the training, I will have more time to work with guys one-on-one.
I really feel like this is some of the most impactful work we have done in 3 years of J-Life and I can’t wait to get back there again! At the same time, our colleague, Bhuti Kheswa, is working through the same process in Zanzibar. That is the first predominately Muslim country for J-Life to work in.
We are so excited to be part of raising up young leaders who will do things differently than in the past because they follow Jesus. We appreciate your prayer and support.
Also, we are still looking for some sponsors to help finish the funding of this project, so if you would like to be part of it, please get hold of us! michellejeanea@gmail.com
Cheers
Miah
I sat down on the airport before takeoff and realized I didn’t have my passport. I got my bags down and looked through them… nothing. I started to freak out… looking on the floor, crawling around the plane. Finally, I told the air hostess and some of the other passengers. All these guys were looking around for me. They told me to go out of the plane to the boarding gate and ask there, nothing… sweat dripping from my forehead. In my brain I’m trying to decide if I’m going to get off the plane or not. I’m 90% sure my passport is on the plane but if it’s not I’m going to be in Addis without a passport! Then some Italian or South American guy comes running down the aisle with my flight center packet! “Hey Rasta, here it is.”
“Where was it?”
“That lady pulled it out from under her, she was sitting on it.”
An Ethiopian woman in her 70s had been sitting on my passport the whole time. Crazy!
In the process of figuring out the visa and the hotel I met Welleh, a Liberian man who had representing Liberia for the Street Children World Cup in South Africa. He runs a non-profit of some sort here. I may try to connect with him again some time. He was very helpful and cool. The Ghanaians who were being delayed were going crazy at the airport. Yelling and singing at the Ethiopian Airlines people. It was crazy, and the cops just watched them, didn’t do anything.
Addis is not as overwhelming as Yaoundé, and I would say it is slightly more developed. The architecture is very similar but the people are very different of course. It was great to see a few people running on the streets in the early morning. It seems likes everybody is a hustler though, everyone wants to “help” you on the street. I did manage to find some injera at a restaurant for lunch. I paid about $3 and I couldn’t even eat half of it so I gave it to some shoe cleaning kids on the street.
You get a lot of attention in Addis; people were totally intrigued with me. Of course most people called me Rasta, but I did get “David Villa” as well, because of my soul patch! Yes!
I tried a Cappuccino in the hotel bar while going over my notes for the training and it wasn’t good at all, so I left the hotel again and found a great coffee shop where people were just chilling drinking macchiato and Fanta. They were just relaxed and happy, the shop sold very little food while I was there, it was all about the coffee. I have to say it was one of the most sophisticated coffee shop experiences in Africa. I started reading “A Thousand Splendid Suns” and listened to the Amharic around me. Cappuccinos were about $0.40 so I ended up drinking 4 of them through the afternoon.
Then I went back to the hotel, and went down to watch the soccer. There was also a cool couple from Cape Town doing some traveling in Ethiopia. They were going to watch the final on the big screen in Addis the next day with a concert beforehand. I said I would probably try to go with them if I was still stuck there. I thought I might be there the whole next day as well but my phone rang at 3:30am to say that the bus was leaving for the airport in 25 minutes.
I finally got to Liberia and used someone’s phone to call Trokon. They picked me up with a guy from the church who has a car and took me to Patrick’s house where there was a room set up for me. We made some plans for the next day then went to the church to watch the World Cup final. About 150 people came to watch on a small tv. They were very loud and I was super tired. I fell asleep on my chair but caught a second wind for the rest of the match. Then walked back to Patrick’s place to sleep. I was definitely in “new adventure euphoria” at that stage. Everything was just very unique and cool.
This place is very undeveloped, probably the craziest place I’ve stayed, but it’s awesome. I go back and forth from feeling “man this place is tough” to “this is paradise.” There is no sewerage system, no electricity network, no middle class. It’s just very poor, everything is unfinished, unpainted. But the beach is a couple minutes walk from the church. You can hear the waves when we stand outside the church. That makes it very cool.
We spent the day shopping for all the food and getting mattresses from a warehouse downtown, run by a Lebanese guy. And Trokon was right, he does speak very clearly compared to most Liberians. Understanding people is a real challenge. But all in all, I’m loving it. I get so stoked every morning I wake up here, even though I’ve been chewed alive by mosquitoes, and my sheets are drenched with sweat. I really feel like this is significant ministry! And being able to encourage Trokon and continue moulding him, Hannah and Patrick for this ministry is so cool. They are really what this country needs! I’m very determined to see that J-Life Liberia is a success.
I gotta hit the sack, I have my mosquito net up now, so hopefully I will get some more sleep tonight. It’s time to turn off the generator as well.
We are well into training. Yesterday I went to the room to read at 5pm and I suddenly felt super tired. It was like the adrenaline suddenly wore off and the stress of the new place, new culture, and daily training finally hit me!
The food today was little rough: Foofoo with palm oil (with fish, crab, and pork fat) for lunch and then plantain soup for dinner. They also made a tea with lemongrass and some “maringu” leaves from a tree here and condensed milk. It was weird. Everything tastes about the same… something like shrimp. I’ve actually enjoyed the food up until today. There is a lady nearby who bakes great banana bread that we’ve had in the mornings a couple of times.
