What I Learned About Myself, God and My Calling

In each learning stage, I not only learned about the people I observed, but I also began to discover things about myself I had not known before. From the onset, I desired to live as close to what the people lived day to day as I could. Since most Rwandans may only get one meal a day, on many occasions I would purposely eat a few pieces of bread and tea for breakfast and either skip lunch altogether or eat peanuts and water to hold me over until dinner. When I felt hungry and weak, it affected my concentration and my physical stamina to walk the hills in Kigali especially on a hot day. After subjecting myself to physical limitations, I began to understand Rwandans may not be as unproductive as westerners might assume, but wisely saving energy because they do not have much to eat.

I also learned about physical limitations caused by my back. Whether it be riding along a bumpy road or squeezing into an uncomfortable position in a pubic transport vehicle, I began to realize how scoliosis can cause sever discomfort when there is no other remedy except muscle relaxers. I also discovered the power of prayer when I was sick, lying in bed and unable to find a comfortable position. Singing songs to the Lord provided comfort when I was experiencing pain and illness. I realized his presence in a new way I had not known before especially when there was no other alternative for help.

By far the most impactful insight I gained about myself and God on the trip was how little control I have over my surroundings and how dependent I am upon God. No where was my dependency on God clearer than outside of Goma, Congo at the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps. Congo is a country in central Africa with vast natural resource deposits. If managed properly, Congo would be one of the richest nations in Africa. Unfortunately, the many tribes grouped together within Congo’s boarders and even neighboring countries like Rwanda fight for control over the resources. As I saw the tremendous needs for food, clothing and shelter, I immediately began to think logistically how I could solve the problem. Immediately, I became overwhelmed with despair: there is no way to meet these people’s needs even if I could feed and cloth them all for one day; the problem would not be solved. The Holy Spirit reminded me how Philip must have felt when Jesus, pointing to the crowd of 5,000 hungry people in the wilderness, tested his faith by telling him, “you feed them[1].” I felt the weight Philip must have felt as he sized up the need and realized his lack of resources. Yet Jesus fed all 5,000 people with food left over.

I also felt similar sentiments as Habakkuk did in the Old Testament while I observed the injustice the people in the camps faced: “Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds[2].” I felt God asking me to trust him with his creation and to gain a greater perspective than what I saw with my eyes at that moment. God tells Habakkuk: “the LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him[3].” I am realizing through witnessing tragedies, such as the IDP camps, that God is in control and he will execute justice on the righteous and unrighteous alike in his time.

How Western Seminary Prepared Me for The Internship

Throughout the various periods of cultural and linguistic growth over the course of my internship, the tools I gained from Western Seminary helped me to adjust to the shock and growing pains I felt almost daily.

Don Smith’s “cultural onion” concept of behavioral, experiential, social authority and core layers of culture was a framework I utilized to evaluate and identify various functioning parts of Rwandan society. Whether it was identifying taboos like fornication or watching a rights-of-passage ceremony like marriage, I could begin documenting the observations I made; hypothesizing how each observation might interact together; and making corrections to my original hypothesis as I realized new input received by various dynamics I had not accounted for before, which created a different result than I expected. The example of Joelle taught me that fornication, even though accommodated by contemporary society, is still affected by norms established in the past. Asking clarifying questions was another correcting method, which helped me come to more accurate observations about the culture.

Applied Anthropology helped me to categorize and map out kinship charts. Terms such as Auntie and Uncle or Brother and Sister where used in several connotations among the Rwandans. By drawing a chart showing how family members identify one another and learning about the roles each one plays within the unit, I was better equipped to know how to relate and address numerous friends and family I met within the Inzu.

The ethnography I wrote in Applied Cultural Analysis assisted me in identifying effective data collection methods and formulating educated guesses as to what questions would produce the data I needed for understanding the culture. Previously writing an ethnography on the Portland Community Wind Band prepared me to discriminate between what data to save and discard. Obtaining direct quotes from Rwandans was difficult, because any information that could be discovered by government authorities which might be threatening could put the interviewees in danger. I ended up summarizing many conversations I had with people in my notes.

