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Bibles, Atheists, Africa and a dude named David.

Life, is beautiful. In its essence, life is the core of who we are. It is the driving force behind our world, thoughts, love and meaning. The beauty of us all, the raw creation behind everything we see and the perceptions that we have, all have to do with life. We have arrived at a place in time where we can duplicate it, rescue it, save it, share it, embrace it, take it or degrade it. We are as much custodians of life as we are users of it. Yet we have, through the ages, along the way, a lot of the time, lost our way.

 

A Story as an example:

In around 1880, Roman Catholic missionaries arrived in the Great Lakes region of what is today called Rwanda. Almost 50 years later, when German forces occupied the area during World War I, the conflict and efforts for Catholic conversion became more pronounced. As the Tutsi resisted conversion, the missionaries found success only among the Hutu. In an effort to reward conversion, the colonial government confiscated traditionally Tutsi land and reassigned it to Hutu tribes, igniting a conflict that has lasted into the 21st century.

 

This is a short intro of a story that was intended to bring life to people, for as long as there has been a church, Christians have tried to share there paradigm of life with those who weren't. Most of the time, that which we shared had more to do with a sharing of Western culture, than the love of a man hanging on a cross. Everytime that Western ideology has entered another context, without decent discernment around culture and tradition, we have brought more destruction, alcohol, disease and greed. We have also brought many ideas relationships and creative interaction to cross the social and cultural boundaries without imposing our own "correct" way of viewing the world. Therefore it must be noted that the story of Rwanda started out with good intentions but ended up with one group of people, killing almost...

 

1000 000 people over 100 days. 20% of the population of Rwanda was murdered. In 1994.

 

These are stories that we must learn to forgive, walk away from, start over, but not forget. Since then Rwanda has become one of the most peace loving and economically healthy country's on the continent with a booming conservation industry while they are still not forgetting the brokenness of 1994. Check out what has become of this great country.

 

 

 

Incarnation:

By incarnation we simply mean the act of God becoming fully human whilst staying fully divine. God sent his Son to show the world love, forgiveness and service. The Kingdom of God has always been a place where God has met people where they are and then invited them to move. Move closer to Him, to each other and to a better future. This future is the expanse of His Kingdom.

 

We are called, not to market a western view of God, church and Jesus. We are called to connect people with a God who is never changing, but contextually and culturally relevant to each part of our lives. This happens through careful theological discernment, a lot of time and submerging ourselves into the lives of those we call our friends. It is easy to show people that a western lifestyle is the way to go, but not everyone would like to live like that. We don't imprint our culture, we just share Christ.

 

In Africa there is no individualistic understanding of wealth. I think therefore I am, has no meaning in Africa. We are therefore I am is how most of the tribal and communal orientation around identity function. This means that when we move to bring the Kingdom we first make friends. Then we learn the context, then we ask what it is that is needed. Only after that do we discern how we will introduce the message of Jesus. That makes it easy, because telling a friend how you view the world generally works better than telling  strangers who's language you cannot speak. Incarnation is the contextualizing of God without compromising on His identity or limiting Him with our own understanding of Him or the world. Incarnation is to point out where God is busy working without the help of western ideas, and then just joining in what He is already doing. Incarnation is Christ becoming relevant not only to those who understand the post-modern scientific world, but also those who find their peace and happiness in subsistence farming and those who are ok with not being wealthy in monetary terms. If Christ is the only hope for the world, He must be the initiator of a dream that is beautiful and hopeful to both east and west, whilst not condoning our comfortable mediocre ideas and inspiring us to bring forth and uncover the Kingdom of God.

 

Bibles:

The African context is one of patriarchal tradition. Although we might see that as sexist, the woman of Africa don't. This way of living is not necessarily wrong, but there are areas where our blessings can be shared to empower woman, not to dominate over men, but become more what they were made to be. An example of inculturasion, submergence and creative adaption is in our spreading of Bibles. The context and complex history of Africa has had the effect that no one really trusts western medicine, technology or ideas, however through the chaos, war and colonies, one thing has stuck and had a brilliant influence... The Bible. This is partly due to the message, but also the fact that the Bible originated in patriarchal contexts that reflect a lot of how Africa still functions today.

 

What Love Mozambique has done, is empower woman through education. Woman can learn to read using the Bible. Because of the storyline of the Bible, the men of Africa trust its contents and thus the woman can receive free education, whilst still upholding and respecting their tradition. This is also for the benefit of the children of Mozambique, because the woman then teach their children, and encourage them to attend school. Because of this reality, we would like to call upon all people, not just Christians, to help the empowering of Africa's woman. This can be done by the donating or financing of Shona Bibles. Shona, because this is the local tribal language. Portuguese is also an option, but as this is seen as a somewhat western language, that is not native to the area, we tend to prefer Shona.

 

Therefore, if you are not a Christian, pro Atheism, post Christian, enlightened or just a person who would like to help, please do not send us money that you will never again see, but buy a Shona Bible and mail it to us. We will personally get it to Francois and Alta, in Mozambique.

 

This guy named David.

All of what we do is, ironically, not do anything, but to make friends who cannot help but do something. We are  all part of this world, and thus we are all responsible for heaven breaking through to earth. Our life start to escalate in meaning as soon as we start meaning something to someone. This means that we have a responsibility to do mission well, not only financially and ethically, but also theologically. Therefore we have a responsibility not only to inspire our friends and family to be apart of this Kingdom, but also to empower those who really want to do this well. If your thoughts are now, dwelling to a place where you want to learn more about inculturation, we have some ideas... David Bosch was a world renound Theologian who wrote on mission and inculturation. His book, Transforming Mission, has had a real hard core impact on how we thought about Christ, the world and how we introduce Him to them.

 

"They" must become a "we", a "us" that transcends colour, tradition or culture. If you want to get stuck in some hard core missional Theology, get a hold of this book and also the work of Darrel Guder and Allan Hirch. Or you can come and have coffee with us and share your dream of Heaven spreading its roots in Africa.

 

 

 

 

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