The God who loves people!

Rutikanga is a wonderful man that we have been getting to know for the past couple of years. He is a member and a leader of the Musovu Friends Church, one of the churches that we are working with in Discipling for Development (D for D).

Rutikanga with some others from the Musovu Friends Church

In 2008, through attending and learning in the first D for D Foundations seminar, Rutikanga discovered that he can use the small amount of resources he already has to give birth to more! So soon after the training he gathered some people from their church and others from the surrounding community and they started an association to help each other build their own houses!

There are 16 people in the association and a month ago the association invited us to come and be a part of their meeting where they were celebrating the completion of 4 more houses! Now they have built houses for 13 out of the 16 people in their group!!! Wow! What an amazing way to love and serve each other! Some of these women have never had a home of their own. Others lived in dilapidated houses with grass and other things serving as their roofs. But now they have their own homes with tin roofs! The local government has seen what this group is doing and has praised the group, saying that they wish more people would work together like this association. We believe that God is being glorified in a very tangible way in that community and that our friends are preaching the good news of God's love for everyone in part through loving their neighbors! May each of us love our families, friends and neighbors into the life and peace with Jesus through showing His incredible love to them!

We will not continue to suffer and hurt!

Last Sunday we had an amazing experience in which once again the Lord taught us something very challenging through one of our Rwandan friends. This is actually something that we have become increasingly aware of. [Please see the blog entitled "Whether you and I want to admit it or not!" to follow more of what the Lord has been teaching us in this aspect of our lives!]

So as we were singing praise songs at the beginning of the worship service, Mama Mutesi* came forward and starting leading us in a very simple song that says "Ntabwo tuzongera kubabara" or "We will not continue to suffer/hurt!"

Let me pause for a moment to tell you about Mama Mutesi, she is a wonderfully cheerful lady who is a member of the Murinja Friends Church (one of the churches we are working in with D for D). Almost 2 months ago, Mama Mutesi's oldest child, a daughter about 18 years old, died after fighting for many years with various complications of a diseased heart. In the past 4 or 5 years, they were constantly at the hospital, seeing different doctors, trying to find medicine, etc. This has been a major part of Mama Mutesi's life for these last years and after all of that working and fighting, her daughter died. In a week and a half, this small church of Murinja lost 4 people to death. Two children died unexpectedly and an older man died, as well as Mama Mutesi's daughter.

As Mama Mutesi came forward on Sunday, she was dancing with absolute joy, exuberantly claiming and proclaiming the promise that "We will not continue to suffer and hurt!" Her face was radiating with the joy of the Lord, her smile was absolutely contagious and I found myself smiling uncontrollably. I remembered Moses' radiance after coming down from being on the mountain with God. I was overwhelmed with the incredible hope we have in Jesus! As Mama Mutesi was singing at the top of her lungs and dancing a beautiful dance of joy, she led all of us into one of the most exciting, Spirit-filled times of worship that I have ever experienced.

In Hebrews 2:14-15, it says, "Because God's children are human beings--made of flesh and blood--Jesus also became flesh and blood by being born in human form. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the Devil, who had the power of death. Only in this way could he deliver those who have lived all their lives as slaves to the fear of dying." Mama Mutesi showed all of us that day that she has been absolutely delivered from slavery to the fear of dying. She is looking forward with anticipation the day in which she will see the Lord's promises in Revelation come completely true!

Revelation 21:4 "He will remove all of their sorrows, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. For the old world and its evils are gone forever."

AND

Revelation 22:3-4 "No longer will anything be cursed. For the throne of God and of the Lamb will be there, and his servants will worship him. And they will see his face, and his name will be written on their foreheads."

In D for D, we are working with the Lord to emphasize the truth that He wants to transform our lives today and that we are supposed to pray and work toward His kingdom coming and His will being done on earth on it is as heaven. In Rwanda, this is a very important message, because the emphasis is almost always on heaven, that all of our problems will go away when we get to heaven.

We were deeply struck by the opposite truth taught to us by our Rwandan friends on Sunday; Difficulties, pain, and death is a normal part of this life and our hope is in Jesus for our future home in heaven.