I appreciated the information about cultural entry and reentry stress given by Mary Wilder in Adapting Cross-Culturally. She drew a chart which described what kind of emotions might surface at different time periods during an overseas trip. The advice and descriptions she provided about the emotions people typically experience on the mission field most importantly gave me permission to feel the emotions I felt without having to be ashamed or think there was something wrong with me; I could persevere through the feelings of loneliness, hopelessness or confusion knowing that many people in the past experienced and survived similar feelings. I felt the concept I learned in class about cultural stress helped me to cope in Rwanda even when there were no other westerners around to sympathize with at the time.

In my efforts to help the people of Rwanda, I tried not to intervene with resources the people could not reproduce or access on their own, unless it was necessary. I remember in George Patterson’s class “Starting and Developing Churches,” he emphasized gearing down to the indigenous populations technological level to instruct them instead of using resources the people do not have access to or cannot afford. The process of familiarizing myself with what technology was available to the target culture—whether indigenous or provided by Embassies and NGOs—takes time and effort. I found, in the case of the YRG, the use of the U.S. Embassy cultural center’s library by the students I taught is sustainable and effective and meets their needs in learning English and American culture.

[1] John 6:5-7
[2] Habakkuk 1:3
[3] Habakkuk 2:20

Hello Everyone,

As most of you probably know by now, I have returned from Rwanda back home to Portland.  I have written a synopsis of my 6-month experience in Rwanda and would like to share my reflections with you all.  The comments are not comprehensive by any means, but I think it will give you a good idea of what I experienced and how it affected my life personally as well as the lives of the people I had the privilege of serving.

Since the paper is quite long, I will be posting it on my blog in three installments.  The first section discusses "Ministry and Cultural Learning Experiences."  The second section is about, "What I Learned About Myself, God and My Calling" as well as "How Western Seminary Prepared Me for The Internship."  The final section addresses "Where God is Calling."  

I hope you are encouraged and blessed as you read about what God has shown me while I was in Rwanda as well as what He has accomplished through your faithful giving and prayers for Rwanda.

Co-laborer with you,

Andrew Bernhard

Ministry and Cultural Learning Experiences

As I reflect upon my internship experiences over the past six months, I would like to make a few summary comments for the benefit of understanding the value of my time in Rwanda.

First, I would like to thank all the people who have invested their time and energy in teaching me about the culture and language of Rwanda.  Specifically, I want to thank Benjamin Nkusi for inviting me to serve with African Leadership and Reconciliation Ministries (ALARM).  I appreciate John Samvura and Jean Bosco Ntakirutimana for volunteering their time to teach Kinyarwandan to me and introduce me to their friends and family from Gisenyi.  I also thank Andre Mfitumukiza and Alivera Nyirampirwa for hosting me in their home and demonstrating true hospitality to those in need—the refugees of Goma.  I thank the staff of ALARM for their service to make this trip logistically possible.

During the first few months of my stay in Kigali, the household of Andre and Alivera was a safe and secure environment and was a home base or starting point to begin exploring Rwandan culture and language.  In their home or Inzu, my world began to expand as I was introduced to many visitors and family members coming and going from the house.  Even as I moved on into ever-expanding environments of exploration and learning over the course of the six months I lived in Kigali, home was a place of refuge I could always return to.  What did I observe and learn while living in the Rwandan Inzu?

In Rwanda, hospitality shown to visitors and solidarity among family and community members are core values the people intentionally foster and uphold by sharing food, conversation and resources with one another.  I lived within the context of a traditional family unit as well as a household of single, unmarried young men.  In both living arrangement in Kigali, I observed the privileges and responsibilities among the higher class of society in Kagugu and lower class in Nyamirambo.  One case in point of Rwandan traditional family solidarity that made a great impression on me was Andre, Alivera and their children’s acceptance and integration of a refugee family from Goma, Congo into their home by: preparing food together, completing chores together, relaxing together, and worshiping together.  Even while living in close quarters, the two families did not complain or argue, but accommodated and graciously flexed with the changes. 

