mbmission.org
Winter 2016
THE TIME IS NOW Refugees Finding Jesus in Germany - 4 Rebuilding Syria - 6
Witness Winter 2016
Contents Editorial: The Time is Now ......................................2 A New Beginning......................................................4 Rebuilding Syria.........................................................6 On The Edge..............................................................8 The 2020 Movement..............................................10 Celebrating Partnerships........................................12 Remember Who We Are........................................14
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Staff Editor-in-Chief......................................Randy Friesen Managing Editor............................... Mark JH Klassen Layout & Design.................................. Darcy Scholes Additional Design.................................. Colton Floris Media Team Lead.................................Larry Neufeld Circulation & Administration.................Ann Zauner
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Holistic church planting that transforms communities among the least reached.
The Time Is Now
Randy Friesen, General Director
On a recent trip to Kansas where I participated at a mobilization weekend for young leaders (read the story of the event on page 10), I met a software engineer named Nasser. Last spring, he had served on a short-term mission assignment with us in Paris. His father’s family is from Saudi Arabia and his mother is a Mennonite. Nasser has been asked to help five hundred Syrian families re-settle in his city in Kansas. Ten minutes into our conversation, I sensed the Lord prompting me to invite Nasser to join me on a trip to Central Asia and Germany where we are also beginning to work among refugees. Even though the trip was only two weeks away, Nasser and his wife prayed about it and he agreed to come. Days later, we were on the Syrian border having coffee with a university student named Amar. He had just fled from Syria two months earlier where he had witnessed much death in the name of religion (read more about Amar on page 6). I watched Nasser share his story with Amar about meeting Jesus after being raised in Islam. It was amazing to see how these two young men could relate to each other and to hear Nasser’s clear testimony about finding the way to peace with God and others. Through this conversation and many others, God was confirming his call on Nasser’s life to join him in the harvest. What has the Lord of the harvest called us to do? What is the role that you are playing today? I’ve been impacted by John’s vision of the Lord of the harvest from Revelation 14:14-16. In this window into the eternal realm, outside of time and space, John witnesses an exchange between an angel and Jesus: “Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” I heard three simple phrases through this text: the harvest is ripe, the sickle is sharp, and the time is now.
“Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” Revelation 14:15
The massive upheavals that are occurring around the world today through conflict, economic crisis, and natural disasters are exposing the empty promises of the gods of this age. It is in these very contexts that Jesus is inviting us to reap the harvest with him! If we are to join Jesus on his mission, we must confront a culture of fear that is focused on security and health. Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Mark 8:34). This is the true Gospel seed, not some genetically-modified seed of happiness
and fulfillment. Fear is natural, but we confront it when we choose to daily die to self. For many first-generation disciples of Jesus who are giving their lives for their faith in the Muslim world, this high-cost Gospel is the only Gospel they have. What has puzzled me over the years is why new disciples in these high-cost contexts seem far more active in sharing the Gospel than those of us in low-cost contexts. Here’s my theory: when the Gospel costs you everything – your family, job and possibly your life – you value this Gospel more than anything and you are willing to take great risks to share it with others, while in low-cost contexts, where the Gospel is presented as something that adds to an alreadygood life, we value it little. In the West, we tend to place greater value on our sports teams and media heroes! With freedom of speech, freedom of religion and freedom of worship – so few of us seem free to share the true Gospel. In Germany, I visited with church leaders responding to the influx of refugees in their communities (read more about the story in Germany on page 4). The churches are engaged in developing
plans based on their context. We talked about the need to emphasize the importance of building relationships. In Detmold, I was going out for lunch with Johann Matthies, our Regional Team Leader in Europe. On our way, we passed by groups of refugees. I asked Johann to stop the car and we invited four Africans to join us for lunch. Three were from Ghana and one was from Sierra Leone; three were Muslim and one was a Christian.