I would say the training is going pretty well. I think I work pretty well with Trokon. He has done quite a bit of lecturing already and he is doing a really good job. Although he’s quite an introvert, he really does a good job in building the community as well. Hannah is great and so is Trokon’s ministry partner, Patrick. The trainees can be a bit dull in lectures but things do happen that make me think they take the training seriously. For one, they constantly tell me things they are learning, and today (after teaching the Vision section about how leaders are readers) everybody has been reading tons of books that we got from the church.
There was super hectic rain today and it actually got a bit cold. I didn’t swim the ocean today for the first time since Sunday because of the cold. The beaches are nicer than I expected and the water feels great after a long day of lectures.
You can really see how the war has affected people here. Some of the guys on training are semi-literate, but at least they speak English so I am able to help them. We are starting Strategy in the morning. I really hope its not too intense for these guys and that they are able to catch the basic principles and not be overwhelmed by the detail. But seriously, the rain here is crazy, so intense
It’s Saturday night now, a full day of teaching Strategy. It was intense getting around the new material and I was exhausted by the end of it, so glad for a day off tomorrow, you have no idea. I’ve also been really encouraged to hear a lot of guys saying how impactful the training has been so far. A couple guys went into the community today and came back with gifts for me (mangos and biscuits)… so cool.
I suggested that we go and have some worship on the beach. Wow… so cool. Liberian worship is a lot like the Ugandan music. A lot of the guys said they had never been on the beach at night. It’s like 24 degrees but a lot of them were complaining about the cold! Rocking the winter coats! The moment the breeze picks up, they call that cold.
War Stories
It’s Monday night, week 2 of training. I’ve been getting little bits of information about the war. They don’t say much about it here but when we did testimonies everyone’s story had a section that started with “When the war started” and then continued “My father passed away” or “my family was separated” or “we moved to Ivory Coast.”
Pastor Matthew also told me some stories about the war on our walk. He was talking about how there was a food shortage: “You would just find people eating grass or wading through these swamps looking for something to eat. It was so pathetic.” He also told his near death experience: “Soldiers broke into the house and were collecting things. I was walking in the hallway and I froze. The leader of the group ordered one of the men to shoot me. He pointed the gun at me and then he slowly lowered it and then they left. I can only say that God protected me because those men were not merciful.”
We talking today about hanging out with youth you are mentoring and Patrick said that he could take one of the youth to the zoo. “You have a zoo here?” – It just doesn’t strike me as a city that would have a zoo. “Oh yes,” says Patrick, “there is a zoo. But there’s no animals.” Then someone else chimes in: “They ate them all during the war.” Super.
I learned something interesting yesterday. Hannah was telling me how the guys are not going to want to go home because of all the food they have been eating. “Are they eating better here than they would at home?”
“Oh yes, in Liberia we only eat one meal a day.”
So that’s how I figured out why they eat so much at lunch, because it is typically their only meal. So we are going to probably have to work a plan to cut down on the food a little bit to save money. I’m working with Trokon for that. The other problem is that because guys eat so much at lunch (together with the heat in the afternoon) it’s a struggle for guys to stay awake. So I think we might do something like a snack at 11am and then the big meal after lectures at 3, then odd jobs and sports at 5.
It’s Thursday afternoon. It’s sticky and hot today. I spent the whole morning going to town with Hannah because she needed to buy some extra food stuff. So it was another trip to “THE ATM” of Liberia. Seriously, there is one ATM in this country. Hannah left me with her mom who sells purses and backpacks while she did the shopping. I did a little exploring and bought some gunpowder tea from a Malian’s shop. When I was standing there with it this guy obviously figured I could speak French since I had gunpowder tea. He was from Ivory Coast and couldn’t speak English. So I fumbled through a 20 minute conversation with him in French. That was my highlight of the day so far.
Last night I chatted to Trokon and started asking about his goals for the next months and year. That was really encouraging to hear his passion for this and how much he wants to move forward. We decided today that Trokon would help them more with the implementation which he is doing right now. He’s doing a mini “programming to Strategy” and I think its really helping.
Today I tried to explain a task a few times and the guys were not getting me. Finally they asked Trokon to come and explain it in “Liberian English” – I love it!
I’m certainly no expert on Africa and I fully recognize that it is quite presumptuous for me to claim to diagnose Africa or to “know” what the solution is. And yet, as someone working here with the desire to make a difference, I have to make judgments somewhere along the line. And I don’t believe that any of my thoughts are unique. They have developed over long conversations with young Africans over newspapers and “Ricoffee,” through books about Africa and economic development, and of course through my relationship with Christ and knowledge of God’s kingdom agenda. So, with those disclaimers out of the way… here it goes.
1. Education
If there was one thing that I believe more time and energy needs to be put into in Africa, it is education. I have seen firsthand how lack of education limits lives of young people. Without a high school diploma, a young South African is severely limited. And there are schools in this country where, last year, not one senior in high school passed their final examination. All around I see victims of a failed education system. There is a young guy in my running club who is smart and articulate and speaks great English. He is hard working; in fact he works 7 days a week for a small salary. I asked if we could help him to find a better job, the problem is he does not have a high school diploma and so he won’t get hired to do anything other than garden work. In fact, statistics would say that he should be very happy that he has a job as most people with his level of education do not.