In the case of John’s bachelor household in Nyamirambo, I was able to understand the cultural expectations placed upon him and his friends as unmarried, employed wage earners in urban Kigali to provide for their families back home in rural Gisenyi.  I also was touched to discover how each one living in the house is financially assisting one another to slowly realize dreams of having families of their own by contributing towards the engagement process.  I believe this is a good example of how solidarity is practiced in Rwanda among the single population. 

As I moved further out from the cultural epicenter of the Inzu into the ministries of ALARM, I had cultural interaction with Rwandan young people eager to learn English.  The first class I taught was the Youth Reference Group (YRG), an evangelistic team joining together from local churches around Kigali.  The second group I taught was at the Institute for Womens Excellence (IWE) in Rwamagana, a town an hour outside of Kigali.  In both cases, many students were at first reserved and yet quietly polite when asked a direct question; it was difficult to receive feedback in the beginning which was frustrating and made it difficult to make proper readjustments to lesson content.  As I continued attempting interaction with the students inside and outside of class, I learned more about their day-to-day lives as well as their hopes and dreams for the future.

Both YRG and IWE incorporate orphans of the genocide into their groups.  From a few students I got to know in the classes I taught who trusted me enough to share, I learned, despite outward appearances, orphans in Rwanda face many life challenges which include: caring for physically and mentally ailing siblings affected by Post Traumatic Stress Disorder; struggling to find sufficient food to eat; and raising enough money to pay for school fees.  In spite of life’s challenges, the students have dreams of becoming singers and musicians, poets and even elected officials in government.

The main question I strove to answer in teaching Rwandan students was: how do I give the young people under my care hope; how do I inspire them to see beyond their immediate circumstances?  In the case of the YRG, I invited them to: visit Kigali’s U.S. Embassy Culture and Information Resource Center; receive an orientation at the library there from the director, Charles Mugabo; and obtain a library loan card to check out books.  For anyone to have access to a large borrowing library without attending a University is virtually impossible.  When Charles honored my request, I was very please to tell the students of their newfound opportunity.  When the students heard of our field trip and the possibilities of checking out books—some of them for the first time—the energy of the group lifted.  I felt the occasion was truly an answer to prayer and a highlight of my ministry in Rwanda.

Over the course of my interactions with the students at IWE, I also saw God answer prayer in my attempts to relate with the girls while teaching English.  Since the beginning of the year, the government abruptly converted schools lessons usually taught in French to English to meet Vision 2020[1] modernization goals.  Students and teachers alike are faced with a steep learning curve transitioning into an English-speaking environment.  Serving as an English instructor at IWE in the midst of the transition, my task was to initiate English conversation in the class.  Since I do not have a background in Teaching English as a Second Language, nor did I have a lesson plan prepared at the time, I was teaching by trial and error.  After initially presenting reading comprehension lessons without much success and a looming lesson on verb tense approaching, I finally prayed, “Lord, can you show me how to teach these concepts in an understandable fashion?”  I received the idea of using a soccer ball to illustrate how to use the verb tense in real time.  The girls seemed to appreciate moving around outside, catching a ball and learning grammar at the same time.  The ball was a perfect medium to use at the time with the limited resources the school possessed.  The girls also enjoyed singing songs with vocabulary repetition like: “O, Be Careful Little Eyes What You See” and “This Little Light of Mine.”  I also learned Kinyarwandan from the students through simple songs like the following: Ninziza yangirie neza, mutima wange, himbaza iyo mana, which roughly means: my heart is thankful, because God is good to me. As we sang together and played together, I began to realize God’s presence was breaking down unseen relational barriers, which existed before.