Do we love our security more than we love the privilege of living on mission with Jesus? For the next two hours, we listened to their stories. We heard about travelling across the Sahara in the back of a pick-up truck with fifty other people and surviving two days without water. Another shared about hiding in the engine room of a container ship from Ghana and ending up in a port city where he slept in a mosque until he
was offered a job. He was brought to a “camp” where he was expected to learn how to kill people. He escaped from this camp and made his way through to Europe. All of these young men wanted nothing to do with violence and were eager to understand the way of peace in Jesus. After lunch, as we said goodbye to our new friends, they told us that they would never forget us and that, in all their travels, they had never been treated with such kindness and respect. How difficult is it to invite a recent immigrant to share a meal with you and listen to their story? Do we love our security more than we love the privilege of living on mission with Jesus? This is not the time for us as the Church to retreat and to focus on our own comfort and safety. We have been largely unwilling to travel to leastreached countries and live on mission there, but now the Lord of the harvest, in his sovereignty, is bringing the least reached to our communities. I believe that their hearts are yearning for the peace that Jesus offers. The harvest is ripe and the time is now!
A spontaneous lunch in Detmold, Germany mbmission.org | 3
A NEW BEGINNING: Refugees Finding Jesus in Germany “I have never seen anything like this before,” the leader of the Oasis team said after he saw a large crowd of Arabic speakers respond to the Gospel in Germany. “I saw the Holy Spirit like an athlete running around among the people, and he was very excited.” For many years, the Oasis team has been working among Arabic speakers in North Africa and the Middle East. But in the midst of the current refugee crisis, God has opened a door in Germany where they are seeing him move in ways that are unprecedented. Last year, Johann Matthies, MB Mission’s Regional Team Leader in Europe, invited two key leaders from the Oasis team to visit the Mennonite Brethren church in Neuwied, which is not only one of the oldest MB churches in Western Europe, but probably the most culturally diverse. Most of the members of this strong and lively congregation speak multiple languages. They currently translate their weekly services into Persian and Arabic, and they are building their capacity to translate effectively into nine languages. Under the leadership of Pastor Walter Jakobeit, the church in Neuwied has also been actively engaging the refugees in their community. In the past few months, they have begun various initiatives to help meet the practical needs of their new neighbors. But they have been asking for help in evangelism, discipleship and shepherding. Johann Matthies began to envision a partnership between MB Mission and churches like the one in Neuwied. Johann knew that Oasis was able to supply an evangelist who spoke Arabic, as well as other resources for Arabic speakers, such as online Bible training. 4 | witness
When the Oasis team stopped over in Germany on their way to North Africa, Johann introduced them to Pastor Jakobeit in Neuwied. In turn, the pastor introduced them to a young couple in his church from Iraq who were meeting regularly with a group of about twelve other immigrants from the Middle East. It was an encouraging beginning. During the following months, as refugees continued to flow into Germany, the Oasis team began to prepare for another visit to Neuwied. In September, when they arrived, the church in Neuwied had gathered a group of about seventy-five people together, most of whom were recent immigrants from Syria and Iraq, and many of whom had never heard the Gospel. At the church, they hosted a one-day conference with the theme: “A New Beginning with Jesus.”
That day was a new beginning for many Arabic speakers as they came forward to receive prayer. The Oasis team leader, himself an Arabic speaker, shared all morning about Jesus and what it meant to be his follower. He knew that Arabic people were usually quite reserved in public gatherings, but he could see the spiritual hunger in their eyes. “You know when you haven’t eaten for a few days,” he said, “then any food that you get tastes so good and you don’t leave anything behind. That’s what it was like as these immigrants heard the Gospel.” After lunch, the people did not want to leave. Everyone stayed into the afternoon to hear
more. Later, after he had made the Gospel plain to everyone, he invited them to respond. In his own mind, he was thinking that there would be a handful of people who were ready to follow Jesus. But a majority of the crowd was eager to respond. “I was shocked,” he said. “I didn’t just ask people to raise their hands – I asked them to come forward. I knew that this would be very tough in their culture, but they came forward with tears in their eyes.”
They had never seen a group of people like this with such a high degree of readiness to respond to Jesus. He asked them again if they had understood his message, and they insisted that they had. That day was a new beginning for many Arabic speakers as they came forward to receive prayer. Some not only heard the Gospel but came to know Jesus and trusted in him for their salvation. For the Oasis team, this was a clear signal of a new season in what God was doing in the world. They had never seen a group of people like this with such a high degree of readiness to respond to Jesus.