Without options in life, young people in South Africa tend toward destructive behavior. Young girls become pregnant in order to get a monthly government grant, and then they effectively give the child over to the grandparents and use the money for themselves. Young men turn to gangs and crime. Statistics show that around the world the more educated a person is, the less children they have. I’m not saying having children is bad. What I’m saying is that as education decreases, children increase, so that the poorest people in our world today are having far more children than they can afford to raise. That means that those children will have less opportunity than their parents had.
Education has an impact a vast number of other issues such as health, the environment, peace and stability. I am very thankful for organizations like Vision and Compassion who promote education. Providing for someone’s education gives them a greater chance of being a positive force in the world, and from my experience, does not lead them to continue to be dependent throughout their lives.
2. Self worth
In South Africa, it is not really taboo to talk about race. It is a regular topic of conversation here, and people deal with it in different ways. I think that Africa and Africans believe that they are capable of less than other continents, that they will always be inferior. I don’t think they are aware that they believe that. They can say things like “It’s good enough for Africa” and go on from there. This inferiority complex leads them to accept mediocre or even oppressive leadership as part of life. It’s like a woman who remains in an abusive relationship because she doesn’t really believe that she deserves better.
There is, however, push back against this. It can take on bad forms (nationalism, African superiority). Sometimes this is done innocently like a church in Zimbabwe longing for the day when they will be coming to the aid of the West (i.e. the hope that positions will be reversed rather than everybody being able to share in God’s provisions on earth).
However, I have come to see one of the roles of Christian youth workers in Africa to instill self-worth and self-belief in young people. A youth pastor that I talked to recently said this: “We took some students from a school we are working with on a camp. And we spent the weekend talking about ‘destiny’. That’s a great charismatic word that my Baptist roots would be ashamed of. But we want to teach these students that God has a real plan for their lives, and that they learn what that is and achieve it.” I got to meet some of those students and they shared with me their ‘destiny.’ Most of it was about helping other people, opening a children’s home, becoming a teacher, spreading the love of God through their actions.
This is the reason why I have been a big supporter of the World Cup. Sure, maybe some of the money used to build the stadiums could have built people shelter or to dig water holes or to feed people in drought stricken areas. But the World Cup sends another message to young Africans. That message is that Africa can offer something to the world. Africa can host one of the world’s biggest events and do a great job at it. And if we can do it for the World Cup, why not in other areas as well? If the World Cup can be excellent, why not our schools, our hospitals, our churches, our banks, our businesses?
Working with J-Life I have seen how (through the training i.e. education) young people are released with self-confidence to start new initiatives and face the future with optimism and confidence.
3. Leadership
I really believe that raising up a new generation of leadership in Africa is the key to securing a better future here. I am thankful to work in an organization that is not about what I can do (as an American with American resources) but it’s about what Africans can do. And we always try to make sure the guys we work with understand that. Of the young people we have trained at J-Life over the past 3 years, many of them are now practicing or studying to be psychologists, teachers, pastors, political scientists, physiotherapists, IT technicians, social workers, doctors, and businessmen. They know that it is up to them to take responsibility their countries and their people. They know that God wants there to be great schools in Africa, great churches, great social services, and great business.
Although the West has caused some of the problems in Africa (the legacy of colonialism, slavery, and exploitation does remain) the accountability for Africa’s failure to progress since independence must rest with its own leaders, and I say that with upmost humility. Africa needs better leaders, people who will stand up and show the masses what it means to be a good African. Perhaps a good question to ask in regard to Africa is “Will the next generation of leaders do things differently?”
4. Trade
I am so thankful that the West gave Africa the chance to host the World Cup. I am so thankful that the skeptics are now quiet. I’m thankful that the majority of soccer fans put up with our vuvuzelas and embraced Africa’s World Cup.
My last point is that Africa needs a chance, an opportunity to be part of the world market. This is absolutely necessary for Africa to thrive without international assistance. What I am about to share is a touchy issue so I want to go into a bit of background.
During the colonial era the Western powers made the most of Africa’s rich natural resources. They would take the resources to their home countries where they were manufactured into products (much of which was sold back to Africans). When colonial powers left Africa, they left it with very little infrastructure which means that to this day Africa is reliant on the export of natural products for economic survival. The problem is that many of these products are “protected” in the West against an influx of African products. For example, to protect cattle farmers in Europe, some countries offer subsidies worth $2 per head of cattle per day. An African farmer cannot compete and therefore has no market outside of his own country for his cattle.
This is one simple example but it means that many African countries cannot gain entrance to the world economy. The West often criticizes Africa for trade restrictions while they themselves impose huge restrictions and create great subsidies which keep Africa out.
If you want to campaign for anything on Africa’s behalf, campaign for the abolishment of these trade restrictions so that Africa can have a chance to be part of the world economy.
So you might be asking: “You’re supposed to be a missionary, so where does God fit into all this?” Well then, I’m glad you asked.
1. Education
The Bible teaches us that what you know is important. Knowledge of God is important - “my people perish for a lack of knowledge.”
Education is not just knowledge but the good application of knowledge: What the Bible would call wisdom. which God’s word has a lot to speak about. I have seen how people’s knowledge of God leads them to seek knowledge and truth in other areas as well. Young people who have come to J-Life start to read books and become more involved in current events. In fact, where this is not happening we should be concerned as Christians. If there is not a hunger for knowledge our Christian education may be incomplete.