As I continued to push still further in my cultural learning experience outside of ALARM’s environment, I began to venture into networking with other ministries based in Kigali.  Networking and expanding my contact base was crucial in order to diversify my culture and language learning opportunities.  Benjamin assisted me in networking by introducing me to Ceaur Joyeau (CJ), a Rwandan led Non-Governmental Organization serving the Rwandan communities through tuition sponsorship of orphans, micro-finance loans to women, and evangelistic outreach to the community.  When I was available to help, I was able to initially teach the staff a few lessons of English and later on introduce the idea of drafting business plans to financially budget and plan for current and future ministries.  Roger, a business administration graduate, is currently drafting business plans for all existing ministries and for the operation of a new hotel CJ hopes to build near the Bugesera airport; construction should begin as early as 2010.  The legal representative, Janvier Batungwanayo, and the assistant administrator, Justin Bisengimana, are both young and eager to learn new ideas to make their organization more effective.  It was fun for me to teach them new ideas and watch them integrate what they learned into their organization's operations.

Moving still farther passed Rwanda itself into the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp outside Goma, Congo, I was brought into the reality of a refugee’s uncertain and unpredictable life caused by war.   Many of the refugees in the camp we visited in North Goma were about to return to the homes that they fled a few months earlier due to the conflict instigated by the Tutsi rebel General Laurent Nkunda  against the Congolese army. With the economic downturn in the west, aid supplies such as food and other essentials are becoming fewer in quantity.  The general feeling in the camp was one of desperation for survival.  I joined a team distributing clothing to pre-selected men, women and young girls. We faced two realities: those who received something and those who received nothing.  One group of people hoped they might receive something and left empty handed.  In the other group, old women danced like young girls, laughing and hugging us as they received their colorful wraps we had given them.  What I saw in the camps confronted my American ideals of controlling destiny according to my abilities and achievements; what I saw revealed my powerlessness to overcome oppression, injustice and insurmountable needs.  I was confronted with the reality: God is the one who feeds and cares for his creation with love allowing the evil and righteous to grow together under his providential will until the time of judgment commences.  Even though there are vast needs in the North Kivu region, on a personal level, there are opportunities to help financially on a limited scale.

During the trip, God challenged me to trust him with my finances by waiting upon resources from home and giving to those in Rwanda who requested assistance financially.  At the time I left Portland, I was anxious about my financial situation, because I did not have enough money to meet my allotted budget.  But, through the faithfulness of those who contributed back home, God showed himself faithful in supplying all my needs above and beyond my expectation.  With the surplus, I was able to pay for two students’ secondary school fees that would not otherwise be able to afford school on their own.  One student I sponsored, had a father die years earlier of AIDS and currently has a mother suffering from the same disease.  The other student was a twenty-four year old orphan without either parent.  She had finished five out of six forms in secondary school without successfully completing her education due to lack of funding.  In both situations, I felt God was teaching me to trust him with my financial resources and give generously as I was made aware of the needs brought to my attention.

In other situations, as I opened myself up to serving the Lord outside my comfort zone, God brought ministry opportunities to me.  One instance dealt with taboo subject of fornication.   After several months of building a relationship with my barber, he approached me with a request to financially help his sister, Joelle, who was in the hospital.  He was very quiet and reclusive when he talked about the emergency.  At the time, I did not know if she was ill or was hurt, so I agreed to go with him to see her.  When I arrived at the maternity ward with him, I quickly realized she had delivered a baby out of wedlock.  In traditional Rwandan culture, women who became pregnant without a husband were thrown into a lake and drowned.  Even to this day, the topic of fornication is taboo and brings great shame to a family.  After buying some milk powder and other baby supplies to help her, I realized my friend trusted me enough to invite me into his culturally sensitive family crisis.

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[1] http://www.enterprise-development.org/download.aspx?id=548

IDP Camp
February 24, 2009

On Tuesday, we had a full schedule to complete before the end of the day: visit ALARM/Congo projects and give out clothing to men, women, and young girls at the northern IDP camp in Goma.

Our day started off by collecting new clothing purchased in the city and distributing them in the camp of refugees. A few days before, Theopholis compiled a list of people’s names from the camp who would receive clothing. The day we arrived in Goma, Kevin gave additional funds from Berean Community Church members to buy more clothing. The ALARM staff was touched by the gift and praised the Lord for the addition clothing that could be purchased and distributed.