However, this move of God was not only happening at one church or in one area. This hunger was being reported among other congregations as well. In another city where the Oasis team visited, they were approached by a young refugee couple who said, “We came to Germany to find Jesus.” In November, church leaders from two Mennonite conferences in Germany (BTG and AMBD – see sidebar) met with MB Mission leaders to discuss strategies on how to best respond to this colossal opportunity among refugees. One outcome of the meetings was the appointment of two ministry coordinators who would help to organize outreach among new immigrants and to mobilize the churches to engage their new neighbors with practical help. “There is an eagerness for partnership,” said Johann Matthies, “among both church and mission leaders. The challenge is too big. No one can do this alone.” Much work yet remains, including the details of these newly formed partnerships, but there seems to be a strong sense among the churches in Germany, and among mission leaders, that now is the time to come together and embrace the opportunities among refugees. As they look to the Holy Spirit for direction and inspiration, they anticipate great things. By Mark JH Klassen
PARTNERS IN GERMANY MB Mission is thrilled about opportunities to partner with churches in Germany to serve among refugees. We are working closely with two church conferences: Bund Taufgesinnter Gemeinden (BTG) and Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Mennonitischen Brüdergemeinden in Deutschland (AMBD), which are both members of the International Community of Mennonite Brethren (ICOMB). For the BTG churches, their own history motivates them to help. These churches are predominantly made up of people who came from the former Soviet Union only twenty to twentyfive years earlier. They remember what it was like to arrive in Germany as immigrants, so they are sensitive to the needs of those who are arriving from the Middle East. AMBD congregations have also been seizing opportunities among their new neighbors. In Neuwied, church members noticed more and more Iraqi men in their community who were looking for a place to gather. Many of these men were also interested in lifting weights. So the church made space available in their building for a weightlifting ministry, providing these men with a place for community, for fitness and for discussions about faith. More recently, Pastor Walter Jakobeit reported that the local government in Neuwied had offered the church an opportunity to buy an old hotel in the city at a reduced rate in order to provide housing to refugees. The latest word from the church was that they were still discerning how to respond to this opportunity. If you would like to contribute financially to the work among refugees, please make a donation to Urgent Relief Ministries.
mbmission.org/urgent-relief
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REBUILDING SYRIA: A Future for Amar’s People Amar* laughs sadly before he brushes his stylish hair to the side and snaps a selfie. He tells us that this haircut would get him killed in his home city of Aleppo, Syria. Although we encourage his less-conservative personality, the warring rebel groups vying for power in Aleppo do not. “They will shoot anything that moves,” he says, “whether it’s a cat or a person. You don’t want to do anything to draw attention to yourself.” Amar fled from his home two months ago. He left everything behind in a city that is divided between the government and the rebels, and neither side is safe. He tells us that every day dozens of local citizens are shot as they attempt to cross the main street to go to work. Just twenty-three years old, Amar is a recent graduate in architectural studies. Despite requiring field practice, his studies were entirely confined to a classroom for the past three years. Unable to leave the two-block radius
of his school, he contented himself to study with textbooks and his imagination.
The realities of war are fresh in his mind and the numbness in his voice reflects the brutalities of what he has just lived through. Amar accompanies our team as we meet with refugees at the Syrian border. His capacity to translate more than just language becomes evident as he explains the situation at hand. Being a recent refugee, the realities of war are fresh in his mind and the numbness in his voice reflects the brutalities of what he has just lived through. He is not just translating for us the stories of lives impacted by the war, he is living it.
“I had no choice but to leave Aleppo,” Amar says. “Once I finished school, I could no longer avoid being forced into the military. Within months, the government would have made me join. In that case, I am dead.” Amar has seen enough death already. As a volunteer with the Red Crescent in Syria, he held the bodies of dying friends battered from explosions. He participated in bargaining with rebel groups on one side of the city to retrieve the bodies of dead victims on the other: fifty corpses in exchange for one live prisoner. The details of digging up decaying bodies live vividly in his mind. As Amar shares his story, we pass cautiously close to the Syrian border. We learn that in the twenty-six neighbourhoods of this town, the number of Syrian refugees outnumbers the local population. Our cab stops at a local Syrian bakery on the corner of the street and we enter a sweet-smelling shop. It is run by an educated refugee * Not his real name
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family who find themselves making pizza. Their twelve-year-old son is taking orders. It is one of many Syrian shops sustaining families who live in a state of transition under the temporary protection of the Turkish government. Back in Syria, the war rages on and an indecisive minority government allows the refugee crisis to continue. Some families have been refugees for more than three years already, and they are no closer to citizenship. Stability seems impossible. Amar, however, does not wish for new citizenship. Like many that we meet, he dreams of going back to rebuild his country, his city. “My city is one of the oldest in the world, and I want to restore what this war is destroying. We have the most beautiful old buildings and castles. They are in ruins, but they can be rebuilt. I have no practical experience from my studies to do this, but I will.’’ He’s just a short one-hour drive from home by car, but the border is now impassible and the roads are blocked by rebel groups. When he fled, the trip took sixty hours, making the distance now feel like an eternity. Although Amar is a Muslim, he speaks of the plight of his people as one who is disillusioned by religious wars. He
speaks on behalf of those who desire peace above all else. They have left everything, and now they are yearning for community and security. They hope for a future.