2. Self Worth
The Christian tradition informs my belief that Africans are equal all others. The philosophy that all humans are made in God’s image stands against the philosophy of “survival of the fittest”. The Gospel (as opposed to “karma”) tells us that our need for grace put’s every human being on an equal footing before God.
3. Leadership
At J-Life we believe that if we can transfer the character and priorities of Jesus (discipleship) to the young people who come to us for training we will succeed in helping them to become the better leaders that Africa so desperately need. Jesus is our hero, but he’s also our example. The Bible clearly teaches us to live like Jesus. The life of Christ holds the keys to what it means to be a great leader, and a great African.
4. Trade
This issue is very much linked to the second point. If we claim to believe that before God African’s are equal to any other people, that would naturally lead us to desire to offer them the same opportunities that we have. The least we can do is to allow African’s the chance to part of our world economy so that they can have the dignity of living off their own hard work rather than always receiving from others.
The Soccer World Cup has been a great illustration for this. When Ghana played the US in their second round knockout game it set up the world’s richest nation against one of the world’s poorer nations. The USA could not ask to start 1 goal in the lead because they have a better human rights record than Ghana. They were not allowed an extra player on the field to reward them for their superior infrastructure and military. They couldn’t even have the ref on their side (quite obviously) just because they had a lot more money to bride him with. When they took to the field it was 11 against 11 and the scores were 0 to 0. It was Ghana vs USA. (I was rooting for the Yanks, just so you know)
The world doesn’t usually work like that, so as Christians we work to give the underdog a chance.
Maybe I can paint a hypothetical picture here:
There is a small village in Senegal that lies on prime cotton growing land. They have limited opportunity to sell their produce because of the poor road system connecting them to the main city, and the lack of infrastructure and bureaucracy at the port. Worst of all, trade restrictions and taxes make the prices of their cotton uncompetitive with that of other countries.
NGO’s help the people of theis village stay alive. They ship in food and health supplies from the West and offer primary education to the children. When the children get older, they will realize there is no future for them in the village, some will stay to care for their families but most of them, especially the young men, will leave for the city to try to earn a living. In the city they will lose their culture and along with it their values, causing many societal issues in the city. A few will make a living in the city; many will try to immigrate to Europe to better their lives. Things continue like this from generation to generation.
Here’s another scenario. The trade restrictions on cotton are lifted and the village is able to sell some of their cotton, increasing their output from year to year. The government is happy with the taxes they receive from this new export and they fix the road to the village which gives them even better access to the market. As people in the village have some money, a few small shops open, offering jobs as cashiers, doing phone repairs, and even mechanics for the trucks that travel to and from the village. Women are able to cook food and sell it to the people coming in and out of the village, meaning they are able to educate their children. Less people leave the village permanently to look for other opportunities. A small school opens and some of the young people are sent for teacher training etc etc…
So that’s about what I have so far. And I hope that’s these thoughts will continue to change and grow and be challenged. Feel free to help me with this.
Miah
I’m certainly no expert on Africa and I fully recognize that it is quite presumptuous for me to claim to diagnose Africa or to “know” what the solution is. And yet, as someone working here with the desire to make a difference, I have to make judgments somewhere along the line. And I don’t believe that any of my thoughts are unique. They have developed over long conversations with young Africans over newspapers and “Ricoffee,” through books about Africa and economic development, and of course through my relationship with Christ and knowledge of God’s kingdom agenda. So, with those disclaimers out of the way… here it goes.
1. Education
If there was one thing that I believe more time and energy needs to be put into in Africa, it is education. I have seen firsthand how lack of education limits lives of young people. Without a high school diploma, a young South African is severely limited. And there are schools in this country where, last year, not one senior in high school passed their final examination. All around I see victims of a failed education system. There is a young guy in my running club who is smart and articulate and speaks great English. He is hard working; in fact he works 7 days a week for a small salary. I asked if we could help him to find a better job, the problem is he does not have a high school diploma and so he won’t get hired to do anything other than garden work. In fact, statistics would say that he should be very happy that he has a job as most people with his level of education do not.
Without options in life, young people in South Africa tend toward destructive behavior. Young girls become pregnant in order to get a monthly government grant, and then they effectively give the child over to the grandparents and use the money for themselves. Young men turn to gangs and crime. Statistics show that around the world the more educated a person is, the less children they have. I’m not saying having children is bad. What I’m saying is that as education decreases, children increase, so that the poorest people in our world today are having far more children than they can afford to raise. That means that those children will have less opportunity than their parents had.
Education has an impact a vast number of other issues such as health, the environment, peace and stability. I am very thankful for organizations like Vision and Compassion who promote education. Providing for someone’s education gives them a greater chance of being a positive force in the world, and from my experience, does not lead them to continue to be dependent throughout their lives.
2. Self worth
In South Africa, it is not really taboo to talk about race. It is a regular topic of conversation here, and people deal with it in different ways. I think that Africa and Africans believe that they are capable of less than other continents, that they will always be inferior. I don’t think they are aware that they believe that. They can say things like “It’s good enough for Africa” and go on from there. This inferiority complex leads them to accept mediocre or even oppressive leadership as part of life. It’s like a woman who remains in an abusive relationship because she doesn’t really believe that she deserves better.
