The beginning of a long journey

Transcription

1 Footprints in the World Imprints of churches on the Way Romans 10:14-17 [Footprints in the World No. 02/ April 2017] Relay Trust is a UK based international Christian charity organization cooperating with churches in challenged countries. Relay Trust is working in collaboration with different church denominations in the global south. Relay Trust aims at supporting the churches through training programmes for future church leaders on all levels. Thereby Relay Trust wants to contribute to the formation of future church leaders who are able to carry the baton of good news to the next generation of Christians. Footprints in the world imprints of churches on the Way is Relay Trust s English newsletter, where we are sharing our experiences from the work in the global south. Everyone can receive the newsletter, which is published four times every year. You can subscribe by sending an to: abk@relaytrust.org. The next newsletter will be published in July. Relay Trust Mette & Alex Bjergbæk Klausen Østerbro 74, 3.tv., 9000 Aalborg, Denmark mbk@relaytrust.org abk@relaytrust.org Tel The beginning of a long journey Dear reader. The grave is empty! He has risen! Hallelujah! With these words of hope and joy we are wishing you all a happy and blessed Easter. This is a time to rejoice, but also a time to reflect upon the meaning of the empty grave and the words Jesus shared with his disciples, when he summoned them on a mountain in Galilee. We can only imagine what the disciples felt when they were told to go and make disciples of all nations. They thought that they had already reached their destination, when they entered the city gates of Jerusalem. But it just turned out to be the beginning of an even longer journey, a journey beyond their imagination, our imagination. This new calling would bring them to the ends of the world, a journey for which they may not have been appropriately skilled, since most of them could barely read and write. But it was not their mission, or their decision. Jesus was sending them to carry out his mission, God mission. He chose them because of their hearts and not because of their academic skills. All they had to do was to put their trust in God, and they were equipped with everything they needed through the Holy Spirit. The Great Commission is not just crossing geographic and ethnic borders, but it is also crossing time. This is spelled out in Jesus final words: And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. (Matthew 28:20). The mission continues until Jesus returns. Every generation has to continue the journey, has to carry on the baton of Good News and pass it on to the next generation. If we fail to do this, we will lose the race. In Relay Trust we want to be part of this ongoing race to equip the next generation, so they can carry on the mission, which began so many years ago. It is with great joy that we share our newsletter with you. In this edition of Footprints in the world we will take you to Uganda to see the source of the River Nile and to be part of important discussions on the philosophy behind theological education. We will also invite you to Zelhem in The Netherlands, where the Mobile Ministry Forum had their annual convention. Finally, but not least, we want to introduce you to our new colleague, Judith Gottschalk, who has been employed as lead-programmer in Relay Trust. Relay Trust - 1 -

2 To the source! By Mette Bjergbæk Klausen This should be an appropriate heading in the year of the Reformation! 500 years ago a German monk stood up against the world, trying to bring the whole of the Christian world back to its origin; retrieve its source in the Bible, and strip it from all the misunderstandings and malpractices that had sneaked in through the centuries. An impossible task, and yet he succeeded: What this one man began had an enormous and lasting impact on the world church. This is just one of many unbelievable achievements through Christian history, and what a truly encouraging thought that is! When they succeeded, why should not we? Let us go to the source! In the end of February, I left our apartment in a cold and dark corner of Northern Europe to migrate for just a week to Uganda Christian University. Though any excuse to visit a sunny place seems irresistible at that time of year, my excuse for going was better than most: Peter Jensen, the former Archbishop of Sydney, Australia, had convened a consultation with a select group of people engaged in theological education in diverse ways throughout the world. Through the assistance of a friend, I had managed to get a much sought after invitation, and went on Participants in the consultation in Uganda 2017 my way feeling both very grateful, exited, and thoughtful: I knew none of the other participants, only that they were all Anglican, and mostly PhD s, professors, and bishops. Being a simple Lutheran pastor definitely made me the outsider! However, being a Danish theologian ordained in Nigeria, and the only woman clergy to Being a simple Lutheran pastor definitely made me the outsider! have worked in the Anglican Diocese of Bo in Sierra Leone, I am getting used to standing out from my colleagues, without this posing much of a problem, so I travelled with this comforting thought in mind. So many things had gone wrong before the departure, that I had not had the time for much speculation anyway. In the end of January, Alex was admitted to hospital with a punctured longue. He had not been quite well since December, but we had not expected this! Given our history of living in Africa, the doctors feared it was caused by tuberculosis, and so he was placed in quarantine, while they were running tests; had they been positive, we would both have to undergo treatment. Fortunately, they were not, and with Alex feeling better after being inflated, I had just enough time from the date of clearing to the day of departure to get my visa application through. With all the challenges leading up to the journey, I was more than relieved that all went well in Uganda: I arrived on time, and the immigrations officers in the airport were very friendly. My suitcase had made it all the way, in spite of several rushed intermediate landings, and a very helpful gentleman received me with a big smile and a sign with my name on it, ready to take me through the capital to the university on the other side of the city. On the way, we talked about the intriguing, mysterious source of the Nile, which is traced to Uganda. My curiosity was raised just as quickly as my forbearers were: the Nile, the longest river on earth, Relay Trust - 2 -

