Category: Africa
Canine Redemption
As many of you know we are currently living out in the forest with a team of missionaries among the Baka people. In recent days, the Baka laugh at me pretty much every time I go out of my front door. Why would they laugh at you? You ask. They laugh at me because about a week ago I bought a sick, skinny and injured dog named Police. Why would you buy a sick dog? Well, that is what the Baka are asking and why they laugh at me. But let me tell you the story. I was in our…
Daily Challanges and Joys
by Stacey I met an American Peace Corps worker today who had also just arrived in country. When I asked her how she was adjusting she said that she goes through one emotional extreme of feeling like she is seeing progress in adapting to life here to the other emotional extreme of feeling like she is completely lost all the time. And, since the days feel so long, usually she goes from one emotional extreme to the other several times in a day. We both nodded our heads as we listened to her as we could very much relate….
Contextualization for Creating Barriers
by Dave I am still a bit new to missionary life and methodology, but if there is one thing that I have heard over and over again, it is that contextualization is vital. What is contextualization? Well, I am told that one of the weaknesses of my predecessors in the missionary field was that they confused biblical Christianity with their own culture. So, they brought with them their own customs and traditions and taught them as necessary alongside the Bible. Here in Cameroon, for many years the majority of church services have been conducted in French. The songs, the sermons,…
Where We Have Been and Where We are Headed
by Stacey What We Have Been Up To Living in an Airport It has been a little over a month since we arrived in country and I think it would be safe to compare this last month to living in an airport terminal: we have been carrying our luggage around everywhere we go, checking often to make sure we have our passports for when we get stopped by the authorities, while all the while counting our children to make sure we did not lose any of them. We are in closer proximity to other people than we are used to….
The Unstoppable Kingdom
I had the amazing opportunity to go to a conference put on by the Gospel Coalition in Geneva, Switzerland last week. The theme of this conference was the Gospel and the book of Galatians. I learned a great deal and found myself extremely encouraged in the power of the Kingdom of God. The Powerful Kingdom In one particular sermon on Galatians 1:11-21, Tim Keller described how Paul’s testimony is so powerful, in part, because he used to be a persecutor of the Church. Paul was not the kind of person anyone would imagine would convert to Christianity. And in chapter…
Your Best Life…Now? (Part 3)
by Stacey We have spent the last two blog posts describing the theological basis for the Prosperity Gospel along with its fundamental flaws. In this post we will discuss how to react to what we have learned. In light of the Prosperity Gospel, we should: Actually Help the Poor In serving the poor, the church can offer a real alternative to the deception of the Prosperity Gospel that is sweeping through impoverished nations. Yes, God is a God who does heal even today and is One who has a concern for the poor. But the way in which this is…
Your Best Life…Now? (Part 2)
by Stacey As mentioned in our last post, we are looking at the theological foundation of what has been coined the “Prosperity Gospel.” We previously described the claims of this system and now we will evaluate, what we are persuaded, to be its main flaws. Prosperity Gospel: Where is the “Not Yet”? Did Jesus die to heal of us of our diseases, give us bodies that function perfectly, and ensure our wealth? Well, kind of. The argument of the New Testament authors is that Jesus died for our sins and in addition to forgiveness and a right relationship with God, believers…
Your Best Life…Now? (Part 1)
by Stacey Many of us have seen the Piper video where he expresses his disdain for the “Prosperity Gospel.” But perhaps many are like myself, who do not know the precise theological foundation of this despised message that is sweeping through many developing nations. Since we are going to be ministering in one such nation, I have decided to read the book La Théologie de la prospérité to better understand the underlying beliefs that fuel the Prosperity Gospel (and as an exercise in reading French of course). Thus, we will seek to understand the claims of this gospel in our first blog…
Terrorism and Missions: Christianity on the Offensive
by Dave You may have seen a recent story about a French Catholic Priest that was kidnapped in the extreme north of Cameroon. The kidnappers appear to be an Islamic Nigerian militant group called Boko Haram, which was just recently designated a terrorist group by the Nigerian government. Nigeria has been rife with tension as groups such as the Boko Haram seek to take control of the country by force.We are fortunate that the situation in Nigeria has spread into Cameroon very little. The compound from which the French Priest was taken is only 15 miles from the Nigerian border, and it…
The Good, The Bad, and the Different
As we think about moving to Africa, one of the many things we have to consider is money. Turns out, Americans view money very differently overall than Africans. Consider the following story from the book African Friends and Money Matters: “Three single men were renting an apartment together, sharing the cost of utilities. One of the three, Mr. Ekwa, was designated to collect the agreed upon amounts from the others each month and to pay the electric bill. Just before the due date on one occasion, Mr. Ekwa had a personal bill that had to be paid before the due…