So you see, we need each other. We need our Rwandan friends to remind us that we are only here temporarily and that our home and hope is in heaven through Jesus Christ our Lord and King! And our Rwandan friends need to hear the other side, that the Lord is and wants to building His Kingdom in and through us, here and now!

*In Rwanda, parents are often known as Mama or Papa so-and-so (the name of one of their children). Example: my parents could be called Papa Brad and Mama Brad. Often, we don't know the name of parents, we just know them by their children's name.

Whether you and I want to admit it or not!

Whether you and I want to admit it or not, as Americans our tendency when it comes to people from other cultures and traditions is that we usually think that we are better. We think we could teach them a lot about life and how God really wants us to live, worship Him, raise children, eat food, etc.

The Lord has been confronting this pride within us and challenging us to learn from our brothers and sisters in Rwanda! Yes, there are some things that the Lord might want to use us to teach them, but likewise there are some things that He wants to teach us through them!

We all have different perspectives based upon our worldviews, culture, experiences, personalities, passions, gifting, etc, that shape the way that we see life, how we interpret Scripture, and how we incorporate our faith into our lives. God is a magnificent and creative God who created the numerous languages and cultures among the many diverse people groups on Earth. The Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization states that “Because man is God’s creature, some of his culture is rich in beauty and goodness. Because he is fallen, all of it is tainted with sin and some of it is demonic.”(Perspectives: Chapter 71, "The Willowbank Report: The Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization, P. 483.)

If we were are all sitting in a circle around a globe each of us will have a slightly different perspective of the globe. There are parts of the globe that you would see that I would not be able to see. And others would see parts of the globe that you and I both cannot see. But if we could gain perspective from each other, we would be able to see or understand more clearly what the globe looks like.

It is my belief that every culture has a somewhat different and unique perspective on God and Scripture, and that if all of these correct perspectives could be put together, we would see and understand God, His glory, and His universal plan and purpose more completely. Although He is far beyond our comprehension and we will never fully understand Him, His ways, or His thoughts – Isaiah 55: 8-9! I think that this, working together, could empower our churches to be more of what God desires them to be. Also because of culture, we all have blind spots (areas that are distorted by our culture) when we interpret the Bible, which distorts the beauty of the way we live out God’s will in our lives and the Church.

May the Lord help each of us to be willing and ready to learn from people around us who have a different perspective so that we might more fully live in the Lord's plan and will for our lives. May His Kingdom come and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven!

Discipling for Development

Discipling for Development (D for D) is a process we are engaging in in Rwanda that helps bring whole life transformation into Rwandan communities. We as missionaries, together with Rwandan Christians engage in relationships with people in a community, helping them to identify the resources in the community, coming up with sustainable solutions to the problems they themselves identify. We do this while also sharing God’s love for them, realizing that God’s message to them is good news in all areas of life. Teachings (and transformation) happens in the areas of economics, health, relationships, spiritual growth, farming methods, etc.

The Lord has been transforming us and the way we see Him and the way we understand the Good News that Jesus came to bring to us! Here it is in a brief explanation:

THE CREATION: God created everything good, He said it was very good! (spiritually - we were united with God; physically - there was no pain, no sickness, no death; relationally - there was peace, love, selflessness, etc; environmentally - there was enough good water, good food, people lived at peace with animals, etc) It was all amahoro (shalom). God was King of everything and everything was just the way He wanted it!

THE FALL: Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. They decided they wanted to be King, and in that sin everything was distorted or ruined! (spiritually - we were separated from God and His will for our lives; physically - then came death, sickness, pain, etc; relationally - then came hatred, jealousy, murder, war, lying, cheating, etc; environmentally, drought, famine, bad water, etc. Everything is not the way God wants it. Humans are King. It was all non-amahoro (non-shalom).