There is, however, push back against this. It can take on bad forms (nationalism, African superiority). Sometimes this is done innocently like a church in Zimbabwe longing for the day when they will be coming to the aid of the West (i.e. the hope that positions will be reversed rather than everybody being able to share in God’s provisions on earth).
However, I have come to see one of the roles of Christian youth workers in Africa to instill self-worth and self-belief in young people. A youth pastor that I talked to recently said this: “We took some students from a school we are working with on a camp. And we spent the weekend talking about ‘destiny’. That’s a great charismatic word that my Baptist roots would be ashamed of. But we want to teach these students that God has a real plan for their lives, and that they learn what that is and achieve it.” I got to meet some of those students and they shared with me their ‘destiny.’ Most of it was about helping other people, opening a children’s home, becoming a teacher, spreading the love of God through their actions.
This is the reason why I have been a big supporter of the World Cup. Sure, maybe some of the money used to build the stadiums could have built people shelter or to dig water holes or to feed people in drought stricken areas. But the World Cup sends another message to young Africans. That message is that Africa can offer something to the world. Africa can host one of the world’s biggest events and do a great job at it. And if we can do it for the World Cup, why not in other areas as well? If the World Cup can be excellent, why not our schools, our hospitals, our churches, our banks, our businesses?
Working with J-Life I have seen how (through the training i.e. education) young people are released with self-confidence to start new initiatives and face the future with optimism and confidence.
3. Leadership
I really believe that raising up a new generation of leadership in Africa is the key to securing a better future here. I am thankful to work in an organization that is not about what I can do (as an American with American resources) but it’s about what Africans can do. And we always try to make sure the guys we work with understand that. Of the young people we have trained at J-Life over the past 3 years, many of them are now practicing or studying to be psychologists, teachers, pastors, political scientists, physiotherapists, IT technicians, social workers, doctors, and businessmen. They know that it is up to them to take responsibility their countries and their people. They know that God wants there to be great schools in Africa, great churches, great social services, and great business.
Although the West has caused some of the problems in Africa (the legacy of colonialism, slavery, and exploitation does remain) the accountability for Africa’s failure to progress since independence must rest with its own leaders, and I say that with upmost humility. Africa needs better leaders, people who will stand up and show the masses what it means to be a good African. Perhaps a good question to ask in regard to Africa is “Will the next generation of leaders do things differently?”
4. Trade
I am so thankful that the West gave Africa the chance to host the World Cup. I am so thankful that the skeptics are now quiet. I’m thankful that the majority of soccer fans put up with our vuvuzelas and embraced Africa’s World Cup.
My last point is that Africa needs a chance, an opportunity to be part of the world market. This is absolutely necessary for Africa to thrive without international assistance. What I am about to share is a touchy issue so I want to go into a bit of background.
During the colonial era the Western powers made the most of Africa’s rich natural resources. They would take the resources to their home countries where they were manufactured into products (much of which was sold back to Africans). When colonial powers left Africa, they left it with very little infrastructure which means that to this day Africa is reliant on the export of natural products for economic survival. The problem is that many of these products are “protected” in the West against an influx of African products. For example, to protect cattle farmers in Europe, some countries offer subsidies worth $2 per head of cattle per day. An African farmer cannot compete and therefore has no market outside of his own country for his cattle.
This is one simple example but it means that many African countries cannot gain entrance to the world economy. The West often criticizes Africa for trade restrictions while they themselves impose huge restrictions and create great subsidies which keep Africa out.
If you want to campaign for anything on Africa’s behalf, campaign for the abolishment of these trade restrictions so that Africa can have a chance to be part of the world economy.
So you might be asking: “You’re supposed to be a missionary, so where does God fit into all this?” Well then, I’m glad you asked.
1. Education
The Bible teaches us that what you know is important. Knowledge of God is important - “my people perish for a lack of knowledge.”
Education is not just knowledge but the good application of knowledge: What the Bible would call wisdom. which God’s word has a lot to speak about. I have seen how people’s knowledge of God leads them to seek knowledge and truth in other areas as well. Young people who have come to J-Life start to read books and become more involved in current events. In fact, where this is not happening we should be concerned as Christians. If there is not a hunger for knowledge our Christian education may be incomplete.
2. Self Worth
The Christian tradition informs my belief that Africans are equal all others. The philosophy that all humans are made in God’s image stands against the philosophy of “survival of the fittest”. The Gospel (as opposed to “karma”) tells us that our need for grace put’s every human being on an equal footing before God.
3. Leadership
At J-Life we believe that if we can transfer the character and priorities of Jesus (discipleship) to the young people who come to us for training we will succeed in helping them to become the better leaders that Africa so desperately need. Jesus is our hero, but he’s also our example. The Bible clearly teaches us to live like Jesus. The life of Christ holds the keys to what it means to be a great leader, and a great African.
4. Trade
This issue is very much linked to the second point. If we claim to believe that before God African’s are equal to any other people, that would naturally lead us to desire to offer them the same opportunities that we have. The least we can do is to allow African’s the chance to part of our world economy so that they can have the dignity of living off their own hard work rather than always receiving from others.
