our brothers and sisters in service

Churches:
The people at this conference represent churches that are very different in many, many ways. One church consists of one congregation on an island (Mayotte) which is 97% Muslim. Our host church in Zambia counts 3 million members and the church in Madagascar has 5 million. Some are located in heavily Christianized countries, others in countries where the Christian presence is insignificant. Some profit from stable political regimes, others are in a continual state of tension with civil wars and coups d’états. For some, the biggest challenge is HIV-AIDS; for others it is ministry in a Muslim-majority culture. They are here to get to know each other’s situations better and to define areas in which they can share resources, experiences, and help each other. The following are some quick looks at these churches and how they live out their faith.

Lesotho –
Lesotho is a small, mountainous country completely surrounded by South Africa. Somewhat tongue-in-cheek, they call themselves “the heart of S. Africa”. Their large neighbor does, in fact, depend on them because all the water in South Africa has its source in the mountains of Lesotho.
Lesotho has been called “the Switzerland of Africa”. It has breathtaking mountain perspectives. Because of its localization, it is neither too hot in the summer nor too cold in the winter. It doesn’t have to worry about earthquakes, hurricanes, tornados, floods, or droughts (the people from Lesotho see weather as one of the “violence factors” in the USA!). Anyone up for a ski trip to the mountains of Lesotho?
In the 1800’s the king of Lesotho was tired of conflict. He so wanted to find a bloodless way to bring peace to his country. Hunters from his country met hunters from a country further north and brought one of them back home with them. When the king spoke of his desire for peace, this hunter said there were people who could bring peace to a country without bloodshed. They were the missionaries that were first coming to Africa. The king learned that missionaries from France had landed in South Africa with the intention of settling in Rhodesia (now Zambia). The king gathered 200 cows to take to the missionaries to try to convince them to come to his kingdom instead. The cows were all stolen on the way, but the messengers continued until they found the Frenchmen and succeeded in convincing them to accept the king’s invitation. This was the introduction of Christianity in Lesotho. One of the missionaries, Eugene Casalis, served as the king’s personal counselor. He also produced the written form of their language. When European countries began dividing up Africa, Mr. Casalis counseled the king to make a treaty with the British, who were Protestants, rather than the French who were Catholics and less accommodating to Protestant missions and churches. This explains why the church in Lesotho is still part of a French reformed mission organization even though it is in an English-speaking country.
The church in Lesotho faces some huge challenges. HIV-AIDS has devastated the population. This means that an isolated and fragmented population is further weakened, and there is great poverty. Working along with the government and international non-governmental organizations, the church has long-term projects in AIDS prevention and care. This is part of pastoral ministry. The church runs dozens of schools throughout the country and has three hospitals. It is also involved in reforestation and farming projects in order to protect fragile resources and help people produce their own food. They have their own radio station and are now working on getting national coverage. It will then be more effective in evangelization as well as in disseminating HIV-AIDS prevention information. The church is present in all aspects of society.

Mozambique –
This Portuguese –speaking country is one of the largest in Africa (around 1200 mi wide), located on its eastern shore. After its independence from Portugal in 1975, the country had a Marxist government that made life for the church extremely difficult. Most church property, its schools, its hospitals, etc. were taken over by the government. That situation started to change in the 1990’s. Now the government is looking to Christian organizations for help and has actually invited missionaries into the country. However, the church is very weak and is struggling to rebuild. This does not prevent it from trying to meet the needs of the people. In contrast to Lesotho, Mozambique suffers from multiple kinds of natural disasters: recurring cyclones, floods, and droughts – which keep the people in a constant state of poverty. Now HIV-AIDS is added to the mix. One of the church’s projects is to have “family training” for the generation of young adults that were born after 1975 and had no Christian or family-living training. These adults are now in their 30’s and taking on responsibilities in society. This is an important need that has been identified by the church. Because of the devastating effects of recurring natural disasters, they are also very concerned about climate change (which increases the intensity of storms) and how they can help the people prepare for these situations.

