Mission Issues

I’ve been following discussions on Evangelicals for a long time. I am fully aware that this is probably a much greater issue in the United States than where I come from. Our church (Swaziland Reformed Church) belongs to an ecumenical body within Swaziland known as the Swaziland Conference of Churches and this body’s aim is to incorporate all Evangelical churches into one organisation. There are also two other ecumenical bodies in Swaziland, the one consisting of churches of a more Orthodox nature (such as the Roman Catholic Church) and the other of traditional African religion groups, such as the Zion Christian Church. I’m perfectly comfortable to be associated with the Evangelical churches in Swaziland.
I have a feeling, however, that there is much more emotion in the United States about this term. I’ll really appreciate it if people from the USA could respond and share how they understand this term - both negatively and positively. The impression which I get through lots of reading is that “Evangelical” not only refers to one’s viewpoint on salvation through Christ alone (which I totally agree with) but that it immediately also refers to one’s viewpoint on a number of moral issues (many of which I would also agree with) as well as political viewpoints. The impression that I have, however, is that Evangelicals may not be as concerned with certain other issues. Evangelicals have strong debates about homosexuality, abortion, public prayer, home schooling, and many other issues, but do they feel equally strong about ecological issues and about the exploitation of poor people within the labour market? I’m not sure - that’s why I’m asking the question.
In one of the blogs I read regularly, The Blind Beggar, Rick Meigs referred to someone who had said some very harsh things about Evangelicals. You can read his post here. One of the reasons given for this attitude towards Evangelicals is: “The primary reason outsiders feel hostile toward Christians, and especially conservative Christians, is not because of any specific theological perspective. What they react negatively to is our ‘swagger,’ how we go about things and the sense of self-importance we project.”
True or not: this should be a strong warning that many people who are viewing Evangelicals from the outside, do not view them positively. I’m not saying that all people are correct, regardless of what they believe. There’s a number of things I believe in and what I stand for that I consider to be non-negotiable. And if we believe in Jesus Christ, then it would be important that our lives should reflect the image of the One we believe in and Whom we follow. And that image can never be one of ‘swagger’ and self-important.

I’ve actually been thinking about this topic for some time and was intending to post something about it today. And then my son touched on this topic on his own blog today in, what I consider to be an excellent post. You can read his post here.
I’m almost through with a book which I started reading some time ago. The title of the book is Escape and is the true story of a woman who was able to escape from a cult known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), a group which had been formed from people who had been excommunicated from the Mormon church and which proceeded to propagate polygamy after the Mormon church stopped this. It’s a tough book to read due to the extremely distressing things which is described, where women and children exist merely to obey their husbands and fathers, where children are often allowed to die merely because the father does not consider it necessary for a child to be hospitalised or where sickness or other misfortune is more often than not considered to be punishment from God because the wife or the child had not been obedient to the father.
What I started thinking as I was reading this book, is what sets the normal Christian faith apart from a cult. In this cult, the beliefs of the parents were taught to the children and they taught their children, and so on. And in a certain sense this is what we also try to do as Christian parents and as church. Well, I’ve read articles written by people who blame “normal” Christian parents of indoctrinating their children and who want to get laws in place forbidding parents or the church from teaching even their own children about Christ.
Obviously I don’t agree with this viewpoint, but it did raise certain questions, such as: How far may I go in forcing my children to believe what I believe? What is permissible as parent and as church to teach children about the doctrines we believe in? In my own mind I’m pretty clear about this, although it may not be so easy to define. But the question remains: Why do I consider groups like the FLDS as a cult when they teach their children their beliefs and when I teach my children about my beliefs I believe I’m doing what God wants me to do. Fact is, I believe I’m obedient to God and they believe the same thing.
The answer that I eventually found to be the most satisfactory, is that the main difference lies in the fact that cults keep people in line through their fear of punishment by God should they be disobedient, while we as parents and as church use the message of love to pull our children and others to God. I once heard (I’m not sure if this is scientifically proven) that fear can at most change people’s lifestyles for a period of six weeks. This makes sense, because, while reading this book, it was clear that the preaching in the church and the way in which the husbands reacted to any form of disobedience from their multiple wives or children was aimed at continuously strengthening the fear of eternal punishment by God.
In missions we all know the importance of reaching the children with the gospel of Jesus Christ at a young age, enabling them to grow up with this knowledge of His love (and to be honest, one of the reasons we need to do this, is to reach them before they’ve been indoctrinated with other beliefs, such as ancestral worship.) But this gospel must always have as its central message the love of God, compelling people to follow Him (2 Corinthians 5:14) rather than the fear of eternal punishment.
And I must say that there had been times when I heard people preaching in the mission field almost exclusively about the punishment of God. And on the long run, I don’t think that this is very effective.