The Soccer World Cup has been a great illustration for this. When Ghana played the US in their second round knockout game it set up the world’s richest nation against one of the world’s poorer nations. The USA could not ask to start 1 goal in the lead because they have a better human rights record than Ghana. They were not allowed an extra player on the field to reward them for their superior infrastructure and military. They couldn’t even have the ref on their side (quite obviously) just because they had a lot more money to bride him with. When they took to the field it was 11 against 11 and the scores were 0 to 0. It was Ghana vs USA. (I was rooting for the Yanks, just so you know)
The world doesn’t usually work like that, so as Christians we work to give the underdog a chance.
Maybe I can paint a hypothetical picture here:
There is a small village in Senegal that lies on prime cotton growing land. They have limited opportunity to sell their produce because of the poor road system connecting them to the main city, and the lack of infrastructure and bureaucracy at the port. Worst of all, trade restrictions and taxes make the prices of their cotton uncompetitive with that of other countries.
NGO’s help the people of theis village stay alive. They ship in food and health supplies from the West and offer primary education to the children. When the children get older, they will realize there is no future for them in the village, some will stay to care for their families but most of them, especially the young men, will leave for the city to try to earn a living. In the city they will lose their culture and along with it their values, causing many societal issues in the city. A few will make a living in the city; many will try to immigrate to Europe to better their lives. Things continue like this from generation to generation.
Here’s another scenario. The trade restrictions on cotton are lifted and the village is able to sell some of their cotton, increasing their output from year to year. The government is happy with the taxes they receive from this new export and they fix the road to the village which gives them even better access to the market. As people in the village have some money, a few small shops open, offering jobs as cashiers, doing phone repairs, and even mechanics for the trucks that travel to and from the village. Women are able to cook food and sell it to the people coming in and out of the village, meaning they are able to educate their children. Less people leave the village permanently to look for other opportunities. A small school opens and some of the young people are sent for teacher training etc etc…
So that’s about what I have so far. And I hope that’s these thoughts will continue to change and grow and be challenged. Feel free to help me with this.
Miah
1.) Why did you run? Was there a central message that you want to convey through running Comrades?
There wasn’t really a central reason. Obviously I grew up watching the race and I got into running last year with the goal to run Comrades, but I have ended up getting really into the running culture. I find it exciting to push your body to extremes that it wasn’t really made for. It proves that as humans we are capable of achieving more than we give ourselves credit for. I love the self-discipline it took to prepare for the race. For me it has parallels to the spiritual journey. It takes discipline to pray: to confess that the spiritual is just as important as the work and activities we do. It takes discipline to observe a Sabbath: confessing that what we achieve is not more important that who we are.
2.) Was there a point in the race when you thought you wouldn’t make it?
No. There was a point where I felt like just taking it easy the rest of the way and finishing with a slower time. Fortunately, I had my colleague, Bhuti, with me. He kept me moving.
3.) What was the most excruciating section?
The hills just after half way were really tough and took a lot of energy out of me. Also, running through Pinetown and Westville with about 15-20 kilometers left to go was a tough section.
4.) What was the most encouraging thing someone said to you while you were running?
Everybody was really encouraging the whole way. People would even read my name on my race number and encourage me to keep going. I knew that if someone shouted “Miah” they knew me, and if they shouted “Jeremiah” they were just reading my name. It was encouraging to see friends and family on the route and some of the guys from the running club who came down to second us.
5.) What did you think about in the hard parts?
I was thinking about all the unhealthy food I was going to eat when I finished: like pizza and ribs.
6.) Did running with a partner make it easier? Why/ why not?
Ah yes, it was great running with Bhuti the whole way. I had to hold him back at the beginning, then he struggled a bit in the middle with cramps and then I probably held him back towards the end. But it was very helpful!
7.) What was the most emotional point of the race for you?
It was coming through Cowies Hill into Westville, seeing my wife and realizing that I was getting close to the finish. Also, watching people come in at the finish is amazing. You realize that this race is as important to the guys coming in at 12 hours as it is to the winners. That’s something unique about this race. They also say that it’s the only race in the world where the last place runner gets just as big of a cheer as the first runner.
8.) How did it feel to enter into Kingsmead Stadium? What thoughts were going through your head?
I was too tired at that point to be emotional or to soak it all in. But Kingsmead was great and the vibe inside the stadium was awesome.
9.) What was the coolest conversation you had on the run?
I chatted quite a bit to Team World Vision, a lot of them from Chicago. I talked to a guy from Grand Rapids, Michigan! And I met the only Mexican Comrades runner! It’s always great to let someone next to you know how much pain you’re in. And with 18 000 runners on the road, you’re never on your own.
10.) What did you learn from this experience?
Hmmm, I think I understand now why people run this race year after year. I learned that I like to challenge myself. I learned that playing sports and setting athletic goals doesn’t have to be just for high schoolers and professional athletes.
11.) What advice would you give to someone who wants to run Comrades?
The South African running culture is quite unique. This is the only place in the world where marathons are just used as qualifiers and training runs for the real races. The biggest 2 races in SA are Two Oceans (34 miles) and Comrades (56 miles). Every local runner in Comrades must run on behalf of a running club and the club culture is very strong.
It was great watching the last few thousand runners coming in and seeing the emotion on their faces. A few runners actually stopped before the finish, took photos, cried, kissed the grass. There are thousands of people running for all kinds of different reasons. Our club captain, for example, starting running at 30 years old after his lung collapsed and he realized that his smoking was destroying his body. He said it took him weeks just to be able to run to the corner store and back. On Sunday he finished his 14th Comrades. It’s these kind of stories that makes the run special.
