As I wrote in a recent prayer note, “The only thing more fulfilling than worshiping with these guys from Burundi (see pic) is to hear their amazing stories of traveling out into village after village to share the love of Jesus.”
We had long discussions on ‘passion’ during our week with these young men and women. We agreed that what makes a leader is more about the fire in a person’s heart than most anything else. But, personally, I was humbled by their thoughts on the subject and, even more so, by the way they live it out.
Some of the discussion included ‘Where does the passion for Jesus Christ and the Gospel come from?’
“From our life being changed by the power of Jesus’ love.”
“From time in the Word of God.”
“From the Holy Spirit who fills us with God’s fire.”
“From time in prayer.”
“From walking out the assignments that God gives me.”
Then hearing their stories of how passion continues to motivate them to travel to remote and rural parts of the country was inspiring:
“My goal is to make 150 new disciples every three months who will be passionate to take God’s love to others.”
“I have been using Bible storytelling to reach Pygmies far from here who are starting groups and retelling the stories.”
“We are taking water filters into some of the most remote areas where people are so happy for this and invite us to start Bibles studies in their homes. We have to keep running to make time to spend with so many people.”
I honestly don’t think my own passion holds a candle to theirs, but I am surely hopeful that just a little of it rubs off!
Philemon 1:23 Epaphras, a prisoner with me for Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you. And also Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, workers together with me, send greetings.
We read a book awhile back called Foreign to Familiar, Guide to Understanding Hot and Cold Climate Cultures, that was incredibly helpful in trying to understand just some of the cultural differences between Africa and America. The number one, albeit obvious, difference being we are a northern hemisphere culture and they are a southern. They are communal, we are individualistic. It’s a fascinating read because it’s incredibly true, worldwide, at least the countries we’ve had the good fortune to visit.
One of the things we experience here in Africa is that no matter where or what is going on, it’s going to involve a lot of people. If I walk up to someone on the street and ask directions, pretty soon there’s going to be about 10 people all around us, some listening, some staring at the mzungu, other’s giving their opinion of the best route for me to get where I’m going. If there’s a funeral, it doesn’t matter who you are, there’s going to be at least 100 people in attendance. If it’s Christmas, the ENTIRE family is going to be there no matter how far away you live or how broke you are. There’s a certain norm that’s not only expected, but practiced. My business is your business, because you are family and with it comes responsibilities, financial and emotional. There’s strength, there’s allegiance and loyalty, no matter what.
For us, we are individualistic. We call it respect…for each other and each other’s property. We call it responsibility. It’s my responsibility to care for myself and my family, not my extended family’s responsibility and certainly not my neighbors. Pride prevents us from telling anyone if we are broke and need help and it also inspires us to “stand on our own two feet,” and do something…anything to improve the situation. We are self-starters, we dream dreams and make them happen, we align ourselves to like-minded people and move in circles doing what we like and inviting others to join us, no matter who you are.
I can’t tell you for sure if it’s cultural or not, but one thing for sure I can tell you. Everywhere we go…Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, or Congo…ALWAYS the Believers tell us, “Please greet those people back at home and tell them we love them.” They feel close to you because in their minds, you are one of them. You are family and as such, not a stranger. You belong to the same tribe as they do and therefore, even though they have never met you, there’s a certain blood tie that no matter who you are or where you live or what you have done or haven’t done…you are one of them and they are one of you. So, from Africa to America, “the workers together with me, send greetings (and our love).”
Meet Ken. He is not only inspiring, but contagious to be around! He and I had met before, but it was quite some time ago. That’s why I was especially happy to get to spend a couple of days together in western Kenya this trip. After catching up, I asked him to tell me a little about himself and what he is doing currently. Here’s some of what he shared with me:
“We live in an area where people live hand to mouth. It’s a slum called Matisi. There is extreme poverty. The people there often have so many problems with their feet because of the chiggers and they really suffer. We take them to public health for medicines and then we give them shoes to wear. We don’t ask them what tribe they are from and we have a lot of favor to go there. For example, we can go to any house and be received. We work with our wives and there is a lot of unity for us in that work. If someone has no clothes we will even take off ours and give them to them. Sometimes the suffering is so bad, I will even remove my shoes and leave them with that person and come home with no shoes. The need is so great in that place.