Madagascar –
Madagascar is a very poor country, but the church there is very large and influential. This influence has recently created difficulties for it. The elected president of the country was accused of mismanagement and disposed in a contested popular coup last year. The ousted president was an important member of the protestant church, actually serving as its vice-president. The man who installed himself as president after the coup is a Catholic. The situation remains unstable. It was used politically to discredit the protestant church and the church is now working along with other Christian groups on the island to try to have a unified, politically neutral voice in the conflict, demanding that justice be carried out. In the meantime there is unrest and an increase in criminality that is perturbing the church’s ministries. They need much humility and wisdom in knowing how to use their size and influence to advance the Kingdom of God and not just the interests of one political position.

Reunion Island –
This island is a little piece of France in the Indian Ocean. It is a French “department” and functions just as any other part of France. It has the French educational system, laws, medical system, etc. – because it is part of France. The island was originally settled by Europeans who brought in slaves from Africa and Madagascar. After the abolition of slavery, workers also came from India and China. All of these populations are still present in Reunion. On this island which has a strong Catholic majority, the protestant church was “imported” from the Reformed Church of France and still functions as such, even though the largest percentage of the members are from Madagascar. An independent Malagasy church has actually split off from the French church, and a pastor from Madagascar is serving the French church which, until just recently, was a mission extension church. The church has two parishes, one in the capital in the north of the island, and the other in the south.

Mauritius –
This tiny island had a history paralleling that of Reunion until the British won control of Mauritius in a conflict with the French. Mauritius has a natural port which the English wanted to use as a stopping point on their way to India. Because of immigration from India, the population is now 57% Hindu. The Creole population is mostly Roman Catholic. Even though the Presbyterian Church of Mauritius is recognized, along with the Catholics and Anglicans, as one of the island’s historic churches, it is a very small group with only 5 parishes and 5 pastors, some of which are part-time. Its size does not keep it from carrying out some ambitious ministry and training programs. For instance, the church organizes a weekly worship service in the capital for homeless street people and prostitutes. They have a regular attendance of around 150. They also run a pre-school and have a prison ministry. They are in the process of training laypeople in ministry so they can open several new parishes in the next couple of years.

Zambia –
Our host church, the United Church of Zambia, is the daughter of 4 missionary efforts. In the 1800’s four different missionary societies began work in 4 distinct tribal areas: the Scottish Presbyterian Church, the British Methodist church, the London Missionary Society, and the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society whose outreach was an extension of the church it had already founded in Lesotho. Zambia became an independent country in 1964. A few months later, early in 1965, the four missionary churches joined together to form a church that would cover the entire new country. This was the origin of the United Church of Zambia. Today there are around 2300 UCZ congregations regrouping nearly a quarter of the national population. Since there are only 340 ordained pastors for this huge church population, the local functioning depends on a cadre of trained elders. Sixty percent of the population is rural and lives in abject poverty. The church continues to expand through evangelization, but as the church grows, the demands for its ministry and care also grow. It employs around 200 professionals to carry out its programs of mission and evangelism, community development and social services, education (it runs 14 schools), health (it runs 2 hospitals and 2 clinics), and communication. It is always expanding its institutional capacities but, as you can imagine, its financial situation is always precarious. Its biggest problems stem from the overwhelming poverty of the people, most of whom lack basic services. The church is organizing sanitation and water projects in several areas. Human trafficking, malaria prevention, and HIV-AIDS are other challenges they are presently facing. The UCZ is an essential part of the social network of the country. It is both highly committed and highly involved. Because of its wide representation in the population, the government often turns to the church for help in carrying out important projects for bettering the peoples’ lives. I was very impressed by the carefulness and quality of the church’s organization of this seminar.

I learned of 2 rather small needs in the UCZ that some of you may feel called to help with. The UCZ church in Kabwe that we attended on Sunday has a large and active women’s group that carries out various social projects. Since the majority of their women are poor and have no means of transportation except walking, the women’s group has a project for purchasing a minibus to use as transportation. Let me know if you would like to contribute.

The Zambian girl that was in charge of logistics for our seminar is a member of a choir. She asked if I knew of any choir in the US that had choir robes they weren’t using any more. Her choir would be glad to have them. Of course, the cost of sending them would have to be taken into consideration.