Light to them who sit in darkness

"Karibu" is perhaps the word I have heard most in the past week.  It is Swahili for "welcome" and that is what we have been in Kenya.  We have been preaching, teaching and ministering in the Anglican Diocese of Taita Taveta whose principal town is Voi.  This town is in southern Kenya, about a third of the way between Mombassa and Nairobi.  It is also at the crossroad of the road to Tanzania.  With the added feature of being tucked up between Tsavo Game Park East and West, it is growing fast.

As I think of mission, two things come to mind, preaching the gospel to the "heathen" and community development.  The Anglicans of Taita Taveta are doing just that.  They are on mission in their own community. Voi is not a big place.  It has perhaps 100,000 people now.  But from the top of the hill behind the town center you can see the roofs of four Anglican churches, not to mention the many others.  You can't swing a cat without hitting one - not that I tried.

The humble churches are filled on Sunday and many parishes have had to add more services on a Sunday.  People are coming to know Jesus, and the Lord is adding to their number almost daily.  

They are also committed to the growth and development of the whole community, not just their churches.  The mission statement of the church that meets in a temporary shelter at the site of the cathedral which is being built, speaks specifically of this.  The Church invests itself - both money and effort - into the infrastructure of the town.  They have built two office buildings that house local shops and businesses.  The building of them provides employment and the space they give allows businesses to operate and further develop the town.  The other plus is that it is a revenue stream for the mission.  Being salt and light by building and owning office space has never even occurred to me.

I have never seen a body of Christians who hold together so well those two aspects of mission, preaching the Gospel and community development.

And all of this makes me think about how we in North America could learn from this.  Our tendency, I think is to hold to one of these two in our exercise of mission.  If we are outwardly focussed at all, either we focus on evangelism and bringing people to know Jesus, or we engage in community development in assisting the poor and working for justice.  The Gospel proclaimers are often suspicious about the "social gospel" people.  They, in turn, tend to be uncomfortable with the overt proclaimation of the Gospel.  There isn't a polarization here.

Not that there are no problems here.  People are very poor, and therefore very desperate.  This makes crime an issue.  Despite, or perhaps because of, the growth in Voi there is a lot of unemployment.  As people who in generations past have been subsistence farmers become better educated, they move to the towns looking for work, of which there is not enough.  Young men, in particular, become depressed and as a result alcoholism is a growing issue.  As we prayed for people this week, one of the most common requests was for sons and husbands who have become alcoholic.

And we did pray a lot for people and they were eager to receive.  The Lord did much healing.  It has almost been cliché - improving eyesight and making the lame walk.  It was exciting to see.  And He also blessed His people with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, filling them and gifting them for the work of ministry and the building up of the Church.

I come back to what I think of as mission.  It is summed up in the words of Zechariah at the birth of John the Baptist.  To be a missionary is to be a prophet of the Most High who will "give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death." (Luke 2:79)

We go on mission to give that light.  But I have rather been receiving it.

Grace and peace to you,

Alex+