I would recommend Comrades to anyone who has functioning knees!
The best part of ministry for me is getting an extended opportunity to build relationships with the young people we work with and to watch God work in their lives in different ways. Over Easter weekend Michelle and I took 3 of our interns to Durban to spend some time with my folks. All the guys get the long weekend off and the local guys go home to be with their families. Unfortunately, those from other countries are not able to go home and so we try to find somewhere for them to go so that they are not stuck on the farm by themselves for 4 days. We took Ezekiel (Zimbabwe), Donel (Malawi) and Trokon (Liberia) with us to Durban. For Eze and Donel it was their first time to see the ocean. We went to the beach every day, checked out the new soccer stadium for the World Cup, and of course they were keen to go to every service that the Church was putting on for the weekend.
Besides the opportunity to just spend time with the guys, it was great to hear all the things they learned over the weekend in the car on the way back home. They were really excited about my family and how hospitable they were. Donel said to me one day “Your dad is very busy. He is always working.” – If you know my dad, I’m sure you enjoyed that! Trokon said “You parents treated us like we were their own children.” They also learned a lot from Grace Church where my parents work. Even for Michelle and myself, it was a spiritually refreshing weekend and an awesome way to cap off the Lent season.
This past weekend I decided to attend a men’s conference/spiritual phenomenon. It was started 7 years ago by a simple farmer who invited men to camp out on his farm for a weekend and talk about what God expects from them as men, husbands, fathers, and community leaders. That first year 240 men came. It grew exponentially and this year somewhere around 300 000 men showed up. It was quite a humbling experience to stand in the midst of that many men, all seeking answers from God. Thousands of men made first time commitments to follow Jesus over the weekend.
I took 3 “X-J’s” (what we call our graduated students) who I have mentored over the past couple of years along with me. It was such an amazing time with those guys. We talked about everything over the weekend including politics, ministry, what it means to be a man, fatherhood, marriage and dating, and reminiscing about what they learned from their time with J-Life. Only God knows, but I feel like it was my most impactful weekend of ministry this whole year.
We will be wrapping up our training next week and moving into the second phase of the year. We have a lot of exciting things coming up but I would like to share the most awesome one with you! I have already mentioned a trainee this year named Trokon who is from Liberia. We are partnering with a church planting organization called OMS to establish youth ministry training in Liberia and Michelle and I have been asked to lead the initiative there with Trokon. The goal of our time there will be to train a number of key young leaders from different denominations over 8 months who will be able to teach what they have learned to others in their circles and denominations. We will also help to establish Trokon as our J-Life leader and help him to coach those other leaders as they implement the training. The process that we will be using has already been implemented in Tanzania last year by a fellow staff member with really encouraging results.
As Michelle and I met with John and Trokon about this opportunity it seemed quite clear that this is where God is leading us. The church planting organization has already raised the money for me to make 4 trips to Liberia, 2 weeks for each trip, which I will make between July 2010 and January 2011. We will need to raise money for Michelle to come along for 2 of those trips (because I really need her to teach some of the courses!) We will need to raise about $4,000 to get Michelle there on the September and November trips. This is mostly made up of flight costs. Traveling in Africa is not cheap! You can contact us or take a look at the “Donate” section of our blog to find out how to help us.
I have one more story: Henry is one of our students from Zambia. The other day he asked me (and I wish you could hear it with the accent) “Miah, when are we going back to that place with the moving stairs.”
“The mall? Do you mean the escalator?”
“Yes, I love those moving stairs.”
That is awesome stuff!
In other news, I now have 40 days until the Comrades Marathon. That’s the big 90km run that I have been training for. I ran a standard marathon last weekend and it went really well so I’m starting to feel confident about the big race. I’m really enjoying the running culture and getting to know people through the local club that Michelle and I run with. I’m hoping to finish the Comrades in around 9 hours and 30 minutes, but I’ll be happy with anything under 10 hours. And now that you all think I’m crazy…
Grace and peace
Miah
Well, I think that I have made a decision for at least one of those questions. I have decided that if I study psychology, I will apply to study psychology from a Christian perspective. This decision was not easy and I definitely prayed and thought through it meticulously. But I am excited about my decision and I do believe that it is what God is wanting for me in terms of graduate studies. Some of the thoughts of a man named David Prowlinson have helped me in this area. Here are some of my thoughts on the dilemma of studying psychology from a Christian perspective versus studying at a secular school:
God himself is man’s environment. It is not simply professing Christian people who live in relationship to God, every human being is living in relationship to God (whether conscious of this or not).
The whole movement of the human psyche is through God. Every expression of human anger is with respect to God because it is a demonstration of their worship or non-worship of God, or of their own pride and demands of the universe. The human heart is either facing God or turning towards idols, the human heart is active and not passive.
Therefore, we don’t just simply let the diagnosis of the human dilemma be defined autonomously and then bring in God later, but the human condition exists with respect to God, so we define the human dilemma in light of Him.
And if I believe that everyone living on this earth is radically dependent on and accountable to that God, I want to, and I have to counsel people in light of this.