REDEMPTION: God sent Jesus, the Redeemer! Jesus came to redeem all that was distorted or ruined! Although things will never be perfect on this earth, Jesus has, is, and will continue to redeem until the day He takes us home! (spiritually - He has made a way for us be united to God and live life with Him as our King, Savior, and Friend; physically - He gives us grace in our pain, sickness, and there is hope after death. He also heals us as He chooses; relationally - He has broken down and can break down all the walls that divide us, hatred, bitterness these can all be removed and replaced with God's love flowing in us and through us; environmentally - creation is groaning for redemption from the curse of the fall, but our task of stewarding and caring for the earth has been given to us anew in Christ! To those of us who choose to live in God's Kingdom, God is King and He leads us to walk in His will; He empowers us; and He helps us in all areas of our lives!

So when we teach about goats and how God created them and what He thinks about goats and help them discover some better ways for caring for their goats we are sharing a piece of the good news...God being involved in every part of our life and helping us as we know Him more and more in our work, in our families, with our neighbors, environment, etc. So in this way we are intentionally sharing / showing the gospel message in a way that connects to what Rwandans have known and experienced in a traditional religion that touched all of life. But now we are proclaiming the true gospel that touches all of life! We believe that in D for D we have a tool for the Church that can help us to experience, live in and share the Good News of God's Kingdom to our Rwandan friends, colleagues, and neighbors in a way that speaks deeply into the hearts of Rwandans.

We are currently working in 4 communities; Murinja, Musovu, Kirambo, and Karembure. In the first 3, (Murinja, Musovu and Kirambo) we are focusing on already present Evangelical Friends Churches. Each church chose some members to be on a committee that we are meeting with regularly and mentoring.

The fourth community is Karembure, in which we do not currently have a church. There are many Friends Church members who have recently moved to that community because they were forced from their homes. So the Yearly Meeting is thinking and planning toward planting a church there someday. We have been working with a group of community members; some are Christians, some are not. We have been meeting with them as well regularly, building relationships and beginning the whole-life mentoring process.

We are going to make a blog entry describing each of these communities in the next few weeks. So to learn more about this, please check back and learn how you can pray specifically for each of our communities.

A couple of stories from Kirambo

A few months ago one of our D for D coaches (Joe Fry, who works for the Navigators in a ministry called Mission: Moving Mountains) from the U.S. was with us for a few days. He wrote up a couple of wonderful stories that we shared with him. You can see them below and praise God with us for the wonderful things He is doing among us!

The Insurance Bananas of Kirambo, Rwanda.

What does health insurance have to do with bananas? Ask members of the Evangelical Friends Church in Kirambo, Rwanda. They can explain with joy how their health is improving through bananas.

The Rwandan government offers a national health insurance program for all citizens for a modest annual premium. Kirambo is located far from cities and jobs, however. Its agricultural residents struggle to meet daily basic needs. They long viewed health insurance as a luxury that was beyond their financial reach. When church members became sick or were hurt in an accident, they often approached the pastor, Tertullien Nsabimana , asking for money to pay medical bills. In some cases the victim may die at home because the uninsured family cannot pay for hospitalization.

Tertullien and his Disicipling for Development team have a vision for seeing their church experience transformation in every area of life. They also believe that God has already given them resources to solve their problems. With this in mind they researched the problem of uninsured church members and how to empower families to pay for their own health insurance. The team came upon a solution in the form of a new hybrid banana plant that produces large yields of high quality fruit. It grows well in the local soil and climate. They calculated that the average annual yield of one banana plant, sold at local market prices, would provide enough income for a family to pay for health insurance.

The next step was to instill a vision and mobilize the entire church. Church leaders began educating members through their weekly home fellowship groups. People reflected on the problem and soon embraced the plan. Then banana plants were made available to members, who were shown how to care for them properly.

The result to date is that eighty percent of the households in the Friends church in Kirambo are now - or soon will be - paying for their own health insurance. Prayer and accountability through the fellowship groups has been critical to the success of this initiative. It is enabling church members save the income from their bananas to pay for health insurance rather than using the money for other things. This has been an unprecedented victory both spiritually and physically for church members. It is also lifting a huge burden from pastor Tertullien, from whom church members formerly begged for financial help during a medical crisis.

