12 minute read
A Place of Feeling the Power of the Pentecost
Through a different lens
By Renita Barnes
Most people Renita Barnes participated in Council for World Mission’s Training in Mission (TIM) programme with could not locate on the map the Cayman Islands where she hailed from. But the journey across continents in 2017 was not just a lesson in exploring the world but one that helped learn many things in common - personal, contextual and within their respective churches.
“My family background and ancestry is similar to that of my country which is influenced and strongly tied to different areas of the Caribbean, Jamaica, Cuba, and Honduras,” says Barnes about Cayman Islands, one of the few British colonies within the Caribbean which is better known as a tax haven.
A member of the United Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands (UCJCI), Barnes travelled and lived for seven months with nine other persons from Samoa, South Korea, Myanmar, Zambia, Kiribati, Rwanda, South Africa, Taiwan and Guyana for the TIM programme. “Throughout the journey, I learned so many new things about myself and, more importantly, I realised how much I didn’t know about my country and the Caribbean region,” says Barnes.
CWM has been equipping young people for the ministry and mission of its member churches since 1981 through the Training in Mission (Diploma in Mission Studies) programme. Ten to 12 participants from the member churches are brought together for about seven months of intensive mission training.
In every church, TIM participants are seen as living expressions of CWM’s idea of partnership in mission. So far, over 350 young people have gotten a new practical and radical understanding of what witnessing to Christ means. “Before the TIM programme my understanding of the church and its mission was influenced by the colonial understanding of it. Mission was meant to convert sinners and non-Christians and spread the gospel to everyone. But the TIM programme broke down these understandings and showed me that Christianity as a religion was so much more than that. When the colonial lens is stripped you see clearly how missional the religion can be,” says Barnes.
For instance, many questions began to bother her. Who were the indigenous people of Cayman? Is the Caribbean beginning to suffer from climate change? Is the economic situation in Cayman ethical? Is patriarchy seen as ‘normal’ in the Caribbean rather than as oppressive to women?
“The programme challenged me to become more aware of what is going on globally as well as within my own context, the Caribbean region. I am now more confident in challenging and addressing issues rather than ignoring them as is so often done in Cayman,” she says.
It also made her ponder over the growing rates of divorce, the increase in youth crime and drug abuse, and the growing numbers of domestic violence cases in the Cayman Islands.
Travelling to New Zealand, Fiji, Kiribati and Taiwan as part of the TIM programme, she says, opened her eyes to many things often taken for granted in Cayman, such as fresh air, low levels of poverty, clean water and a comfortable lifestyle.
The programme introduced Barnes and team members to climate change and climate justice. “Seeing God in nature challenged me…. Seeing the Earth as a co-creator of life, and realising how much humans are sucking the life out of the Earth…, challenged me to want to read up more on climate justice and to begin researching and see how much the Cayman Islands is being impacted,” she says.
She says the programme left such an impact on her, especially after the trip to Kiribati, that she is now concerned about the need to make the “carbon print” smaller for her country and the Caribbean region.
An epiphanic moment for Barnes was the decolonising of the scripture “because I did not realise how colonised my mind was in regard to how I was taught to interpret scriptures.” It was never from the point of view of the marginalised but only about something like targeting the sins of the woman at the well (seen as a prostitute for being married many times) or about the “sinful” woman who anointed Jesus and how Jesus or God’s grace saved her. “With decolonising scriptures, I was able to see how sexism, patriarchy, and oppression are embedded in the Bible, and that the real mission of Jesus is to bring these issues in society to the surface,” she says. Barnes says TIM has definitely increased her curiosity about gender, theology, and feminist studies. “Many of the Bible studies I lead now with the youth groups within my church or even with the young adult ministries focus on topics of inclusive communities (highlighting gender injustices) and co-existing with creation.”
An unforgettable experience for her throughout the programme was with Lifewise, a Methodist Church initiative in Auckland, recognised for providing sustainable solutions to social issues, and working with families and homeless people. “I couldn’t believe a church was a part of so many radical projects and ways of transformative mission,” says Barnes, who was inspired to do many similar things back home.
