Background Partners

God's Story in Hard to Reach Places

Congo

Reproducibility

Yesterday I was taking a Sunday afternoon nap and when I woke up I heard the recurring “shump shump shump shump” sound of a sewing machine in the next room.  I walked in the room expecting my wife, but instead one of my daughters was working on a project for a friend.  She just learned how to sew in the past couple weeks from my wife.

When I went downstairs, in the kitchen was my youngest son with an apron on backing brownies, under the tutelage of our other daughter who was making sure three tablespoons of salt were used, not three cups like he was about to pour in. 

Going in the other room I found my oldest son on the computer creating some promotional fliers for his sibling’s sewing and baking “businesses”.  He had pictures and layouts and I think the video camera was being charged to make a video to post on YouTube.  I’d like to say that I taught him everything he knows, but honestly all I did a few years ago was get him started and he took of with it from there.  Now he’s flourishing in creating things on his own.

Finally I found my wife, sitting on the couch reading a book.  It hit me later last night what I had seen, besides the house being quiet.  We were seeing my kids do things that they had been taught by us, now on their own and even teaching others how to do what they had learned.

Reproducibility.

“You have heard me teach things…Now teach these truths to other trustworthy people who will be able to pass them on to others. (2 Timothy 2:2)”

When we get the opportunity to train people in how to use storying, we don’t just want them to walk away with notes in a binder to file away.  (Actually, the way we do training we don’t use any handouts or notes anyway, but that’s another topic.)  We want people to leave the training prepared to train others in what they have learned, and do it in such a way that those people can in turn help still others learn.

This short excerpt is from an email I received in December.  It is from a friend in Congo who oversees the people we trained in October.

Your mission to Congo has been a blessing to Church of The Holy Spirit. We keep practicing the training we got from you and it really works. Even a week ago we went to M______ on 18th afternoon and sent a couple of people from the church [my note – these were people who had never gone out before to other villages.] to God’s field telling Bible stories and 8 people come to Christ. Let me tell you that the same day, in the morning we baptized 8 new believers.

Storying is very transferable or reproducible.  Something is easily transferable usually because it is very natural.  And when what is taught is caught, it is able to be passed on to others.

Now if only my kids could learn to keep their rooms clean like they learn other things…but then again, a clean room might not be natural for them.

Blogging as communication and catalyst

Last month I went with a small team to Congo.  There we trained 27 pastors and missionaries in how to use chronological Bible storying to go start churches in undeveloped villages.  It was a fantastic trip full of answered prayers, unexpected barriers both human and spiritual, people becoming Christ-followers, and sharing of lives.  Where but in the Body of Christ can you find people who don’t speak the same language and have almost no common background, but can worship together, pray together, share the spiritual journey they’ve been on, and move forward by faith towards a common goal – seeing people glorify God?

One of the frustrations we had was being able to keep folks updated.  We had several people checking here for updates, but it wasn’t possible to do.  Either we had no power, no access to internet, or when we did it was a sizzling 0.78 kps, which hampered any possible blog entry.  So we’ll have to figure out some alternatives for reporting from the field on future trips.

As we’re planning 2010 trips to train others, I felt like during this next year I’d like to expand the scope of this blog.  Recently we did an intro to storying workshop for several churches.  It wasn’t for those only interested in global missions, but for local outreach, small groups, student ministry, international university students, and families.  It was a great time.  (If you’d like to find out more about doing something like this at your church, let us kn0w.)  During the day, it became obvious many people were making connections to use storying in their various niches that God has placed them.

What I hope you’ll start seeing here are more regular entries that deal with a variety of topics:

  • storying that is occurring globally;
  • thoughts to spur storying use wherever you are in the relationships that God has given you;
  • pointers to other resources and articles in popular mags, mission mags, and scholarly journals that are out;
  • and more reports from locations we are able to train as we are able.

Hopefully the Lord will allow the posts and comments to be a catalyst for us to see people get into God’s Word (the written) in order that God’s Word (the person of Christ) can get into people with the fewest number of obstacles possible.

Congo trip

A dozen pastors were waiting for us across the border.  The men were smiling ear to ear.  The women were raising their hands and yelling a very fast high pitched “la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la…” greeting.  We walked across the bridge, leaving Rwanda and after two and half days of travel finally entering Congo.  For seventeen minutes.  Sometime between when we had left Richmond and the day we entered Congo, the Congolese government had changed the visa policy, now requiring a visa from the embassy in Washington, DC.  We couldn’t get in.  As we walked down the hill to cross the bridge back to Rwanda, all we could do was ask the pastors to pray.

Ahh, the battle.  The next day, as we were leaving the hotel, my foot slipped on the stairs, I elbowed a window, and gashed my arm forearm on the concrete frame.  As I was passing out, my phone got a text message.  Here I am laying on the stairs of a Rwandan hotel with a gash in my arm, passing out, no idea if we will get across the border or not, our host has invited all these pastors and missionaries for training, and we had spent the day before praying and having others pray and what does the text message say?  “Welcome to Congo.”

 

It was from a Congo cell phone company, but it reminded me that God was going to get us in because He wants to do something and wants us to be a part of it.  I’d like to say that I jumped right up praising God, my arm was healed, and shared this confirmation that God was in control and that Satan was not going to keep us out of Congo, but honestly I was out cold because I looked at the blood.

 

Thirty minutes later we walked across the bridge, took our passports to the immigration desk, and got stamped to come in.  “Welcome to Congo.”

A number of things happened this past week that kept reminding us that our trip was a real pain in the rear end to Satan.  Our van had a major part break.  A road we needed to take to get to see the rape victim women was closed for two days because of a car burning riot.  Rebels attacked a truck several kilometers from a church we were teaching at on Sunday.  Kath was throwing up two minutes before she was supposed to teach, felt fine, and as she was ending had to run out the door getting sick again.

Many of the pastors and missionaries came from difficult backgrounds.  The war has claimed many victims.  One of them is a young woman, Zjebolei, who I’m guessing is 18 or 19.  Rebels attacked her village, kidnapping many woman and holding them hostages.  Zjebolei was a raped for a year.  Finally escaping, she made her way back to her village, only to find it burned and her mother and father killed during the raid.  She made the two day trek to the city we were in, met an older woman named Noela who led her to Jesus.  Not long after she gave birth.  Zjebolei is an outcast in her country because she’s been violated, and her baby is an outcast because the father is one of the Rwandan rebels (she doesn’t know who) killing people in the region.

Zjebolei didn’t miss a session of the training.  And guess what she’s going to do?  Tell other women who have been raped, lost families, and have outcast children stories about a God who loves completely, even outcasts.

This trip seared in my heart more the vision God’s given us, to be a catalyst to help national believers plant churches in hard to reach places by helping get people into God’s Word and God’s Word into people with the fewest number of obstacles possible.

We’re about ready to land in Ethiopia on our way home.  Kath has been sharing stories with a Rwandan woman sitting next to her for the past two hours.  I’ve got a lady changing her kid’s stinky diaper next to me.  So much for the glamorous life of a missionary.

Yours for seeing God glorified in hard to reach places.