Community members outside the church have been watching with amazement all that is happening. Some are starting to plant their own bananas; some are coming to Christ. The insurance banana initiative in Kirambo is a creative example of how God’s people are mobilizing local resources to improve life and advance His kingdom in rural Rwanda.

How Little Becomes Much: The Pumpkin of Blessing in Rwanda

Marita is a member of the Kirambo Friends Church in southwestern Rwanda. God has done an amazing work of grace in her life. Earlier this year He did equally remarkable things through her testimony.

Marita is HIV positive. Her husband left her long ago. Abandoned, infected and alone with two children, she lived in abject poverty. She owned only one set of clothes. Everywhere she walked she kept her head down and avoided eye contact. She hoped no one would talk to her because she felt ashamed of who she was and of her poverty.

But after Pastor Tertullien Nsabimana gained a new vision for his church through Discipling for Development, his team brought Marita into a discipleship group. They encouraged her through the Word and prayed for her. Her eyes soon began to open concerning the truth about her worth in Christ. She started following Jesus and began to realize that He has given her abilities to help herself and her family to survive. She learned, for example, how to earn money by selling at the market and how to save part of her earnings. She soon accumulated enough savings to acquire goats, a small parcel of land to farm, and she built a small house for herself and her children. Now, when Marita looks into the mirror there is no more shame. Her head is lifted up, her eyes shine, her voice is animated and she is full of joy! She is currently teaching her children how to take care of their own animals, to help pay for school supplies or other expenses. She says, “I may have HIV but I haven’t died of AIDS yet!” Someone asked her if she would forget about God now that her life is going better. She responded, “After all that He has done for me, after all He means to me, I will never leave my Jesus!”

God is not only working in Marita’s life, but through her. Each year in December the Friends Church in Kirambo has a celebration in which members bring a thank offering in response to the Lord’s blessing during the past year. Last December (2009), Marita was concerned during the days leading up to the celebration. Her money situation was tight at that time. What could she give back to the Lord? When the celebration day arrived she decided to bring to church something significant that God had provided for her: the largest pumpkin in her garden.

Marita humbly brought her pumpkin forward and laid it beside the other seemingly more significant gifts. The hearts of church members, who knew her story, were deeply moved by the offering she brought. Suddenly someone made a bid on her pumpkin; the “bid” actually being an offering to be given to the church. Another member responded by making an even higher bid. Seizing the spirit of the moment, soon many church members began joyfully bidding on Marita's pumpkin. When the bidding came to a close and all the money was collected, church members were utterly amazed. The total offering given that day exceeded 700,000 Rwandan francs (over $1,300 USD). This offering was by far the highest the church had ever seen. It was truly an unbelievable moment.

"Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins worth only a fraction of a penny. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on." Mark 12:41-44.

Visiting the church that same Sunday was a choir from a church located in the neighboring country of Burundi. The visitors witnessed what God miraculously did with Marita's pumpkin. Before leaving they asked if they could take her pumpkin with them back to their own church. They were raising funds to build an addition onto their building. The choir members returned home and shared Marita’s story, including her offering of the pumpkin and the response of the Kirambo church. Again the Holy Spirit moved hearts, this time in Burundi. The offerings collected in response to Marita’s story totaled over 3,000,000 francs (over $3,000).

Marita, like each of us, is still in a process of transforming. Yet God is using her mightily to advance His kingdom in Rwanda. A local radio station recently interviewed her to learn more about what God is doing in her life. Marita and her pumpkin are a wonderful illustration of Mark 12:41-44 and how little becomes much when God is in it.

D for D Kirambo -- Yeremiah & Beatha

Yeremiah & Beatha

Before D for D:
Yeremiah was an alcoholic who worked for beer. Beatha told us he would hide everything from her; he would get a job that would pay 1,000 francs (around $1.75) for the day and he would bring around 300 francs home for the family. The rest of the money he would spend on beer before he got home. He would often come home and beat his wife. They rented a cheap home and often struggled to pay the rent. Sometimes he would just beg people to help him financially. They have 4 kids and Yeremiah said they would "giving birth everyday" meaning, they had no plan for how many children they were going to have and that they were struggling to take care of the ones they already had. They knew that their life was hard and that that is the way it would always be!