A trip to Rainbow Youth, a charity that supports queer and gender diverse youth in Aotearoa, New Zealand, Barnes says, “helped me to see how close-minded and conservative my church and the Caribbean region is towards homosexuality. Visiting the rainbow youth was very empowering, it was a safe space for youth who are confused, transitioning, or just need support in any way. Whereas, in my church youth who are confused about their sexuality are ignored or counselled into changing or becoming a Christian to ‘save their soul’. The placement helped me to see clearly how wrong I was, and my church was about mission, and that there is so much more we can be doing.”
In Fiji, it was the unheard voices of the slums located on the outskirts of Suva city that caught the attention of the group. In Kiribati, it was climate change that was the real problem. “As participants of the TIM programme, we are constantly challenged to explore how mission is possible within today’s empires. One of the key ways to doing so is by learning to listen to the unheard voices and to recognise the struggles of the marginalised,” says Barnes.
The TIM programme, Barnes says, constantly challenged the way one saw the world. “The programme has shaped my future to ministry in a way as to help my church revisit mission and youth ministry in a new way, and to reveal more about the Bible than just to hope and pray but unearth the social issues and challenges that the Bible also speaks too.”
A Place of Feeling the Power of the Pentecost
By Rev. Goodwin Zainga (TIM 1995 - 96)
Istart by thanking God Almighty who allowed me to be in a group of 12 exciting and loving young people from different parts of the world. In our TIM group, all the six regions of the Council for World Mission (CWM) were represented. I also express my gratitude to TIM 95/96 gurus: late Rev Ernest Cruchley, may his soul continue to rest in eternal peace, Prof Roderick Hewitt, Madeline Logan, Francis Brienen, Bishop Pothirajuru, not forgetting staff members of both St Andrews Hall, Selly Oak Colleges, Birmingham, UK and Tamilnadu Theological Seminary, Madurai, India, Churches of Christ in Malawi (CCM) leadership who accorded me such a life changing opportunity. Finally, I thank the church leadership of Congregational Federation Church (CF) and United Reformed Church (URC) in the UK, as well as the Church of South India (CSI) for accommodating us during our journey. The TIM 95/96 was a very rewarding experience as it was a conducive place encountering God at many fronts.
Rev. Goodwin Zainga on the right, attending a youth conference.
Experienced the Power of the Pentecost
If one knows the Pentecost story in Acts 2 as a glorious story only, then one misses the point because it is also a story of chaos and confusion as is also reported in Genesis 11:1-9. This describes my TIM 95/96. At first, I was both excited and confused, at certain times I was the one causing confusion. I remember one particular night whilst I was at Stepney Green church in London, instead of switching off an electrical kettle, I switched off a fridge switch and that was after evening devotion. We all slept nicely, but in the morning we all woke up to a pool of water in the kitchen. I kept quiet as we were mopping the floor, whilst others were furious and others were laughing while cleaning the mess. For me that was one the confusion. It was during evening devotions that I confessed to the group members as I was the culprit. We all laughed and hugged each other. The other confusion was during washing, when all of us had to use the same washing machine as a group. How could I mix my underwear with those of my sisters in the washing machine? I was puzzled, this was another confusion as I was coming from a dominant Malawian and African patriarchal society. Another confusion was experienced in India at Madurai, when I was hospitalized for two days due to dehydration and diarrhoea. The first time to be admitted and in a hospital in a foreign country. Am grateful to Kenneth Tlhabiwa from Botswana who was my guardian and my ‘brother’s keeper’. I remember him scolding me because I was groaning like a baby in the hospital in front of female nurses. “Behave like a man” he charged at me. That was harsh my brother, Ken, but it did the trick as I stopped crying like a baby.