As we drove through the city toward the camp, our party passed the airport, which was captured by Nkunda’s rebel forces a few months earlier to start the conflict with the Congolese government. Across from the airport we also passed the UN headquarters and distribution center in Goma. It was a huge compound; the UN has a big presence with military and humanitarian aid in Goma. A little further north we saw the epicenter of the volcanic lava tub, which erupted out of the earth near the city perimeter and destroyed about 40% of the town in 2001. The lava cleared a path about 50 yards wide from the point of eruption and spread out, flowing all the way to the shores of Lake Kivu.

When we finally arrived at the camp, the shanties laid out over the landscape were noticeable from a distance. As we drove up to the distribution location, the people were already in line waiting for their gifts with some aid workers directing the crowd. Others gathered around to watch what was happening and waiting to see if they might receive something from us. One lady whose name was not on the list, pulled on my shirt saying, “Mazungu” showing me her baby and pointing to cloth she wanted me to give her. Others gave looks of hope they might receive something even thought they were told they would receive nothing this time around.

On the other side, the individuals, whose names were on the list, were approaching us to receive the clothing. Old women were dancing like young women, laughing and hugging us as they received their colorful wraps. The young women who received dresses hid behind our vehicle parked next to a wall and fit into them. They came and looking very beautiful. The men shook our hands in gratitude.

As the clothes were running out, those on the outside surrounding us started becoming restless and increased their continued requests. Kevin had brought a bag of dum-dums with him, so he asked me if I wanted to help him hand out candy; a kind of small consolation to those who didn't receive anything. As he got the back pack with the dum-dums out of the car, the children started following him to see what he might give them. When our hands came out of the bag with candy the hands of the children reached up to take them. Before we started handing them out, I told the kids to take the candy slowly. They all looked at me nodding their heads with their eyes wide open. Any order went out the window when the candy came out. Eventually, the kids pulled down the bag altogether and by the time the kids scattered the bag was empty.

It was time to leave, since there was nothing more to give. The people left with nothing surrounded the car still asking for something. Finally, after our team got into the car, we headed out of the camp back to town.

Many of the refugees in the camp we visited were about to pass back to their homes they fled a few months earlier. With the economic downturn in the west, aid supplies such as food and other essentials are becoming fewer in quantity. Since Nkunda’s recent capture by the offensive of the joint Rwandan and Congolese forces against the rebels, some in the camp wonder if it would be better to take their chances returning home to see if they could start rebuilding their lives again. Most will find their homes destroyed and nothing left to rebuild; the apparent choices are to die in the camps for lack of food or take the risk of returning home with more outbreaks of violence and the hardship of survival. For those who decide to return, the UN is able to give them some tarp for shelter and a sack of seed potatoes to plant in the fields when they get home.

In the camp, there is a thick air of desperation almost as if one were living in the storyline of “The Lord of the Flies” without the island. It is the same feeling of desperation I felt in the other camp I visited with the Watermark team a few months earlier. Even with the clothing, however, there were still many left behind without anything to improve their situation; our contribution felt like a small drop in the bucket of needs.

The more I see the needs in the Great Lakes Region, the more I am confronted with my own powerlessness to overcome oppression of hunger and homelessness. My initial feeling after experiencing the IDP camp is like that of Habakkuk 1:2-3:

"How long, O LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, "Violence!" but you do not save? Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds."

Maybe God is inviting me to look with an eternal perspective on the situation and exhorting me to, “Look at the nations and watch and be utterly amazed" (1:5). As I ponder the things of God, I sit back and respond as Habakkuk did, “I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy” (3:2).

I am confronted with the realization: it is God who feeds and cares for his creation with love allowing the evil and righteous to grow together under his providential will. Redemptive history is running its course and the light of the Kingdom of Heaven is penetrating the darkness of our sin-filled world.