Now after 1 & 1/2 years in the D for D process:
Pastor Tertullien and his wife Verena met them and began to share the Good News with them and the Lord has been at work in them!! Now their lives are dramatically different! Yeremiah says their lives have changed through praying and working! Yeremiah has stopped drinking and no longer wastes the family's money. Instead Yeremiah and Beatha work together to bring crops (corn, cassava, and sweet potatoes) from a far town to sell in their village. They make decisions together and instead of fighting and him beating her, they love each other! In the last year and a half they have joined the "Savings for Life" group and have saved money that helped them to buy a piece of land and then build their own house to live in! They have 4 goats, 1 chicken with several baby chicks, lots of fertilizer for crops, they have planted improved cooking banana trees that will help to bring in some extra money to buy yearly health insurance for their family that is available from the government. Yeremiah has become a leader in their church and they both seem to be growing in their faith as they see God at work in their daily lives! They have vision for the future to buy more land for farming and eventually a bigger home for their family. They have hope in God, that He will continue to bless the work of their hands.

Praise God for His work in each and every part of our lives! For how He has and is saving us in each part of our lives!

May His Kingdom come and His will be done on earth and in our lives as it is in heaven!

Yeremiah and Beatha

Their goats recently gave birth, now they have 4 goats!

This is the chicken coop. The net protects the chickens from hawks!

These are greens they planted right outside their house to help them have better nutrition.

The God who gives unspeakable joy!

This past weekend (Easter weekend) we visited the Kirambo Friends Church in southwest Rwanda. This is one of the 4 communities we are using Discipling for Development (D for D) in right now. The Lord is at work in the hearts and lives of our friends in this community! It was really fun to hear their testimonies and to see the joy of the Lord in their voices and shining brightly on their faces!

Chelsea and I spent time in October with these friends and heard their testimonies and were very encouraged by the joy that we saw in them at what the Lord was doing and how their lives were changing! This time they were even more joy-filled! Throughout Friday as we were visiting people in their homes I was impressed by the joy I was seeing in their lives.

The joy they are experiencing is coming directly from their relationships with the Living God! Often those of us from wealthy countries like the USA see poverty like our friends live in, our response is that we should give them some of the money/things we have. One time a group gave the Kirambo Friends Church quite a bit of money so that they could buy pigs to give to individuals in the church with the goal that the pigs would bring good income and help the church members come out of poverty. I am sure that the people of the church were very happy when they received pigs. But by the end of 6 months all of the pigs had been sold and there was absolutely no long-term good/results that came from the project. It even caused a lot of frustration and some conflicts.

Many Rwandans feel like they are very poor and cannot do anything! Some believe that they are worthless and therefore have no hope! Through the process of D for D our friends in Kirambo are experiencing worldview transformation. They beginning to understand that God created each of them wonderfully and has blessed them with a relationship with Him, with strength, arms & legs, wisdom, life experience, etc. They are recognizing how powerful they can be with the Lord! They are learning to think through their problems with the Lord and as a group and together they are finding some solutions to their problems! The result is joy and more joy! We visited 10 homes on this trip and each of the families accomplished quite a bit in the last 6 months since we were there last time, so they were filled with more of God's joy! They are not worthless, God in them is enough! They are capable, they are powerful and they are our heroes!

Here are a few things that God has helped our friends do in the last months. They have seen God present and active in their daily lives and are knowing Him better through these experiences!

Yeremiah, who used to beat his wife when he was drunk is becoming a loving and caring husband to Beatha.
Efrazia has finished building a house for her and her family! They no longer have to pay rent!


Marita's pig gave birth to 4 piglets! (I learned what the phrase "eating like a pig" means!)
For the first time in her life, Beatha and her family sleep on a mattress instead of sleeping on a grass mat on the floor.

Beatha Nyirandakunze has a lot of fertilizer from her goats to put on her own crops and is able to sell the rest to other farmers to make some extra money.


