4 Cities… or 4 Different Countries?

(originally posted here)

We just got back from holiday in Cape Town.  This marks the 4th major South African city I’ve spent significant time in, though I’ve also been in some pretty small towns and what not as well.  All this to say, I have a few thoughts on mission here in South Africa that may seem a bit obvious, but I think need to be said.

When we were first getting ready to come to SA over a year ago, I had some conversations with people about what mission in South Africa would look like.  When I got here, it didn’t look like that exactly.  Then I visited some other sections (like the Cape Flats where the black and coloured communities were forced to move during Apartheid) and I understood what they meant.  Pretoria just doesn’t role the same way Cape Town, Durban, or Johannesburg role.  Things look, feel, smell, etc… way different EVERYWHERE.  There’s just not a cookie cutter approach to mission here (is there really one for any town on the globe?).

This post goes along with another one I posted a while back on focus.  Look, there’s a LOT of need in South Africa.  AIDS is killing a generation.  Poverty rules the lives of millions.  Rape is a common place headline in every major city’s newspaper.  It’s hard reality.  But how we address each need is neighborhood specific, and we need to get strategic in how we’re addressing specific community needs.  On top of that, I’m not convinced that every organization can really do all things to end all problems in a neighborhood.  We’re going to get stronger when we do those things we’re set up to do… really well.

So networking becomes pretty important then.  We’ve met a lot of people that are much better at addressing human trafficking that we are.  So we’re working with them on how to support what they’re doing without sacrificing what God’s called us here for specifically.  Same thing with the AIDS crisis.  We have a sister ministry in one of the townships doing incredible work dealing with the AIDS crisis.  And they’re licensed and qualified to do what they do!

It’s time to pull together the business people, the medical people, the social service people, and the local church people to collectively develop communities of hope here.  I think there’s a lot of that going on now… So how do we multiply those kinds of things all throughout our area and our country?

New Words for a New South Africa

originally posted at sareeds.wordpress.com on June 15, 2009

I’m still trying to process the things God is putting in my heart related to my time at Amahoro last week.  I feel like something quite huge has been planted in my soul, and I’m quite excited to see what grows out of it.  Something I would like to share here is related to another set of stories that I seem to be hearing in multiple places these days.  These stories all revolve around identity.

Every person whose story I have heard in the past week has some element of a confusion about their true identity.  One such story was a young man from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (a place I would LOVE to see Nieu Communities get into) who said, “Everyone who meets me, when they hear that I’m from the Congo, the only question they ask is if I can dance.  As if it’s the only thing we can do.  I have more to offer the world than that.”  He’s not kidding.  Muhindo is one of the best guitar players I’ve ever had the privilege to jam with (of course I found a djmebe and we forged a friendship), probably one of the sharpest minds I’ve met from my generation, and a heart like Jesus has for people.

Other stories I’m hearing from the Afrikaaner communities are old words that once defined them that were never really true of everyone from this culture.  Words like “racists,” “supreme,” “proud,” etc… These words are lies that have been used as generalizations which have robbed true identity from beautiful people.  These words need to be transfigured… because…

“pain that is not transfigured will get transmitted.” Claude Nikondeha (Amahoro 2009 Gathering)

I believe that the church is where new words SHOULD be spoken to individuals.  My friends have heard these false words about themselves their whole lives and are searching for a new identity… a new South Africa.  I believe that journey to a new South Africa comes when these false words are identified, a community listens to the pain those words have created, and new words of truth are spoken back in.

Perhaps this is the cure for global violence.  If a true word were spoken into rapist, perhaps they would cease to transmit their pain onto the innocent victims in my community.  May it be so.  Amahoro.

a young family living in community

For the past three months, our family has been interning with Nieu Communities in South Africa.  Part of our time within the internship has been dedicated to finding a healthy balance for our family.  Having come from pretty hectic and unbalanced ministry lives in the States, the community wanted to help us find balance and health inside a healthy ministry context.  It has now been three months since we arrived, and we are seeing tremendous growth in our marriage and in our kids.  Our time here has been a crucial launching pad for ministry into South Africa.