The rain falls heavily on Ethiopia in September. As the flood waters wash down the mountains and through the city streets of Addis Ababa, they gather to form the Nile. Heading north into the vast Sahara Desert this great river shapes, defines, and brings life to the African landscape.
As I’ve been thinking through my time spent in Ethiopia, the image that keeps coming back to my mind is a river. A deep, powerful river that transforms the land wherever it flows. I don’t think that I can describe my trip without this image. It seems strange that I only spent 10 days in Africa because I feel like in that short time I have been swept away into something greater than myself, something overpowering. I honestly believe that this great river is changing me, shaping me, defining me, and bringing new life.
So what exactly have I stepped into? What is this Great River that has had such an impact on my life? I’m not sure that I fully understand it myself, and I’m nearly certain that I can’t describe it in a short story, but I’ll do my best.
I went to Addis Ababa to meet with other young leaders from all over Western Europe to discuss where we are going as a ministry. We are painfully aware that our ministry needs to change and adapt if we are going to see God’s kingdom advance in Europe. One of the big changes that we discussed was the need to see a shift toward taking a more holistic approach in our ministry. We need to be living out equally the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. We discussed God’s heart to redeem the world to himself, and His desire to transform us into His agents of restoration.
On the surface, it sounds obvious or even trite, but if we take this call seriously, the implications of this shift are really enormous. It changes how I do evangelism and discipleship. It changes everything.
This is Samuel. He’s 13 years old. His parents are dead and he lives with his grandparents in a slum near the University of Addis Ababa, across from the Campus Crusade for Christ discipleship training center. Two months ago his section of the slum was burned down in a fire probably set by government agents to make space for a new university building. Now he lives among some 50 families in one of two makeshift tents set up on the site of the fire.
Ever since Campus Crusade opened the center, there was a lot of persecution from the people living in the surrounding slum. (Most Ethiopians come from the highly traditional, or nominal, Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Persecution is very common against protestants.) The youth would throw rocks at people as they were coming and going to the center, and parents were very skeptical of the protestants making sure their children kept a safe distance.
This hard situation was a perfect opportunity for us to live out the changes that we had been discussing as a group. These people are in serious need, and we wanted to love them as ourselves and meet some of their physical needs. There was also the broken relationship between protestants and the community which was preventing them from hearing the good news of Jesus Christ in a clear way. As agents of restoration we wanted to restore that relationship and build credibility for Campus Crusade among the community. To that end we raised money in Europe to give to this community in two ways. First we provided for the education of 110 children from the neighborhood (including Samuel) for 4 years. Second, we did re-construction work on many of the “homes” in the slum that were in desperate need of repairs.
Needless to say, the relationship between Campus Crusade and the community was radically changed over those few days. As children swarmed around us and took us to meet their families the question on everyone's lips in broken English was - Why did you come here? Why are you doing this? What an opportunity to share the Gospel!
So what is this Great River that is sweeping me away? Maybe it’s God’s heart for the nations, His desire to redeem and restore broken people. His call to us to join Him and become His agents of restoration in a fallen and hurting world. His Spirit being poured out through us flooding through the streets of places like Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Rome, Italy; Indianapolis, Indiana; wherever we are and gathering together to advance His kingdom around the world. I haven't really figured it out yet, but I can’t stop praising the Lord that I get to be a part of this, and thanking Him for all of you who make it possible for me to ride in this Great River!
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