God is transforming our friends' lives spiritually, physically, relationally, emotionally, etc!!! May He receive glory and honor now and forever, Amen!

The God who purifies water!

The other day, I was looking through some of the resources we use in D for D (Discipling for Development) and was absolutely amazed with some lessons we have on water!

Did you know that the sun that God created can purify bad water? Scientists have apparently been studying this for years and have discovered that UV rays kill parasites and microbes in water in a clear plastic bottle. This process, called SODIS (Solar Disinfection of water). You can check it out and learn much more at www.sodis.ch. (It explains how the method is safe and recommended even when considering possible chemicals from the plastic).

So in order to increase the heat of the sun on the water bottle, they encourage us to lay the bottle down sideways on a tin, (here on a tin roof is a great place) for 6 hours on a sunny day. When it is cloudy it can take up to 2 days.

Just think, God has provided a way for our friends to have an almost free way to purify their water. I read that between 1.5 - 2 million people die each year because of diarrhea (especially children under 5 years old). Boiling water is very expensive, many people can't afford it, but this SODIS method only requires the sun that God has already given us, clear water bottles, water, and a sheet of tin (roof).

Isn't that GOOD NEWS? What an amazing God we love and serve!

the first farmer

On Sunday I went with David Thomas and Augustine (our Yearly Meeting Superintendent) to the Murinja Friends Church, which is one of the 4 communities we are working in through the Discipling for Development ministry.

Augustine led us in what I think is one of the most profound and really practical teachings I've ever heard in Rwanda! The lesson came from the ministry of LifeWind International.

But before I tell about the lesson I should explain a little about our friends in this community and in most of Rwanda. Most Rwandans have traditionally been subsistence farmers, meaning that they have a small plot of land and plant enough crops to eat and hopefully a little extra in order to be able to buy a few items they can't produce (i.e. salt, sugar, etc). Society in Rwanda is changing and it seems that often farmers are viewed as low peasants. Jobs in an office or teaching are viewed as prestigious and being a pastor is often viewed as the way to serve God. So some of our friends who are farmers are viewed as lowly and sometimes feel like they are worth little. This is obviously not the way God sees them!

The lesson started with an important question, "Who was the first farmer?" As we all thought about it, the answer seemed obvious to us, "Adam, was the first farmer!" But then as we looked at the book of Genesis we discovered that we were all wrong! In the 8th & 9th verses of chapter 2 we are told,

"Then the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he placed the man he had created. And the LORD God planted all sorts of trees in the garden--beautiful trees that produced delicious fruit. At the center of the garden he placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." (NLT)

So God was the first farmer; He planted the garden of Eden! Some people would say that farming is a part of the curse because of Adam and Eve's sin, but here and in the following we verses (v. 15) we see that God gave humanity the task of tending and caring for the garden. Yes, farming as well as all of life was effected by the Fall, but we are called to farming! The effects of this truth is huge and very practical for our friends who have sometimes felt like they are on the bottom of the society. Augustine then asked them the following 3 questions:

1) "How does God view you as a farmer?";
2) "How should we view our job as farmers?"; and
3) "How should we view God now that we know about this high calling of farming that He has given us?"

As our friends responded, we could tell that the Lord was speaking to them! These are the kind of thoughts they share:

-- God has called us to farm
-- Farming is really important (and God thinks so too!)" [Many jobs come because of farming, i.e. a carpenter has a job because someone planted the trees!]
-- He has given us strength and hands to use in farming
-- We provide food for the people in the offices

In the work of farming we see a very tangible and practical way in which God is directly involved in our daily lives! The crops that we plant would not grow unless God makes them grow! Our fields would not be planted unless we get out and plant them. It is only through our partnership with God that we can have food to eat...we work hard to plant the seeds and God makes them grow! What an awesome God that participates in our real and actual daily life!

my part in Jesus’ Body

About a month ago the sermon in the worship service we participated in was about the Body of Christ and simply taking a look at some different parts of our body in a similar way that Paul used in Romans 12 and I Corinthians 12. It is really a simple teaching, but sometimes hard to understand in the depths of who I am. So I have been reflecting on these passages as well as Ephesians 4 and trying to understand it’s reality in my life. I know that I am loved and valued by God because I am His child. He created me and knew me even when I was in my mother’s womb! But unlike many North Americans, our Triune God is not individualistic; He actually designed us to live in community, just as He lives in community as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit! So the Lord has been confronting my slant towards individualism with His design for life to be lived out in community.