“For myself, I do small businesses of buying second hand clothes and also shoes and selling them. I have one disciple Isaac who joins me in the work. I told him one day, ‘You go this way and I will go that way.’ We dedicated one day a week at first for this work. Now there are so many house churches. I think there are around 35.”
Ken then introduced me to Isaac. It was my first time meeting him. His excitement for making disciples was contagious! Here’s some of what he told me:
“As for me, I focused on Posian Village. There was a man who was a drunkard on the street. He was asking for money for alcohol. We gave him 50KSH. We bought that alcohol for him and also prayed for him. We sat with him and listened to him. He was a very hard and tough guy, but he did agree to book another day to meet with us three days later. We found him again and he told us, ‘You did well to buy me that alcohol.’ We told him we wanted to share the Word of God with him and he said ok. He invited us to come to his house and share with the whole family. That family welcomed us with peace so we shared the Gospel with them. We prayed with them and they, the entire family, accepted Christ as the Lord.
“One week later we went back to that house because the family wanted to be baptized after hearing that it was what Jesus wanted for them. The family invited neighbors for when they meet at their home (to do Discovery Bible Study). Out of that man and his wife now there are 15 house churches. I go to them each week and meet with their leaders and disciple them so they can go disciple others.”
Ken was once a traditional pastor. He was frustrated continually trying to maintain his church. He had little money and had to pay rent for space and equipment to have a service so people would come. Today he is very excited because sharing the Gospel is easy. It requires no money. People are reached loving them in practical ways. They meet easily and simply in their homes in their neighborhoods, sharing life together in simple ways.
feet infected with chiggers – typically caused from not being able to afford shoes.
Very typical “second hand clothes” shop where many Kenyans buy their clothes. They are actually new clothes discarded and sold off from Western countries and somehow find their way to Africa.
We find ourselves spending less and less time in the villages of Africa. Our role of coaching leaders means that we can normally get more done by gathering them together in a central location, a small town which they can access from diverse locations.
To be honest, there are some parts of going out into the villages that I do not miss. The all-day travel on pot-holed roads that jolt your bones forever, the lack of facilities (toilets) or familiar food or comfortable seating or clean surroundings. Yes, in fact, there’s lots and lots of dirt and dust and heat and suspect food that may or may not result in another round of stomach bacteria.
But…
There is something that I terribly miss if we stay too long without touching life in the villages. There is something richly human and vibrant that can be found nowhere else. People that live in the raw simplicity and purposefulness required by rural life strike a chord deep in one’s soul in a way that nothing else can.
I am not sure how to explain it.
There are the faces of people running toward you as you arrive because you have come so far to see them. Even people you have not met before. They greet you eagerly as their guests, and their lives and hearts are obviously warmed just by your presence with them.
There is their hospitality that, despite their poverty, is abundantly generous and overwhelmingly moving. Whatever they have, or whatever they can borrow from a neighbor, they will bring it to you and are not satisfied until you have eaten and drunk all. They are welcoming you into their family, and sitting with them and eating with them is part of becoming part of them. Indeed, within a short time you feel amazingly close, like family, to people you hardly know because life, love, and family just exudes out of them.
There is the vulnerability that you feel because they do not have trappings to hide behind. There are no nice cars, houses, nor clothes to cover up the nakedness of simple humanity. They are simply people living, working, laughing, crying and doing it all together with many family members in the small confines of a one-room hut and an outdoor cooking area.
