One of the most important lessons missionaries can learn is "incarnational ministry," which basically means just doing what Jesus did. Go and live with the people you want to reach, not in some locked-up sterile building, but actually among them, whatever kind of housing they live in, eating their food, wearing their clothing, speaking their language, running on their schedule, giving up rights to yourself you never knew meant so much until you realized they don't exist in this setting. Jesus did not come to preach aloofly what God expects of us, but to humbly BE God with us--amid all the dirt, pain, sickness, bureaucracy and hypocrisy, oppression, racism and messiness of earth, working redemption to make us holy. And that's what missions is all about--being servants of Christ, living His life in their world, that His touch might redeem every part of their lives.
So you might ask what that means for me, ministering for Africa from a laptop in Texas. Well, that's a lot of the reason why I'm needing to move to Zambia--there is a lot that an organization can do just as well at a distance, but to really disciple people to develop transformational education, to see what their needs are and how I can serve them to reach their communities, I need to be there in person. Please continue to pray that my remaining $900/month will come in quickly for that reason.
My last post about making the principles and programs fit in different contexts also ties into incarnational ministry--there's never going to be one package that fits all, yet all these different educators in different countries want to accomplish the same goal, and the same Savior works to bring it about. So please pray for me and Christie as we meet later this week to figure out how best to implement our curriculum the particular situation that the school in Nigeria finds itself. Please pray not only for success for E-ICT, but also that it will help us work with other schools in other countries - that in Nigeria, Zambia, Sierre Leone, Haiti, and many other places we may see students getting a biblical worldview, learning what it means to use technology in Christ, and applying it to more and more areas of their lives.