Here are some thoughts from Paul taken Eugene Peterson’s really helpful contemporary English translation, the Message, NavPress, 2004:

From Romans 12…“Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it’s important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him. In this way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. The body we’re talking about is Christ’s body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his Body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn’t amount to much, would we? So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ’s body, let’s just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren’t.”

From I Corinthians 12…”Your body has many parts – limbs, organs, cells – but no matter how many parts you can name, you’re still one body. It’s exactly the same with Christ. By means of his one Spirit, we all said good-bye to our partial and piecemeal lives. We each used to independently call our own shots, but then we entered into a large and integrated life in which he has the final say in everything…As it is, we see that God has carefully placed each part of the body right where he wanted it. But I also want you to think about how this keeps your significance from getting blown up into self-importance. For no matter how significant you are, it is only because of what you are a part of. An enormous eye or a gigantic hand wouldn’t be a body, but a monster. What we have is one body with many parts, each its proper size and in its proper place. No part is important on its own. Can you imagine Eye telling Hand, ‘Get lost; I don’t need you’? Or, Head telling Foot, ‘You’re fired; your job has been phased out’?...The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part…You are Christ’s body – that’s who you are! You must never forget this. Only as you accept your part of that body does your ‘part’ mean anything.”

At the risk of being too vulnerable I want to share some about one of the battles I have faced throughout my life…I have struggled with pride in who God has made me to be. At times I have mistakenly thought that who I am and what I have done (that is good) has come out the “greatness” of me. But whenever those lies become too big the Lord is always faithful to tell me the truth; that who I am and what I do comes from His grace. He is the one who made me, gave me gifts, abilities, experiences all of which make me who I am today and enable me to do the things I do. And furthermore, my life is ultimately important only as I fit into His body, because what good is a pinky finger if it’s not connected to a hand that is connected to the arm of a person’s body?

I have recently been realizing in a new way the power of working with others in a team. This new insight has been most obvious to me in marriage to Chelsea. Chelsea and I are both children of the living God who have been re-created in Christ for the good works He planned for us to do (Eph. 2:10)! We are complete only as we work in community. Between Chelsea and I, we do not possess many of the spiritual gifts listed in Scripture, but she is gifted in wonderful ways that I am not and the opposite is also true. So as we serve together we are able to serve more effectively as we share tasks and each of us do the part we were created for!

In Rwanda, we are absolutely blessed to be working with a team of missionaries and Rwandan leaders, each of us created uniquely and specifically to be part of one unit of the Body of Christ. Together we are much more complete and much more able than when we are apart. Together we have many of the gifts of the Holy Spirit at work in the group! Together we can discern God’s will more clearly, together we are much more wise in making decisions. Together, as we love and serve each other we have leaders, helpers, administrators, wise people, teachers, prophetic gifts, evangelistic gifts, those with deep faith and many more! Together, as we work in unity God is glorified much more completely than when I try to work on my own! So, I am in the process (that will probably continue for the rest of my life on Earth) of trying to discern from the Lord what particular part He has made me to fill in the body at this time and in this place. [Do you know what gifts God has given you and the role to which He is asking you to fill in the body right now?] May each of us find the role that God has for us so that we may be a part of bringing Jesus’ prayer into reality…”May Your kingdom come and Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven!”

"Sometimes the Bravest Thing of All is to Hope"

January 23, 2010

If you have ever visited Rwanda, you see incredible beauty, but you’re also often struck by is the deep ocean of visible suffering. You can see people drowning in poverty, sickness, and despair and you start to feel like you’re being pulled under. Because of your nationality or skin color, you may be seen as a possible savior and you often see hands held out in hopes that you could give them something...anything.
Many Americans tend to be infected by the lies that they don’t need God, that they can do everything themselves, but many Africans believe that they can’t do anything, that they’re worthless. When you see this it’s hard to hope.