3 meandering and giving life to numerous countries on its long journey north, moreover the scene of so many great events through thousands of years who can resist its attraction? I was brought out of my daydreaming when we reached the university grounds. They turned out to be taken from a different dream, a dream of paradise; the different buildings were placed within a blossoming garden, with shady trees and footpaths crossing through the grasscovered hills. Sweet little monkeys jumped through the trees, searching for fruits, and affectionate cats rubbed themselves around peoples legs, soft-soaping for titbits. I had never been to East Africa before, but felt Spot the monkeys right at home, not least, because Vanessa, the lady organising everything, greeted me with a big hug upon our first meeting. Just as hostile as this continent can be, just as welcoming can its people be! Mette in dialogue with Archbishop Masimango of DRC being watered down, or rejecting good elements in the existing society, or bringing our own culture along? How do we avoid radicalisation when faced with a hostile society or religion? How do we bring up good stewards of God s creation in a world with so much injustice, hatred and pollution? These questions are paramount, and the answers will determine how the church leaders should be trained. This became the beginning of four very intense, inspiring, empowering, and elevating days! Big words, but they are substantiated! It was long days of meetings and discussions between so many capable people burning with knowledge, visions and energy for theological training. With the exception of South America, every continent was represented in these discussions. And all areas of church-teaching covered, from training of illiterate lay-leaders, to courses for bishops. This is a big issue. The education of the future church leaders will shape the preaching and teaching of the church, and thereby influence how Christians talk about and with God. How do we present an ancient message to modern people, in a way that is both understandable and relevant to them, without letting the modern culture transform the message into false doctrines, such as the prosperity gospel where grace can be bought and blessings means wealth? How do we transform societies trough the gospel, gently and with love, without Yet again, we must go to the source for inspiration and strength. Together with new friends, I decided to do this quite literally on a Sunday afternoon after the consultation. When you are that filled with thoughts, and overwhelmed with the whole prospect ahead, there is nothing as calming and refreshing as water! Many foreign adventures may have a different take on this, as so many have lost their fortune, mind, or life seeking this specific spring. But with Charles on our side, a capable teacher turned chauffeur, I found the journey both relaxing and enjoyable. The spring of the Nile is right at the brink of Lake Victoria, covered by water floating from the lake itself. Years back the government enlarged the outlet of the lake, build a dam at the Relay Trust How do we present an ancient message to modern people, in a way that is both understandable and relevant to them?

4 end of the valley, and thus covered the spring completely, while providing Uganda with electricity. The current of the spring can still be glimpsed on the surface of the waters, which now form a broad river already at its source. It is a picturesque place with kingfishers, storks, pelicans, and many other birds fishing, in fierce competition with both otters and men. The interest is understandable as the fish are delicious! I left Uganda filled to the brink with impressions Found it! and ideas. Some things seemed immensely clear: there is a great experienced need for Christian formation and systematic, theological education on grassroots level, yet very little is being done in that area, as this target group is so hard to reach. We were right in our analysis, and I hope and pray that we will also be right in how to go about it. There are other initiatives already going on, which we can lean on, be inspired by, and hopefully support as well, especially as we plan a coherent training programme, using modern technology in distributing the teachings and materials. Maybe our journey will be just as meandering as the Nile, alternating between wild waters and still streams, but if we can be just as certain of progress towards our goal, all will be well! Tomi Ahonen, ex-nokia executive, is introducing the new Nokia 3310 during the Mobile Ministry Forum consultation Spread the Good News with the new Nokia 3310!?! Various kinds of Christian geeks convened in The Netherlands during a two day intensive consultation in the Mobile Ministry Forum (MMF). The purpose of the gathering was to update each other on the most recent developments in the field of mobile technology and ministry. How can mobile devices and modern technology serve as agents in spreading the Good News? There is no doubt that the concept of mission has changed over the past decade and will continue to change. We need to be ready to embrace the new development; otherwise we may no-longer be effective in our ministry. During the years we have spent in Africa, we have noticed how fast the technological age is developing. When we came to Nigeria in During the years we have spent 2009, nobody was using the computer-room in the theological in Africa, we have noticed how seminary. Three years later, we had students asking us if we could fast the technological age is please transfer our lecture-notes to their mobile devices, so they developing. could study them on their own time. We were also amazed to see how many of our students and colleagues made friendship requests on Facebook; this development has continued and we are in daily contact with many friends, colleagues and former students. Relay Trust - 4 -