Richard Rooney recently reported on the effects that malnutrition are having on children in Swaziland. According to his information, four children out of ten in Swaziland are so malnourished that their growth has been permanently stunted. It’s not only with children that we see the effects of malnourishment. Many of the people we work with in our home-based caring program have been convinced to go for HIV testing and if found to be positive, they then went for blood tests to determine their CD4 count and if found to be less than 200 cells per cubic millimetre, they then become eligible for anti-retroviral therapy (ARV). The problem is, without healthy food, the ARV therapy may add on a few years to a person’s life (which is certainly better than nothing), but combining healthy eating habits with ARVs could often add on ten years or more to a person’s life.
Richard writes that in the past year about 600,000 out of Swaziland’s total population of less than one million people have received donor food aid. But apparently this assistance is now being reduced. Obviously the food given to these people were really very basic. But even so, at least it was something. But what is going to happen if this food is further reduced?
Although all our care-givers working in the home-based caring project are working voluntarily, since February this year we have been able to give each of these care-givers a food parcel once every two months. We don’t know for how long we will be able to do this, but we undertook to continue doing this until the money runs out - which should have happened in April! But we seem to be experiencing something of the widow’s jug - a miracle for which we are extremely thankful! In any case, the reason for giving them the food is two-fold: On the one hand we feel that this is a small sign of appreciation for what they do. But on the other hand we know that healthy food will increase their capability of caring for others. Keep in mind that many of our care-givers themselves are HIV-positive. Included in the food packet is a bag of rice. But we have been warned that the price of rice will probably double in the near future! We also feed a group of orphans daily at our church. I trust that we will be able to continue with this, regardless of the price of food. But what about the thousands upon thousands of orphans who do not have access to feeding schemes?
What happens in a country where 67% of the population earn less than 45 US cents per day (not even enough to buy half a loaf of bread), if the price of basic foodstuffs start doubling?
I don’t yet know what is going to happen. I do know that we as family complain about the price of groceries, and I really don’t think that we follow a lavish lifestyle. But if you hardly have any money to buy food and the prices increase by 100%? Then you’re in deep trouble. And I can foresee that Swaziland (as many other African countries) is going to be in a real food crisis very soon.

This is a question which all missionaries working in poor countries will have to answer. And the answer is not as simple as we sometimes try to make it.
I was recently reminded about this issue while watching a DVD of an international missionary organisation working in Swaziland. We all realise that DVDs or pamphlets or whatever other medium is used, are made in order to convince people to donate money towards the cause. The DVD starts with a shot of a number of school children, singing and dancing with Bibles in their hands. The caption reads: “Swazi kids excited about their new English and SiSwati Bibles.” These Bibles had been handed out to them with the help of donations received from overseas. Who’s heart won’t soften when seeing children in darkest Africa dancing with joy because of receiving a Bible?
Many people however feel that it is wrong to hand out Bibles free of charge. The logic behind this conviction is that something is only appreciated if it is paid for.
And now the question: Who is correct? Should Bibles be sold or handed out? And the answer, as I said earlier, is not as simple as saying ‘yes’ or ‘no’. When I arrived in Swaziland in 1985 we used to receive boxes full of tracts, some in English, others in siZulu (closely related to siSwati) and when visiting schools I handed out these tracts by the thousand. But there came a time when I became convinced that I’m not doing the right thing. I did realise that the children were merely grabbing the tracts, not because they were really interested in reading them (although I believe that many did read them), but because it was something given to them free of charge. After making this decision I planned the distribution of literature in a much more disciplined way. The fact is that I became convinced that I could distribute Jehovah’s Witness literature or even Muslim literature free of charge and that the children would still grab as much as possible.
So what is my solution? In the good old days I was able to get 30% discount from the Bible Society if we bought Bible directly from them. Bibles were fairly cheap (around $2) and after the 30% discount they were still affordable for most people. We literally sold thousands of Bibles. But at the same time we were open to hand out Bibles to people who we felt would put the Bible to good use and who could not afford to pay for it. I’ve received many things free of charge which I deeply appreciate and I sincerely believe that many people receiving a Bible free of charge would also appreciate it. Which means that we used both systems of giving and selling Bibles, but always selling it without profit.
Things have changed. The Bible Society refuse to give churches discount. Discount is now only given to stores and prices have gone through the roof. The cheapest siSwati Bible available in stores would probably be around $12 - this in a country where 70% of the population live on less than 45 US cent per day! Money received for Bible distribution is now used to buy Bibles at shelf price, but then we sell them at about a quarter of the price at which we buy them. And then we still have an understanding that Bibles may be handed out free of charge or sold at an even lower price if the recipient can really not afford to buy it.
We don’t have much singing and dancing with Bibles in the hand using this system. But I’ve seen many people sitting with their Bibles, reading it and when I look at the congregation on a Sunday as they follow the Scripture reading in their own Bibles, I see Bibles with pen marks, showing signs that they have been used. For me this means more than the singing and dancing.