There is the deep sense of community as you realize how much they truly depend on one another, including extended family and neighbors, just to survive. What you have one day your neighbor may need the next, to avoid hunger or medical or school fees or help with a dowry or funeral needs.
Finally, there are heartfelt farewells from people you have only just met as they hug and smile and walk you down the road as far as they can go.
One feels opened up to a side of humanity that is deeply moving yet rarely accessible… unless you are willing to leave the confines of one’s own world and enter that of another.
There’s a couple I met a few years ago in Kenya. They live in a rural village area in the ancestral home of the husband. Their life is simple. They live in a mud house with a thatched roof. Their needs are met…most days…their wants are few. They exemplify “if we have food and clothes, we will be satisfied with that.” – 1 Timothy 6:8
They have one goal: to make disciples of Jesus Christ. Why? Because they believe they have one assignment:
Matthew 28:19–20 New Living Translation (NLT)
… to go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.
Caren, the wife, tells me, “We have a heart to go to people. Jesus commissioned us to go and baptize them. It’s very important to have the right DNA that is in Matthew 28, to go, make disicples, teaching them to obey, starting with baptism. Then we gather them together because we share love with each other in a practical way. This is Scripture. It is easy. It is God’s way of multiplication. Even someone who hasn’t gone to school can do these simple things.
“This is what Jesus taught. Our ‘Baba (Father)’ is Jesus. He is our leader. He loves us as his children so we can do the work of God. It works well, this simple method of his. At the end of the day you have a big work of disciple-making and it costs no money. One person just shares the love of God with another person. You don’t leave him. You walk alongside of him and then take them with you to make another disciple. It doesn’t take long. It is very cheap. This is what we do in Kakamega. It is strong and growing. We have many relationships with people who are now good friends. This method we find so many who need and want to be loved. Their lives are being changed.
“What we are seeing is that when we disciple someone they will come out just like us with the same DNA. The first thing we have to do is always to pray. Prayer takes time. We are praying for that man of peace to disciple. We take about one or two months with him, being with him, discovering through the Bible who Jesus is and what he taught. Every week I will meet with them and share. We then take that person with us to share with someone else. This person is now able to make disciples. We always start with Discovery Bible Study in a new group or home. That new disciple goes with me and he watches me; then the next time that disciple he is helping me to do that; the next time we go, the disciple does it and I am there to help him. You can’t just leave the new disciple there alone. It’s like with Peter and Barnabas. You want to make sure that disciple has the DNA of Jesus. This is what sustains the movement.”
Here’s what some of the other disciple-makers are saying:
“With our movement people help each other in very simple ways. They share each other’s burdens. We have very little, but what we have, we share.”
“This is easy. We have received the love of God and we want to share it with others. We can share with so many people because of how easy it is to pass on God’s love. This is the Bible. The Discovery Bible Study is doing a lot. People from all over are seeing and hearing about this movement and what God is doing.”
“I love this method so much because it is God’s way. We can be together anywhere, any time. This is easy. It is not only for the pastor or someone coming to the church. I meet someone anywhere I am, even at the river and I can share the love of God with them. When we meet, we are in the house and they know me and my challenges very well. Here no one is pushed down. Everyone is able to be lifted up. We look at the Bible together and we find what is the Truth.”
“The gospel goes very quickly with this way of disciple-making, because it is a friendship atmosphere. Everyone can do this, not only if you are a pastor.”
“House church people are reading the Word of God together and discovering the Truth. They are ridding themselves of witchcraft.”
“We are reaching people in their homes. You don’t need anything, except Love.”
“We are discovering that we need to be open to people and their problems. When we do this, we find that we can understand and love people very well.”
“Our people are suffering and they are not being helped. House church is the way we can really help people. This is real help for people not just talking about help.”
“We find with DMM there is a way to work with people without fighting. We only serve God and are not in competition with people to find people to add to our church building programs.”
“God will go to any lengths to reach someone. What we are finding is that he usually does it through one person to another person.”
Roger 