I can integrate my studies in light of my faith myself, and I have done this and I enjoy this challenge. However, in counseling and psychology, I don’t want to reinvent the wheel when people I respect and look up to have already taken the integration of psychology and theology and formed their own ideas. It seems to me to only waste time to try and do this myself from scratch at a secular school.
We also have something that the secular world would kill for, and that is the community element of the Church. This is something we cannot overlook when we counsel. I believe in the potential and the power of the community we can have (and were designed to have) in church. This is where real and transformational counseling should happen.
Our model is the only model that has joy at the end. We were created to worship God and to live in relationship with Him. We alone offer a life that has joy at the end of it. And there is no other model that can truly offer hope in the real sense of the word, a hope that is eternal and not temporarily serving a purpose.
Basically, my decision is summed up with the statement in bold above. I don’t want to learn something and then add God into it if I believe that followers of Christ have a viewpoint that people who do not know Jesus will constantly be trying to get at, but will only see from the outside. We who know our Creator and our purpose have a different springboard for the whole discussion of psychology. Others have common grace of being made in God’s likeness and discovering some of His truth as laws of science, but Christians have a deeper and I believe more accurate perspective. I will always want to study what secular psychologists are coming up with, but my focus will be in light of who Christ is. The Word is my measuring stick for the goodness and validity of other systems and models of counseling. We can and must use the laws of science (because everything is spiritual), but we do not stop there. For me, there will be many more steps and much more responsibility as a counselor. I am not simply dealing with the mind, but also with the healing of the human soul.
]]>My name is Ezekiel and I come from Zimbabwe. I’m part of the J-Life ministry team 2010. It’s a team comprised of people from different parts of Africa going through training from January to April.
One of the exercizes we go through is called African realities. We were placed in teams where we had to go through the hardships that other people in Africa go through. Some were made to live like single mothers, some ex- prisoners, some illegal immigrants. I was assigned the identity of street kid and had to live like this for the next three days.
I was really touched to hear that most people in Africa barely use $1 a day, and I truly believe that. It reminded me of situations that many families went through in Zimbabwe in 2008-2009. In that period, my country was facing a period of political change that left the whole country with a trail of povery that no one could explain. The basic markets people went to could not even keep up with the prices of commodities due to scarcity. The shops in towns were empty, completely empty. If you could find something, it was extremely expensive. Just a can of coke was equivalent to R100, or $12.
With a previous season of doughts and mismanaged Agricultural seasons, the people in the villages were the most severely affected by the situation. They did not have produce and at the same time did not have the money to buy the expensive food that was now being imported. I went to a village called Buhera for a funeral and there I got to see this painful reality firsthand. There, the whole village came to the funeral, not because they knew the person, or to pay their last respects, but to get a decent meal (which was now rare). Life there was now unbearable, and this is one of the many untold stories. In some parts of the village, people were surviving on wild fruit. Chiefs had to take charge of certain areas in order to allocate fruit to families. They would make rosters and take turns to come and pick the fruit from the trees for their families. And families would go for days without eating! Whatever they picked on their turn is what they had to survive on until their next turn to pick from the tree.
This is how harsh life can be here. This is one of the situations in Africa. My experience of African realities made me think again about how I can play a part to bring change in other people’s lives and how I can change. How much effort am I putting in to help people in my country?
I must admit that it felt good to get my phone back and to go back to normal life after three days of this exercise. But other people don’t have that, what they are and how they struggle will remain until someone with a heart intervenes....
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Moving on from that, I also have a few things to say about Haiti. Well, not so much Haiti as such, but the kind of questions that come up from a tragedy like that. Everybody, believer or non-believer, needs an explanation for what happened that day. Here’s my take.
When things in the world go really bad, it’s there to remind us that things really do go bad. There is nothing good about hundreds of thousands of people being crushed under buildings. I believe that to write it off as “all in God’s perfect will” is to sidestep the issue. Some take it further and call it divine retribution which is very interesting. I wonder if those people then are against humanitarian response at all, because wouldn’t that then be working against God?
Jesus may give us a hint here as to how we are to react towards tragedy. When Lazarus died, Jesus wept. When John the Baptist died, all Jesus wanted to do was get away from the crowds and be alone. Jesus never said “It doesn’t matter, he went to heaven anyway.” Buddhists believe (if I have this right) that pain and suffering is an illusion. We can escape pain by denying its existence. I can’t imagine anyone continuing to believe that while watching the pictures coming out of Haiti. Jesus recognized pain, he believed that bad things really are bad.
But, the other thing we learn from Jesus is that death and suffering do not have the final word. In the resurrection, Jesus demonstrated that God has the final word. Jesus came to teach this to the world through his words and his actions. As Christians, we must also point the world to these truths. If there is anything we know as Christians, it is these two things: Pain is real; God will have the final word. This can be summed up in the word HOPE. As we respond in love to crises around the world, and as we respond to crises on our street, we are stepping into the world’s pain and pointing them to God’s kingdom. We are reminding our materialistic world that what they see is not all there is and things really are going to change.
By responding in love and compassion rather than judgment and fear, we show the world that we really do believe what Jesus taught: “the kingdom of Heaven is near.”
When life is really swell, there is no need for hope. I have heard people tell me, “I’d love to follow Jesus but life is just too fun right now.” We have to avoid this trap at all costs. Every time we encounter the pain of others, let it remind us where our hope lies.
And I guess that’s it for now.