October 30, 2009
The children and their mothers were expecting us. They smiled, knowing Pastor Agabus and the elders of Majami’ar Almasihu (LCCN) had come to see them, bringing visitors. The van eased to a stop in the remote village of Polchi, an hour’s drive off the nearest paved road. When the visitors stepped out of the van the shrieking began. In the arms of her mother one terrified toddler screamed, “Make them go! Make them go!” The more her mother and the other women tried to calm her, the harder she cried. The last time people with pale colored faces visited Polchi this little girl was not yet born. Never in her life had she seen such a strange thing. Without television, magazines, storybooks, or newspapers there was little chance of her ever seeing a photograph of European-colored skin. So, sensibly, she screamed.
This small moment illustrates the value of the accompaniment model of global mission. When Pastor Agabus Malanchan and the congregation elders Thomas, Joseph, and Felix first reached out to the villagers their familiar faces and shared language (Hausa) aided the work of introducing Jesus among both “traditionalists”, people who follow the traditional tribal religions, and adherents of Islam.
In Gada’Yula, another mission outpost we visited, the villagers had many questions for us. What does the God of Jesus have to say about revenge? What about anger? What does Jesus mean when he says that to be angry is the same as murder? In Hausa and in English Pastor Agabus and I strove to offer faithful responses to pastoral concerns as old as Cain and Abel. When I made reference to a Bible story the flash of recognition on their faces told me we were one people: we live by the same stories, we struggle with the same sins, we seek the same wisdom. We are one.
In that moment I experienced live theological truth. Since I was a teenager I’ve believed in “the mystery of God’s purpose for the fullness of time, the unity of all…in Christ.” (Eph.1:10) Now I have experienced it in person, in the against-all-odds fellowship of people who themselves might once have screamed at the sight of me, or I of them. The glory of God shimmers, just a little, in the oneness of God’s own people.
NB: Current upload speeds range between 20-30 kpbs. The accompanying pictures (worth at least a thousand words!) will have to wait.
Filed under: Nigeria