5 We have realized that it is important to use modern technology to upgrade our ministry and make it more effective. But it has to be done in the right way. Tomi Ahonen, ex-nokia executive, gave a few presentations during the consultation. In one of his presentations, he introduced us to the idea behind the renewed Nokia This model is just like an old Nokia phone, but has been updated a bit with a slightly new look and new features. But it is meant to be much more than just Nokia nostalgia. This is a phone made particularly for the emerging world, where only few people are carrying smartphones and many still enjoy the battery life of dumb-phones (a term used for phones that are not smartphones). The battery in a smartphone does not last very long and generally, smartphones are not very The Scandinavian table from left: Alex, Lars Gunnarson (Sweden), Ilkka Kastepohja (Finland), and Mette smart, when they are not connected to the internet. In many parts of Africa, internet is still extremely expensive, and electricity scarce, or not available. Therefore, smartphones are still not effective or useful to many in remote areas of Africa, where we intend to work. But the new Nokia 3310, with a battery that lasts a month on standby, may be part of the answer and could become the missing link between the dumbphones and the smartphones, and thus be a gentle introduction to the new technological age. The development is coming. Our task is to investigate opportunities with the new phones and see how we will be able to store information (MP3 and MP4 files, audio and video) so it can be available to students who live in remote areas with poor or no power supply. A Christian hacker with a passion for Africa Judith has completed a bachelor s degree in linguistics and philosophy and holds a master s degree in Human-Centred Informatics. Currently she is doing her PhD on the design and implementation of e- learning systems with a focus on training in Christian formation in Africa. We are very happy to welcome Judith Gottschalk as part of our team in Relay Trust. When we took our initial steps into forming an organisation, we knew very well that we would need a skilled programmer, who could assist us with the technological development. But where would we find a programmer who is Christian, interested in mission, and eager to work in hard-to-reach-areas of Africa? The answer to this question came during a meeting at the Danish Bible Institute in Copenhagen in December last year. This was our first meeting with Judith and we knew that she was the right candidate for such a position. Judith is 32 years old and lives in Nuremberg, southern Germany, but plans to move to Berlin by the end of In the end of March we had our first real meeting in Nuremberg, where we had a chance to discuss our mission and how we are going to develop our digital training platform called The Virtual Faculty. Judith refers to herself as a hacker, which may have bad connotations, since we Some hackers are just sometimes consider hackers to be linked programmers with a spray can. with IT-criminals. Surely there are hackers who are engaged with criminal activities, but there are many more who are not. There are different types of programmers, just as there are different types of artists. There are those, who are focusing on fine arts, the type of art you Relay Trust - 5 -

6 will find at a museum, like van Gogh, and then there are street artists, who are mostly anonymous, like the social critic, graffiti-artist known as Banksy. Some hackers are just programmers with a spray can. They are looking upon programming with a different set eyes, which can be very useful for our mission in Africa. Africa can be very unpredictable and therefore we need someone who can think out of the box and find solutions to the unpredictable problems, we may encounter along the way. Judith received a calling for mission, when she was in Madagascar to set up an e- learning network for students of theology at the Lutheran Graduate School of Theology in Fianarantsoa. She decided that she would use her talent as a computer specialist and programmer to work in Africa. Presently Judith is employed halftime with Relay Trust, as she still has some obligations with her former company. She will be fully released from her other obligation and begin to work fulltime with us by September this year. We are grateful to God that we now have a skilled programmer and computer specialist as part of our team. Relay Trust Members of staff Mette & Alex Bjergbæk Klausen Project coordinators mbk@relaytrust.org abk@relaytrust.org The next steps on our journey By the end of May we will take the next important steps in our journey with Relay Trust. We intend to visit three countries in West Africa; The Gambia, Guinea and Sierra Leone in order to have further meetings, conduct surveys, and prepare the ground for our planned training programmes. On our web-page there will be updates from our journeys and of course we will also share more information in our next newsletter, which will be released by the end of July. We will look forward to share these steps with you! God bless! Judith Gottschalk Lead-programmer jg@relaytrust.org Our new updated webpage will be released on May 1 st Relay Trust - 6 -