evening at Stepney Green church, we all prayed the Lord’s Prayer in our mother tongues, for me that was a very rewarding experience of the Pentecost. I realised that the God that was once monopolised by ‘early missionaries can hear me in my Chichewa language even when am in Europe. The other wonderful experience was when I led devotion at St Andrews Hall in Birmingham on Luke 17:11-17, ‘Jesus Heals Ten Men with Leprosy’. The theme of my devotion was in a form of a question, “Do we give thanks to the Lord?” Towards the end of the devotion, I asked everyone who was present that Jesus’ in ones local language, I started by saying ‘Zikomo Yesu’ in Chichewa and then I invited all to do the same, I could see people’s face smiling, mind you at St Andrews Hall we had friends from different parts of the world including Americans and Lebanese. I remember a Lebanese young man who came to me afterwards and said thank you Goodwin this is the first time I have spoken in my local language in a group like this since coming to the UK, for me that was a Pentecost moment.
An Interface of the Gospel and Culture
During TIM 95/96, I started to see and discover that the Gospel of Jesus Christ confronts culture. I realised that one’s culture can either help or hinder the extension of God’s kingdom here on earth. The Gospel confronts toxic and dominant masculinities in my culture which state that a girl child is not important as compared to a male child. The bone of contention being that in terms of education, it is better to educate a male child because he will be a ‘bread winner’ as opposed to a girl child who will end up being married after all. It was a turning point for me to learn from TIM sisters in the group who displayed quality leadership skills not only in decision making processes of the group, but also in praise and worship during church services. Vinise Moananu was a such a powerful worshipper and introduced me to Vineyard Worship Music my favourites being “Refiners Fire” and “Change my Heart o God”.
Another dominant masculinity which I started to question is a notion that a young person cannot lead or contribute in all levels of leadership. I vividly remember late Rev Ernest Cruchley, quoting to all of us 1 Timothy 4:12, “Do not let anyone despise you because you are young….” In many cultures, young people are denied the opportunity to lead and serve in the church, even to contribute in decision making processes in the church and community.
A Solid Foundation of a Theological Inquest
I learnt that ‘mission’ is a contested term, but in our TIM 95/96 we discovered that ‘as the fire exists by burning so the church exists for God’s mission’. Missio Dei (God’s mission) according to Bosch (1991: 10) means “God’s self-revelation as the One who loves the world, God’s involvement in and with the world, the nature and activity of God, which embraces both the church and the world, and in which the church is privileged to participate”. Notably, Bosch emphasises that churches are only participants in God’s mission and that is the only reason for the existence of churches, to be active players in God’s initiated mission.
TIM laid a theological foundation that enabled me to further my theological studies with University of Wales Lampeter (UK) and University of Kwa-Zulu Natal (RSA) where there was a fruitful reunion with Prof. Hewitt who once again was my pastor, mentor and lecturer. It was at the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal that I further ascertained that, according to Mitchell (2012: 417), a conceptual framework of Missio Dei includes the following tasks: “Proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ; Protection of and reverence for all life, both human and non-human; Denunciation of all exclusionary practices in our communities; Modelling a way of living together that demonstrates that we are sincere in what we profess regarding God’s saving activity in Christ”. In this regard, the marginalised’ are part and parcel of God’s mission of liberation who are affected by the brokenness of the world …who face life-denying challenges in their daily lives (Mitchell 2012: 415). The brokenness of the world is manifested by some of the following: hunger and starvation, various forms of marginalization, climatic changes, disregard of human life and dignity, tyrant political leadership, abuse of public offices in all manners, teen age pregnancies and many more. The manifesto of our Lord Jesus Christ as recorded in Isaiah 61:1-3 and repeated in Luke 4:18 challenges churches to participate in dealing away with life denying forces and promoting life flourishing activities.
I came across a mission methodology framed by Osmer which helps churches to have a meaningful engagement in the church and community that promote life flourishing. Osmer (2008: 4) accentuates that his theological method responds to the following questions. “What is going on? Why is this going on? What ought to be going? How might the church respond?” Therefore, Osmer’s tasks assist in helping churches and communities to outline mission activities following a logic sequence. This Osmer’s mission methodology is in line with our TIM 95/96 thinking where we discovered
that