They have left everything, and now they are yearning for community and security. They hope for a future. As we walk alongside these refugees, we pray for them to experience the love and compassion of our Father in heaven. We have an incredible opportunity to share the hope of Jesus with these people who will perhaps one day return to Syria to rebuild their nation. But what will they rebuild? Could it be that God has brought them into exile to hear the Good News and be reconciled to him, so that they will rebuild not only physical buildings and cities but a people who know God and know the power of his love and forgiveness?
Today, God is doing something new and in the hearts of young people like Amar. Doors that have been shut for so long may be opening. Is this the time for Syrians to hear the Gospel and respond to the call of God upon their lives to rebuild their cities on a sure foundation? Lord Jesus, build your church. By a Worker in Europe
PRAY Please pray for Syrian refugees in Turkey and around the world who are, like Amar, in search of hope. Ask God to meet them in their time of need and call them to himself.
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On the Edge
They live on the edge a place defined by a strand of barbed wire and a gun pointed out of a very tall tower never too far away where law and lawlessness cannot but be confused and a flag is waving, torn. They live on the edge of town where one nation’s land ends with the start of another where the promise and past are shared and the sun beats down on the same brown soil. They live on the edge of reason a place where reality and feeling collide where both seem to lie knowing too little and much accepting both, as though they can. They live on the edge of age the young, so old and their eyes so big, pleading to play or run or find the laugh hiding behind the playground slide as they fall down it and they do, but they don’t forget. They live on the edge of time where a world is watching, ticking stories exploding on headlines, at least for a little while until we grow deaf and the words become too costly to share yet we try to make space, at the bottom the little room a heart can still find place for a little compassion after a long day at work and a headache just the edge. They live on the edge where only those who have lived can understand can feel, can trust, can truly love them. And so He comes to those living on the edge, as one who has one who knows how red the soil can turn in soaking up the wrongs of war all the while crying out for peace the earth of a country not His own.
He comes to the edge where the gap is wide but the way is Him He comes with life, with a message, with hope that will not disappoint with peace surpassing understanding, with love that knows no bounds. He comes with a promise to rebuild the walls and homes that will fill the new city where He brings them out of exile into joyful song, where they will no longer be shrouded in darkness, but in light, light that touches every child and woman and man and reaches every corner, every nation, every page even to the edges.
This poem written by a worker in Europe, who recently had the privilege of visiting with Syrian refugees and hearing their stories.
The 2020 Movement
Mobilizing the Midwest into Mission A movement has begun in the Midwest of the U.S. that some have described as a train led by the Holy Spirit. Even though the passengers don’t know the destination, they are eagerly jumping on board.
“Like” the MB Mission Midwest US Facebook page to receive ongoing updates on the 2020 Movement.
The train is being called the 2020 Movement. On October 8-11, 2015, thirtyfive potential leaders between the ages of nineteen and forty-five gathered together at the Oasis Ranch and Retreat Center in Plevna, Kansas to discern their part. The event involved speakers, music, listening prayer, intercession and group discussions. The goal was to bring out apostolic leaders into local, national and global mission.
