End-month news December 2024

jimoharries@gmail.com

Happy Christmas to all!

I invited an Egyptian who was staying here alone, to accompany me on a walk. As we set out, the sun was shining, and I assured him it couldn’t rain. He had a waterproof phone, so could take this ‘action’ picture when we were poured on …

English in Church

I sent the below-paragraph to someone in an email. They encouraged me to include it in my newsletter! It was very much at ‘feeling level’. I was a little ‘shocked’ myself at how I felt. Very clearly, that is, as a ‘local Luo person’ in Western Kenya, an antagonism to English-language dominance that is increasingly spreading over Africa:
“Went to local Anglican church yesterday. Amazed at myself … they had a youth service first. I stayed for a while as I’d got there early, then left. It was all in English. When they’d done, they all filed out past us ‘oldies’ who are so ignorant as to use Luo. ‘We’ve lost our children’ one lady said later in the service. It certainly seemed that way! And it felt rotten – that US / UK were stealing ‘our’ children from under our noses” …

‘I’m proud that we can do this without foreign help’

Our pastor stated some words, closely related to the above, in a recent post on whatsapp. The site was that of my home church in Kenya. We have just had our youth conference. Nine of my own children attended. They were taught, fed, and housed, for 4 days. My home church is ‘proud’ that they were, apparently, able to do all this without foreign donor help. This can help you to see my dilemma: am I a foreign donor? I try to keep my contributions minimal.
Over 20 young people were baptised, including at least one of my children, who last night announced that she was saved and had decided to follow Jesus.

You might fall asleep but …

I recently joined an indigenous church for their mid-week fellowship. I have known this church for years (30 years or so). I periodically show-up at their gatherings, usually their midweek meetings, held in people’s homes. This time again, I showed up without notice. I sat down. There were just 5 of us men, and about 20 women in the large sitting room of this house. By the time I had arrived, they had already had worship, and were completing a time of testimonies.
The lady chairing the gathering stood up. She told us that it was time to hear God’s Word being taught. What she went on to say clearly demonstrated that she referred to an issue that they had ‘often’ (?) discussed. She said she was going to invite me to share the Word. She then explained why. Clearly, compared to their routine speakers, she explained, I spoke very softly and progressed through my message far too slowly. So much so, that there was a likelihood that someone might fall asleep as I spoke. But, she added, there is much to be gained for those who pay careful attention to what I actually said.
Why am I sharing this? Not to feed my pride, I hope. (It is an irony, that contemporary missionaries often have to blow their own trumpet to raise donor funds.) I reflected on the way in which, instead of planting a ‘new church’, that many people expected me to do in my early years in Kenya, I have instead worked with existing churches. I am never in charge of a gathering I attend. To some, this might be a frustrating way of working: one can’t do what one wants, and has limited opportunity to tell things as they are to ‘correct the Africans’. I can only speak when asked to.
The above little incident threw another light on this. What the lady said, an outcome of discussion the ladies had obviously often had, was in some ways not so encouraging: I talked too slowly, people might fall asleep, it was hard for people to understand me! But yet, even though I had come late, so they no doubt already had someone else lined up to speak, she opted to ask me instead. This means people (those who did not fall asleep!) were listening, and there is a contingent in the church who felt I had something important to say. Doing this in the way I was, simply as a visitor, no financial donations, not a leader of anything, local language, showed up late on a bicycle, was resulting in my message taking a deep hold, without having to disrupt local leadership and dominate as a Westerner!

Misunderstandings in Vulnerable Mission

To read a fascinating article entitled: Religious liberties of missionaries under pressure from within, click here: https://journals.mf.no/ntm/article/view/5589/4581

Click here for more on information on how to join this webinar for free.

Please pray for

1. On 6th February, we are to celebrate the handing over of the ‘reigns’ of the AVM (Alliance for Vulnerable Mission) to a new executive team. The AVM is now registered as a charity in Germany. We also have a new website. Please pray for the handover event, and for the new team. (If you’d like to be invited to participate in this online-event, which is by invitation only, please let me know.)
2. Please pray for my mother. She has just come to the end of a three week stint in hospital in UK. She is using oxygen at home. Pray for her recovery and thriving. Give thanks that mum experienced Jesus’ closeness to her while she was ill.
3. Rejoice and give thanks for ongoing opportunities to witness to the love of Jesus here in Kenya, and in Tanzania. (God willing, I will return to Tanzania to teach again for 2 weeks from 8th February 2025.)
4. Pray for my writing and publishing. I have recently responded to various requests for me to step up my writing. Sometimes the motivation is more ‘internal’ as I become aware of high levels of misunderstanding between the West and Africa, and attempt to plug the gaps.
   

Yours,

Jim