From the President
by The Rev. Geoff Little

Seeing Jesus More Fully through the Eyes of Another

At the New Wineskins missions conference CMS-USA conducted a workshop on intercultural Christian community.  Using materials from the teaching series “The Christ We Share” co-published by CMS-Britain, we began the session by showing participants about 30 different artistic images of Jesus originating in various cultures around the world.

The discussion of our various impressions of the pictures was fascinating: which images drew us in, which repelled us, and which we could not understand at all.  There were mostly smiles in response to the famous drawing of “The Laughing Christ” (also fittingly titled “Jesus Christ—the Liberator”).  On the other hand, a Brazilian image entitled “The Tortured Christ,” an emaciated, mulatto Jesus screaming in pain on the cross evoked universal winces of disgust followed by an urgent search for the next picture to look at.

The point of the exercise was that individually and together we might arrive at a fuller knowledge of Jesus Christ through exposure to how he is revealed in cultures around the world.  Culture, normally defined as the patterned way a group thinks and behaves, is the medium through which God’s revelation of himself is translated into the hearts of human beings.  God has shown us who he is through creation, through the Scriptures, through his Spirit, and pre-eminently through His Son; but the way we make sense of these instruments of revelation is largely through the filters of our personality and culture. 

In his essay “The Ephesian Moment,” Andrew Walls claims that it is the sum total of cultural translations of the gospel, across all time and space, that Jesus Christ is fully revealed: “Christ takes flesh as he is received by faith in various segments of social reality at different periods, as well as in different places.  And these manifestations belong together; they are part of the same story.  Salvation is only complete when all the generations of God’s people are gathered together, for only then is Christ’s humanity complete.”  Indeed, it seems Paul himself arrives at this very point in teaching the mixed Jewish and Gentile church of Ephesus that “we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:12-13).

As a mission agency CMS-USA seeks to create intercultural Christian communities as a winsome testimony to the love of Christ in a love-starved world.  That’s the goal whether our missionaries are located in the US or abroad, whether they serve in arenas of family, business, education, or church.

But realizing unity in Christ is not a goal just for professional missionaries but for all Christians: “May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me” (John 17:23).  You yourself can begin becoming an answer to that prayer of our Lord by taking every opportunity to see Jesus more fully through the eyes of another.  Here’s some suggestions how:

However you come together, don’t neglect to ask the question: How do you see Jesus Christ in your life?  And be willing to tell others how you see him too.

Anajali is Kiswahili for ‘He Cares.’
It is also the name of a school in Kibera, one of the biggest slums in Africa

The Ministry
Anajali School provides all the materials used by the children as well as a basic midday meal. A small number of orphans are accommodated at the school, cared for by the head teacher who lives onsite. Invariably, these children's parents have died of illnesses ranging from easily curable ones to more complex ones such as HIV/AIDS, because, they were unable to access medical attention. The children have no other family and, although there are families who might be willing to take them in they are prevented from doing so because they cannot sustain their own families adequately.

Enthusiastic Education
Anajali School has very Enthusiastic Children. A staff of seven teaches core subjects from 0830 to 1600 hours daily. The children are keen to learn, often arriving early and staying on at the end of the day to study. Exam results have been encouraging and the school is looking forward to attaining formal status.

Margaret Chogo Engefu is a student at Anajali. She lives with her mother, a single parent.

What makes it impossible for your parent(s)/guardian to afford secondary school fees?
My mum works as a house maid but earns very little amount of money that cannot be enough for my brother who is in high school and I. Also she cannot do hard jobs because she has got a backache. That is why my mum cannot afford.

What are your likes and dislikes?
I like reading story books, novels and cooking. I don’t like becoming sick.

What are your future dreams?
I would wish to become a cook or a chef. To be cooking in huge hotels like Hilton, Serena, and even in other countries.

How are you feeling about the KCPE exams?
About exams, I’m sure that I’m going to pass with flying colours because my teachers have prepared me well.