“We want to help young people live missionally.” “We want to help young people live missionally,” said Bob Pankratz, who is a member of the recently-restructured MB Mission Mobilization Team in the Midwest. “We want a place where that can be explored and encouraged and resourced, because this is what the church is called to
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do – to help a generation see that there’s no greater calling.” Speakers shared about what living missionally looks like in their lives. There were missionaries who serve in Thailand, church planters in the U.S., and a couple that facilitates training through a retreat center, where the event took place. During the time of listening prayer, participants heard God’s voice. Stephen Humber, a former board member of MB Mission who is now serving as a Regional Mobilizer in the Midwest, said that the Holy Spirit became real to participants and it gave them hope, confidence and strength in their faith journey. “God surprised us with how he worked and how much he worked,” he said. “It makes you kind of giddy, and yet there is also a very serious side to the assignments that God has for people.” One of those assignments required immediate action from nineteenyear-old participant, Kalie Siebert of Hillsboro. During the sessions, as God spoke to the group about the urgency to reap the ripe harvest, Kalie sensed that God was affirming her desire to return to New Zealand.
In the days following the 2020 Movement event, Kalie quit her job, packed her bags and flew to the base in New Zealand where she had trained for a mission trip earlier in the year. The church there had continued to change rapidly, and she was excited to see how she could participate. “I feel this fire in my spirit that is just burning so deeply,” she said. “I have never felt such a peace. I have no fear, no anxiety, and no worries. Just pure peace because I know that my Father has control.” Another participant, John Jedneak, a senior at Tabor College, received strong affirmation of his desire to become a pastor or leader in ministry. Jeneak described what he experienced during listening prayer: “Jesus walks behind me and puts his hand on my shoulder and says, ‘Why do you fear what I’ve called you to do?’ ” It was significant for Jedneak because over the past two years, his coaches, mentors and friends had encouraged him to become a pastor. He was often afraid and didn’t think he was equipped for it. “I thought of all the
people asking me about being a pastor or in ministry, and it clicked – that’s what I want to do. Now I’m ready to walk through whatever door God has opened for me.”
“Now I’m ready to walk through whatever door God has opened for me.” Other participants received other assignments from God, including challenges to share their faith with peers, to construct houses for the homeless, to start a revival in the local church and to assist Syrian refugees. Many in attendance felt that this event was just the beginning of God’s train rolling through the region. Earlier in the year, in May 2015, a group of Midwest pastors and leaders met with MB Mission staff to ask God about what he was doing in the Midwest. It became evident that he was at work: more and more young people were participating in
short-term mission trips; churches were growing in their communities; and various leaders were hearing prophetic words. At the gathering in May, God gave the group of leaders a vision to resource and release twenty leaders into local, national and global mission by 2020, and then thirty more by 2030, forty more by 2040, and fifty more by 2050. That’s 140 missional leaders in the next thirty-five years. “I think there was a general sense that it was kind of God-sized,” Humber said. “Who knows what could happen. You don’t know exactly where you’re going, but you know you’re going together. And you know God is doing a terribly exciting thing.” They also affirmed that the vision for this new train was bigger than just the Mennonite Brethren denomination and the recent meetings were just a beginning. Pankratz said, “In some ways, I feel we have just begun to taste a move of God’s Spirit.” By Jenae Suderman
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Celebrating Partnerships Portugal By Teresa Rieger, Ross Road Community Church, Abbotsford, B.C. As a church family, we’ve been supporting Otto and Marjorie Ekk for more than twenty-five years – their entire tenure in Portugal – and we’ve never sent a team to visit them. Along with my husband, Dale, I recently led a nine-member team on a thirteen-day trip to Portugal as a part of Ross Road’s new commitment to the missionaries that we support. The purpose of the trip was to provide vision. We wanted to develop a stronger relationship with the Ekks, to see their work and ministries in Portugal, to interact with their national team, and to experience their heart for mission and their love for Portugal. The trip was the culmination of a lot of planning and fundraising, but it was also the realization of our church’s dream to connect better with our missionaries. Ever since our family experience as missionaries in India, I have realized the value and importance of showing up physically and encouraging those who are living on mission so far away. Ross Road also made a commitment to send a member of the pastoral staff on each trip. Merri Ellen Giesbrecht, Children’s Pastor, was a part of the Portugal team along with her husband and two children. For our church, the trip brought a renewed connection and commitment to the Ekk’s ministry in Portugal. One team
member remarked that his new relationship with Otto and Marjorie will change how he interacts with them when they visit North America. “From now on, I will be excited to see them and I will seek them out!” Apparently the love and appreciation is mutual. According to long-term worker Otto Ekk, “There is a tremendous need for churches like Ross Road that are committed for the long term, through the good days and the hard days. Ross Road has been there for us.” Although only nine people went to Portugal, the whole congregation participated through fundraising. As well, each member of the team was encouraged to recruit prayer partners for every day of the trip, which mobilized the entire congregation in prayer. This trip not only strengthened our relationship with the Ekks, but it has inspired us to explore possibilities for ongoing ministry involvement in Portugal. We are dreaming about future teams that could provide much needed retreats for the national workers on the Ekks’ team, or possibly a pastoral exchange. Whatever happens, the trip taught us at Ross Road the importance of connecting with our missionaries and of engaging with them in ministry. If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a whole congregation to effectively partner with long-term workers overseas.