I just finished participating in a week of Discipling for Development (D4D) training. David and Debby Thomas and Brad were the teachers/facilitators and I was in a group of 15 participants including pastors from the Friends church as well as other interested leaders from various organizations and churches. I know I can’t describe the values, methodology, and teaching methods I’ve learned in one short note. (If you’re interested in hearing more about that, please let me know). What I will try to describe is some of the evidence that God is at work and that His kingdom is advancing here on earth!

We all watched a video that showed testimonies from a Friends church in the Cyangugu region. One woman who has HIV only had one set of clothing. She would walk with her head down not wanting to talk to anyone, believing she was the lowest of the low. She would go to church and try to stay in the corners. When she got connected to the Friends church and what they were doing with D4D, she got connected to Jesus Christ. Now, you should see her! Her face is joyful! She proclaims that Jesus has brought her out of the pit and raised her up. She knows she’s loved and she knows her worth in Christ. She was able to buy more clothing, she’s taking care of a pig for someone else and will get to keep its baby as payment for her care (raising livestock is a huge way that people can make money here). She has a few goats and one is expressly for her child so that he can learn to take care of it and have his own way to raise money for school, etc. There are so many ways her life has changed. When asked if she would kind of stop going to church, stop depending on Jesus now that her life is better, she emphatically says she is never, never leaving her Jesus, who has done so much for her! One man used to rent a small room and he could barely afford the five dollars a month rent. He waited and waited for an NGO (non-government organization) to come and build him a house. Now, through D4D, Jesus is transforming his mind. He found a way to build his own house with the ability to add on in the future. One woman used to be a prostitute, one man used to get drunk all the time and beat his wife. And these are just a few examples out of many. Their lives are transforming through Jesus Christ!!!

So, as I was going through the seminar this week, I realized that I was being afraid to hope. But, I have seen that God HAS transformed people’s lives, He IS transforming them, and HE WILL continue! It’s not that it’s easy for people to change. It can be a long and difficult process. If it was short and easy, it wouldn’t last. So, please pray with me and hope with me!

“Look around at the nations and be amazed! For I am doing something in your own day, something you wouldn’t believe even if someone told you about it.” Habakkuk 1:5

Moving on From Christmas

January 15, 2010

Though Brad and I definitely missed our families and friends, we had a great first Christmas together in Rwanda. We got together a lot with the other members of the Friends mission team and I think we all felt like family to each other. We had our own candlelight service, read the Christmas story together, had a Christmas Eve party and Christmas day feasting and celebrating (though Brad and I were sick starting Christmas day)! We spent time over Christmas break watching movies together, playing games, talking, relaxing, and eating special snacks and foods. We even had Christmas trees up in our houses! These are some of the usual things you might expect, some traditions we’re carrying on even though we’re in Rwanda. Here are some things that were a little different than Christmases Brad and I have had in the States:

Flip flops and short-sleeved shirts
Making my own sour cream for a casserole
Free Christmas trees!
Lugging our tree on our shoulders to our house in the rain and slippery mud (we got really dirty!)
Taking turns getting each other medicine and thermometers

Even despite getting sick, missing people, and missing traditions, God really took care of us this Christmas. He helped us find ways to celebrate His birth. He was near to us and healed us when we got sick. He helped us rest in the days following Christmas before we started work/ministry/language-learning/living daily life in Rwanda again.

Before Christmas break I (Chelsea) was feeling…I wish I could describe it. Something like dreading language lessons, having a hard time going to church, feeling really tired, etc. Of the things I feel like the Lord was saying to me over Christmas break, I feel like the main thing was to keep seeking Him. He just reassured me of His love and His strength that will help me keep going even as I feel so weak. These hard feelings aren’t just going to go away, as they’re a natural part of culture stress /culture shock/culture fatigue. Even so, sometimes it’s really hard. So, you can pray for me as I’m probably going to be experiencing different degrees of these feelings for awhile still.