To learn more about Anajali visit their web site:
www.samaritan-strategy-africa.org/seedprojects_anajali.htm

Paul Bigmore takes a trip to the foothills of the Himalayas

0600: It’s a rude awakening by the alarm on my mobile phone, although the cockerel has been crowing since 5am. We’ve been up in this town in the clouds for the second diocesan youth festival and I’m still aching from the enthusiastic Bangla dancing of the evening before.

0730: The buses from the CMS School arrive to take us down the mountainside. They’re bright yellow and could be straight out of 1960s suburban America. We finally get a glimpse of the Himalayas as the cloud lifts on our way down – I used to think the Alps were big, until I saw this mighty range.

0930: Into Srinagar – the number of soldiers has been increasing along the roadside and now there’s a man every 10 meters or so.

1030: The school was founded by CMS more than 125 years ago – a brave thing to do then and a brave thing to maintain now.

1400: After lunch we rejoin the youth who have come for the festival. We take a Shikara, a canopied small gondola, out onto the lake.

1700: There’s a break before supper and just time to pop over the road from the school to the British cemetery. Nearby is the grave of Cynthia Morgan, a CMS mission partner who died of ill-health whilst I was still at school. As we wander around we hear the call to prayer from the adjacent mosque.

1800: The closing service of the youth festival is a moving time. The songs are all in Hindi or Urdu, but we do our best to join in. The young people from across the diocese commit themselves to peace and justice and I add my ribbon to the pole, but know the challenges will be different for me.

2100: Another excellent meal in the mess and a chance to talk to some of the teachers who work in the central and satellite schools. Like those at the nearby Anantnag Hospital they’re an inspiring group – living and working as a minority, but serving the people and clearly respected and even liked by them.

Kenya Mission 2007

For three weeks in July a team of 100 Canadians from St. Paul’s on-the-Hill Anglican Church will be going to Kenya for a short term mission trip. The group is divided into two: one team going to Bungoma in Western Kenya and the other staying in Nairobi, the capital city.

Produce from the Rafiki Home farm, Kikuyu, Kenya

The Rafiki Children’s Home is located in Kikuyu, just outside Nairobi. It is home to children orphaned mainly due to the effects of HIV and AIDS.

Section of dormitory to be painted by Kenya 2007 Mission team. Roofing and rendering expected to be completed in June.

To learn more about the Rafiki Children's Home visit their web site:
www.kenya2007.com/Rafiki.htm

Short Term Missions

Short term mission trips have emerged as an increasingly popular way, for young people especially, to get some overseas mission experience.

A quick Google search brings up numerous organizations specializing in adventure, fun, and making a difference all at the same time. Participants often do useful work like building homes, painting buildings, aiding in medical camps, working with children who are may be orphaned or disadvantaged in some way, teaching hygiene, providing clean water and so on.

There are many different tasks and activities that can be undertaken with lasting benefits for the host community. Good trips include local participation from the churches or communities being visited so that relationships begin to form that are opportunities for sharing faith and experience. Many long term missionaries caught the ‘bug’ during a short term missions trip.

The prevailing perspective is that short term missions trips are useful because of the cross-cultural exposure and tasks performed. Without doubt this is true, however. Probably the most important effect is what it does to the people who go. The real lasting significance of short term missions is the challenges it poses and the changes that begin to happen to the missioners themselves.

If it was just a matter of accomplishing tasks, short term missions would be an inefficient use of resources. It would cost a lot less to hire local painters than to fly them in from another continent. However, when assumptions about other cultures are challenged, when initial anger at injustice and poverty gives way to deeper insight and understanding, when they start to identify with the hardships of their hosts and some make decisions to come back, then the short term mission starts to make sense. The relationships fostered and the understanding lasts much longer than the mission trip but it helps develop Christians who are interested in what God is doing in other parts of the body of Christ. These are Christians who will pray for and give towards others getting the same experience and very often these are the Christians who go back for the long term or support long term missionaries.

The story of the Good Samaritan offers some insights into what is happening. The Samaritan responded at three levels. Firstly, he acted to meet the immediate need. Secondly, he included others by taking the injured man to the inn for the innkeeper to care for. Thirdly and perhaps most importantly, he committed himself to the long term care of the man. He made an open ended commitment to the recovery of his neighbor.

Further reading: The Good Shepherd, A Lesson for Mission

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