The Ross Road team with their hosts in Portugal 12 | witness
Panama By Maryanne Berge, Missions Pastor, Forest Grove Community Church, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan What happens when God brings together a missionary couple from Colombia, a church family in Saskatoon and indigenous communities in Panama? We experience the joy and blessing of being a part of the global family of God! More than ten years ago, Forest Grove began to explore what a partnership could look like with a couple from Colombia named Einer and Girlesa Zuluaga who had just arrived as missionaries in Panama, serving among the Wounaan and Embera indigenous peoples. We longed for an ongoing relationship that could develop over time through short-term mission teams going to the same place, where there would be discipleship and mutual support. We didn’t know what to expect. We had no idea how that partnership would grow into a very special relationship today with not only the missionaries, but the Wounaan church in Panama as well. I have treasured the warm words of Obdulio Isarama, a leader in the MB Church Conference in Panama, as he spoke about partnership. Obdulio said, “We want to be in relationship with you, like family. When family is hurting you hurt with them, when family celebrates you celebrate with them. You visit one another and share life.” I share these words with every short-term team that is sent out from Forest Grove. Our focus is relational – we have experienced the mutual benefit of this partnership. The Zuluagas have discipled us as much as we have supported them. Many strong friendships have been made over the years. In eleven years, over one hundred people from Forest Grove have visited Panama on intergenerational short-term teams. Some individuals have gone back several times, including four young adults that have been discipled by the Zuluagas through the TREK program. The Forest Grove teams have been able to share in celebrations and struggles in Panama. When a Wounaan community lost its leader in an illegal logging conflict in 2012, we sent our lead pastor, Bruce Enns, to mourn with them. When the Zuluagas adopted their son from a Wounaan community, we were there to rejoice with them after years of praying with them for a child. In 2014, another team was there with a small community when their chief passed away suddenly. We changed our plans and shared in the mourning and the preparations for his funeral. What an honor it has been to share in the journey with our family in Panama.
Forest Grove’s partners in Panama — the Zuluagas The Zuluagas and Wounaan church leaders have also had the opportunity to visit Saskatoon and share life with us at Forest Grove. These visits have impacted our whole church. They’ve given not just the goers but the senders too an opportunity to get to know our partners and hear their vision and struggles firsthand. In September 2015, we invited our dear friends, the Zuluagas, to come to Saskatoon for a celebration, a reunion of sorts! The theme of the celebration was Psalm 115:1, “Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name goes all the glory for your unfailing love and faithfulness.” Our God is a relational God, and he invites us to be in partnership with one another in the global body of Christ. What an honor it has been to be on mission together in Panama these past ten years! We join with many others who have gone before us to serve among the Wounaan, including our missionary God! We have learned that mission is not something you do to one another, but what you do with one another.
GO
Consider building a stronger relationship with your missionaries by sending a church team to visit them.
For information about how we can help, talk to your Mission Mobilizer. 1.888.866.6267 For further resources on this topic, watch the Partnership Ready Symposium on GMMiTV.com mbmission.org | 13
REMEMBER WHO WE ARE Pastor Madou Traoré was in a tight spot. Instead of teaching the big group of new believers in the Nanerigé village of Zanfara, he was refereeing a heated argument. On one side was a visiting pastor from a different cultural group that Madou had invited along in an effort to build unity among the wider group of local churches. On the other side was a heavyweight contingent of local Muslim leaders, Koran in hand, coming unannounced in the middle of the meeting. Apparently, they had decided that it was time to “do business.”
were turning to Madou as they spoke. Whether the visiting pastor knew it or not, Madou had seized a role that both he and the Muslim leaders understood because of their common Senufo culture. Madou had switched from pastor to pardon-helper.
