Sinking Roots Deep: Compassionate Christianity in Ethiopia

The latest issue of World has an in-depth article (online paid registration required) on Christian Compassion in Ethiopia. After a brief recap of the recent tragic history of that country, the article takes us on a whirlwind tour of just a few of the evangelical missionaries doing works of compassion there.

Note that this is in the midst of a country roughly equally divided between Islam and Ethiopian Coptic Christianity. And yet, evangelical protestants continue a vibrant witness ... offering compassion and outreach to AIDS victims, offering medical care to traumatized women, offering educational and agricultural aid.

However, it's not a matter of giving handouts. One of the stories is that of Marta Gabre-Tsadick, a 75 year old former member of the Ethiopian senate, and an unabashedly evangelical Christian. She started Project Mercy back in the 1990s....simply by asking local villagers what they needed and then when she figured out it was a school, she started one.

Only the local muslim population didn't like her talking about Jesus. "...when the children of the school started accepting Christ, they no longer wanted us....They threw stones at us. For a year and a half we could not go outside the compound at night."

But the school survived. Now here's the kicker for me. Check out this quotes from the article:

She applies here experience to the training of her students, telling those who only want to evangelize that they should develop a skill that will make people come to them: 'Go to nursing school and become a public health person. Learn medicine, engineering, business management, law.'

So she's actively encouraging her students to get involved in the watching world in a profession that actually meets needs...and then use that profession to tell people about Jesus. This is right in line with Paul's admonition in I Thessalonians 4:11-12: "Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders, and so that you will not be dependent on anybody."

Meet needs, but also be distinctively Christian about it. In her clinic, Gabre-Tsadick offers to pray for each patient...now over 11,000 ..."because Jesus is the great physician."

The second quote from the article expresses the impact:

The clinic and school still upset some Muslim leaders, one of whom complained about 'brainwashing students with the Bible" -- but Gabre-Tsadick recounts that he also admitted 'There's no use getting rid of you. You have sunk your roots so deep.'

And there is the great lesson for American Christianity. We need to re-learn the old discipline of sinking roots deep in the soil in which God has planted us. We need to re-learn how to be blessings to our community, but unabashedly Christian blessings. It is not sufficient to airdrop some sandwiches to homeless people in the park twice a year and consider our duty done. We need to be about the business of meeting needs, building culture, helping society be better. And in the process, we can also be crazy honest that we're doing it because we love Jesus...that Jesus died for our redemtion...that He rose to conquer evil, darkness and death (especially the evil darkness and death within our own hearts)...and that he rules pouring out the Holy Spirit to work in and through His people. That's really good news.

So let the African Christians challenge us to be salt and light in our own mission field as well...

Read more inspiring stories about Marta Gabre-Tsadick:
from the Deseret Morning News
from the Macneil/Lehrer news hour
from Jazz Musician Karen Cameron


Soli Deo Gloria
Russell

Congratulations to Kilama George

You've heard me talk about the microlending outfit Kiva (see my earlier posts). The first loan I gave through Kiva has just been completely repaid -- Kilama George. His loan request, as told on the Kiva website, was thus:

[Kilama George] works as a bracelet maker for the Invisible Children Bracelet Project.

He lives with his wife and children in the Acholi quarters. He has been there for five years ,and he came from Pader district he has six children. Before coming to LiA, he worked in the stone quarry with his wife and had a very difficult time supporting his family. His wife still works at the quarry while he works at liA. Together, their incomes now support the family and their lives have improved. However, housing is very poor in the Acholi quarter.

He has acquired a plot of land from the King of Buganda who has sympathy for the people of Acholi. On this land he plans to build a two room house for his family.

The genius of Kiva is that it works through local organizations that guarantee the loan, in this case the Life in Africa foundation working in Uganda. These local organizations provide support, accountability, and encouragement. Life in Africa is a group of people working to help themselves out of the chaos that exists because of civil war in Uganda and Sudan:

Over 85% of our members are people displaced or otherwise directly affected by Northern Uganda's 20 year long war. Together we are joining hands to lift ourselves out of poverty once and for all, and to make an impact for peace in our war-torn community.

We produce and export crafts to make a difference in the world, and promote social action initiatives online. Our unique Webbed Empowerment approach offers global communities of supporters unique ways to connect with our Ugandan community's successes and needs directly.

Life in Africa's WE Centers also offer internet training, a community microfinance program, and adult learning opportunities that are available to active members.

Uganda recently has come on the radar of Americans because of the Invisible Children campaign. For the past 15-20 years, a whole generation of young men have been press ganged to serve in the guerilla militaries -- not men of 18 or 19; we're talking boys as young as 12 and 13 being trained in explosives, hand to hand combat, and other techniques, and then being sent to wreck havoc. Think of it as a nationwide Lord of the Flies type experiement. Many young men have become refugees, wandering about trying to avoid capture by these militia. Because Uganda and Sudan border each other, the same problem is chronicled in the recent film God Grew Tired of Us, as featured recently in National Geographic. The whole region is caught in a devastating cycle of poverty and violence.

While there are many ways to help -- through diplomacy and aid efforts, another great way of helping is by restoring economic stability. Microlending plays to the strength of a local economy by investing in the entrepreneurs who are the pillars of community. I've been praying the Kilama George will be a blessing to all those around him, and that he helps make Uganda a stronger place. The loan goes directly to the entrepreneur, it isn't siphoned off by corrupt warlords. Now imagine what a hundred thousand such small loans can do....

And best of all, I've just been repaid.... so I get to loan my money out again. Pretty darn cool, if you ask me.

Excelsior,
Russell

Happy Independence Day -- for Ghana!

I heard on NPR's All Things Considered that today was Ghana's independence day. Not only that, but it is their 50th anniversary of independence. They were the first sub-saharan African nation to gain their independence, and though they've had a rocky past, they are now a pretty stable democracy

Why, you ask, should I care? I care because I sponsor a Ghanan entrepreneur, Yesutor Yevu, through Kiva.org. She runs a building supply business which she hopes to double in size -- helping to create affordable middle class housing in West Ghana. Because I've been a part of a small microloan to her, I have a vested interest in the health and welfare of her country.

I care because I believe small entrepreneurs are a great source of hope for bringing stability to the developing world. The more stable Ghana is, the greater the possibilities for stability in other nations of Africa. Ghana also has a flourishing Christian population working to make the nation strong.

Take a few moments and pray for the church in Ghana as they continue to be salt and light in this young republic.

Soli Deo Gloria
Russell