I realize as an American I am not in control of my destiny, let alone anyone else’s. It is a relief to rest in God’s grace realizing I can be his servant manifesting his love on earth with out having to solve problems I did not create, nor fix them in my own strength.

Conference in Goma
February 23, 2009

Today the conference started early in the morning at 8:00am. The meeting began with a short introduction by Javier and a half-hour devotional which Mark asked me to lead. As mentioned earlier, the theme of the conference is nominalism. Many Christians in the Congo subscribe to tribalism, which causes segregation in churches according to ethnic groups. Old Testament passages where God instructs Israel to kill enemies are taken out of context to imply a church of an ethnic group should kill their enemies from another ethnic group should kill their enemies from another ethnic group. Ultimately, the church loses its voice of the gospel in society and become like the society around them advocating violence. The question the conference addressed was: what does it mean to be a born again Christian?

As I thought about these issues the verse in Romans came to mind: do not be conformed any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve the will of God.

In the course of my talk, I mentioned personal experiences I have had in my own life when I felt God was transforming me by renewing my mind. Each of these moments in my life involved God removing goals, dreams or persons who, according to my better judgment, should be in my life. I told the audience sometimes our plans involve patterns of the world, which once taken away renew our minds to God’s will. The process is painful, but for our good.

As an example of a painful process of transformation in the Bible, I discussed how the Jews were sent into exile because of their disobedience. For many years the Jews wondered why God had forsaken them to their enemies. Over the course of their captivity and even into the time when Jesus was alive many years later, the Jewish leaders tried to obey the Mosaic Law according to their own understanding of traditions. Over the course of time new laws were written by Rabbis to define the original law to make sure obedience was complete. Jesus eventually identified these added laws and traditions as burdens neither the Rabbis nor the people could carry. As a result of their zeal according to the patterns of their worldly traditions, they missed Messiah and the blessing of the spirit once Jesus ascended into heaven.

God disciplined his people so they would listen and obey him. As Hebrews says: God disciplines those he loves. If he didn’t we would be illegitimate children. The process of God removing our dreams and vision to show us his will can be a painful process; transformation is not easy.

The application I tried to draw from the passage was emphasizing God’s desire to fill us with his spirit so that we may live in a dynamic, transformative relationship with God. Living according to our traditions and our judgment even with great zeal absent of God’s voice in our lives leads to frustration disappointment maybe to success in the world’s eyes, but ultimately to death.

I acknowledged the Christians in Goma have suffered much under natural disaster of volcanic eruption as well as political violence from Lauren Nkunda and the Tutsi rebels. Whatever the reason for these trials, I emphasized God could use these events to renew the minds of Goma’s believers and bring true transformation to the church.

At the end of our tour to Goma, Pastor Kivi told me the passage I talked about was one preached on many times by pastors in Goma. He said he appreciated the added insight into the process of transformation and understanding into God’s will.

Later in the session, Mark talked about Godly leadership by comparing and contrasting Saul and David: one decided to lead according to his own understanding and the other sought after the heart of God even when he sinned. Mark emphasized a leaders attitude toward God will affect the people’s view of God. He encouraged the pastors of Goma to seek God as David did by serving under God’s authority and not usurping God’s will as Saul did. The consequences could mean having eternal blessing as in the case of David or losing everything including the peace God gives through his spirit in the case of Saul.

After a short break, Kevin led the second session by talking on Galatians. Kevin’s emphasis of teaching was about Christians not returning to the law for salvation through works, but instead trusting in Christ’s sacrifice for justification and atonement. Kevin did a great job reviewing again how one becomes a Christian in contrast to misunderstandings that may arise as young believers mature in their Christian walk.

At the end of the session, the Pastors broke into groups to discuss review questions on the presentations given by the American guests; it was a time for the Congolese to respond with their comments.

Overall, the impression our group received from the pastors was one of thankfulness and gratitude. I trust God will work in the hearts of the Congolese to transform them into witnesses of the gospel that can display the fruits of the spirit to their society.