Each side was now hurling their favorite well-rehearsed truth bombs and insults at each other. “Pork eaters!” “Woman haters!” “Blasphemers!” “Hypocrites!” It wasn’t pretty.
According to tradition, as pardonhelper, he wasn’t focused on making his own points, but on encouraging both sides to acknowledge the points that the other side was making. You see, in order for pardon to eventually be given and received after so much offense, people were going to need to slow down and stop merely pointing out what they thought was wrong, but deliberately forget any errors, and then make a common plan of action for the future.
Unfortunately, the new believers were caught in the crossfire. Madou, however, sat between the factions, composed. Something interesting was going on. The two sides were no longer talking directly to each other, but 14 | witness
Each side was now hurling their favorite well-rehearsed truth bombs at each other.
In Senufo society, peace is understood as teamwork in the business of living together. Healthy teamwork is never forced, but is built around goals to be reached through communal effort. Communities are unified, and re-unified in this process of discernment. Finally, the visiting pastor dropped his last truth bomb, and abruptly left without saying goodbye! As the Muslim delegation also began to leave, Madou, still seated, applied the brakes by saying, “This is not the Senufo way. We Senufo people ask for permission before leaving a meeting. We say goodbye to each one who took the trouble to come, and we share blessings before we part. Let’s remember who we are.” The Muslims looked stunned. Then, one by one, agreeing with Madou, they sat back down. Madou seized the teaching moment. “What you just saw here today wasn’t a picture of Christianity,” he explained. “It was the result of our visitor’s
culture.” He encouraged patience, not only for then, but in preparation for future meetings with this man. In this way, Madou was showing loyalty to a fellow Christian with whom he too obviously disagreed. Nonetheless, Madou was committed to remaining in community, both with the visiting pastor and with the Muslim leaders whom he respected, believing that they too were sincere in seeking to please God, and follow God’s advice.
The Church has come to Zanfara, because some are remembering who they really are in Christ Madou affirmed the common ground that existed between those who still remained in the meeting, and then, and only then, was it time for him to “wield the sword” of the Scripture. Madou opened the Bible and read several important texts that addressed some of the most divisive issues—always coming back to the humble question, “If the Word says this, what am I to do?” He suggested that peace would be found through the application of a
mature understanding of the Word and not through the uncivilized practice of lobbing theological summaries at people like hand grenades. Madou’s calm confidence was the result of knowing from experience that God not only calls his people to unity and love, but through Christ he also empowers them. Madou had driven demons out of people in the area in Jesus’ name, which was one of the reasons that the Muslim leaders were taking note of the movement. But instead of appealing to such signs of God’s approval, Madou, using Scripture, shared the promises of God, given to all. He also reminded a people who were ordinarily quite good at keeping the peace, to remember what they already knew. He shared the Gospel, Senufo-style, providing himself as an example of where faith in Christ can take them—together. He let this be the focus of any judgments being made. The day ended with the Muslim leaders themselves, in their big robes, pushing Madou’s motorcycle through the village and out to the first fork in the trail—an extreme display of respect for an honored guest in the Nanerigé culture. A judgment had been made. Today the Church has come to Zanfara, in part because some are remembering
who they really are in Christ, transformed by the Spirit, able, at last, to live up to their ideals. Where this happens, there are always reasons for hope and grounds for celebration. By Philip Bergen
Philip and Carol Bergen are from Shafter, California, and have been serving in Burkina Faso among the Nanerigé since 1992. Although over half of the population in this West African nation follows Islam, and conversions to Islam far outnumber those to Christianity, the Bergens and their indigenous partners are seeing the fruit of many years of faithful work in Scripture translation as they also learn to model the way of Christ in local cultures. Churches are being planted and leaders like Madou are effectively preaching the Gospel among their own communities.
Meet the MB Mission Board Rick Reimer (Burnaby, BC), Jeff Gowling (Bakersfield, CA), Beatrice Pauls (Winnipeg, MB), Ed Heinrichs (Torrance, ON), Stephen Humber (former member), Brent Warkentin (Wichita, KS), Ruth Schale (Bakersfield, CA), Bruce Enns (Saskatoon, SK), Al Dickens (Williams Lake, BC), David Marshall (Burnaby, BC) To download our annual financial report and a one-page overview of our four service areas, go to: mbmission.org/reports/financial.pdf
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