Arriving in Goma

February 21, 2009

I am in Goma, Congo again visiting the ALARM staff this time with Mark struck and Kevin Block who are from Berean Community Church in Rochester, Minnesota. Mark is associate director for ALARM and makes trips around the US to raise funds for its cause. Emily Chengo, ALARM African director, is also with our team. She is based in Nairobi, Kenya. All three were in Nairobi before coming to Kigali en route to Goma. In Nairobi, Mark interviewed a Member of Parliament, who is an alumnus of Biola University, about his experience at the school and about his ongoing faith as a Christian. The interview was recorded and transcribed for an eventual article to be published sometime in the future in Biola’s alumni quarterly.

When our party arrived in Goma, we were warmly welcomed by the ALARM/Congo team: Jonvier, Theopholis, Espiranz, and pastor Kivi. Less than three months ago three of the four were staying at the ALARM compound in Kigali due to the violence in Goma caused by Nkunda’s Tutsi rebels. It is a pleasure for me to see God’s faithfulness in protecting them and allowing them to live in Goma now in a period peace.

On Sunday, Mark, Kevin, Emily and I all visited different churches, which were pastored or attended by Janvier, Theo, Kivi and Espiranz. The last time I visited with the Watermark Church team of lawyers, I attended pastor Kivi’s church. This time around, I visited Pastor Theopholis’ church, which is Assemblies of God. When I arrived in the morning, the entire congregation was waiting to greet me. They came out of the small wood-framed building singing and clapping their hands. Since the children gathered tightly around me reaching out their hands to touch mine, Theo encouraged me to move into the building to the front so the service could begin.

The service started out as many African services do: with singing from the choir. Three different choirs sang including a group of children. The children always sing the loudest. I had an opportunity to preach with Theo translating for me.

Before I came to the church I was praying about what God would have me speak on. The ALARM staff the day before told us nominalism is rampant in the church; many churches subscribe to tribalism and some pastors even go so far as to bless groups of men from their congregation who go to fight other tribal groups. The question the ALARM staff asked was: who are true believers and who are simply in the church for cultural reasons.

With these thoughts in mind, I was praying to God about what he wanted me to say to the people. The topic which came to mind was “finishing well.” Many times as believers we start out our relationship with God for various reasons: to help us out of a crisis; because tradition dictates we become Christians in name; because it is good to be ethical or morally upright. How many times do we, as Christians, live our life of faith in the now in accordance with how we want to end our life on earth? Granted, many times it is hard to predict how an individual Christian will be transformed in the end. But I doubt any Christian thinks, “I want to look back on my life with disappointment.” With these thoughts in mind, I decided to speak about Paul and Jesus according to their last remarks before they died. In 2 Timothy, Paul says: I have run the race God has set out for me and I look forward to the reward awaiting me. In the book of John, Jesus tells his disciples he is leaving them, but will not abandon them as orphans; he will give them another counselor, the Holy Spirit.

As I spoke about these mens' words, I tried to recount the events in their life they must have thought about as they were giving their last remarks. For Paul, he must have thought about how he persecuted the church before he met Christ on the road to Damascus. I told the people, if you believe Christ’s blood has forgiven your sin; you don’t need to feel guilty.

Paul must have also thought about the process of his integration into the church; being sent out with Barnabas for mission; and rejecting John Mark which caused the split between himself and Barnabas. In all of these events, whether good or bad, Paul was confident in his knowledge and relationship with Christ.

I felt the people should know, in the midst of violence and pressures they face in life, not to lose heart. God has not forsaken them and continues to be with them. With that in mind, they should live their lives now in anticipation of finishing well. In this way, they do not need to be ashamed of the gospel, but can continue through the temptations and challenges to the prize God has prepared for them.

I believe having the end in sight can help fight against the tribalism that many Christians face in Congo. They don’t have to go along with what the group think says even though they risk being outcasts. They can trust God to be their guide through life. When the end comes, they can be confident in their hope in Christ.

Tomorrow is the conference. I look forward to witnessing God’s spirit move at that time.