Yesterday was pretty hectic. A team from Luke Commission came to visit a school virtually across the road from our church at Dwaleni. We had invited them to come as part of our service to the community, taking care of the sick at their homes.
But I have to be honest that there were times yesterday when I had more questions than answers. After 24 years in Swaziland, I haven’t seen any real improvement in the health system of the country. This was a mobile clinic which we were part of and more than 800 people were attended to. Children were inspected for scabies and other diseases often found in children. Adults’ blood pressure was taken and recorded and those over fifty were also tested for diabetes, a disease which is becoming very common in Africa. All adults were also invited to be tested for HIV. The majority of those who were tested, tested negative. Although this sounds like extremely good news, the reason is most probably that those who are living promiscuously did not consent to be tested. Some of our home-based caregivers then counselled both those who tested negative as well as those who tested positive. Those who tested positive also had blood drawn in order to determine their CD4 count, which will indicate whether they are eligible to receive anti-retroviral medicine from the government. Many of those who had come also had their eyes tested and from tens of thousands pairs of glasses donated, and with the help of a really nifty machine and a huge database, all of those who needed glasses could be helped. On a lighter note, some of those who received glasses looked really strange as many of the frames had been worn in the USA as part of a fashion outfit. But in the end, to be able to see, is what really counts.
Two patients really touched me. One was a young woman with severe chest pains. In fact, she was crying most of the time because of the pain. The doctor told me that she was HIV-positive and they suspected that it might be TB which is causing the pain (one of the main diseases often associated with AIDS.) The sad news was that she had been to the health centre in Nhlangano, one of the main towns in Swaziland and they had given her pain killers and sent her back home. Then she went to Hlatikhulu, where one of Swaziland’s main hospitals are situated and they did the same. And then she came to us, in the hope that we could help her. But the doctor could do nothing for her without first seeing an X-ray. I eventually spoke to the girl’s father and told him to take his daughter to the clinic and insist that they do an X-ray to try and determine what is causing the pain. And then he told me that he could not take her, because he had no bus fare! Eventually I gave them bus fare and hope that they would have gone to the hospital today.
And then a schoolboy turned up. He was probably about thirteen or fourteen. During a football game he had broken his leg above the knee, about four weeks ago. He had gone for surgery and a metal rod was inserted to help with the healing of the bone. He came to us yesterday and his mother told us that almost since the operation he has been suffering from extreme pain. They had gone back to the clinic, but it does not seem as if much was done. The doctor then removed the bandage and we found that the metal rod was sticking at least three inches out of his leg! His body was busy rejecting the rod. His knee was swollen to at least twice its normal size and from the smell it was clear that there was extreme infection in the bone. I cannot even start to imagine the pain the poor boy had to go through.
Fortunately, the doctor could arrange for him to be admitted to a hospital where he is now on intravenous antibiotics. Whether it will be possible to save the leg remains to be seen.
I don’t have an answer to Swaziland (and the same can be said about most African countries’) health situation. I’m just wondering how many lives can be saved if the health system could improve.

I’ve been extremely busy the last few days and did not have much chance to get behind a computer. But I want to have another look at Ephesians 4:3.
In my previous post I mentioned that Paul was asking the readers to live a life which was totally strange for the people of those times (and possibly equally strange for us today): “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” And this new life-style which Paul is urging the Christians to lead will then create the climate through which there can be a feeling of real unity between the Christians.
The remarkable thing about this unity is that it cannot be created by human beings. This is a unity which comes from the Holy Spirit and our task is to maintain this unity. This, however, can only be done if we have the new life-style of which we read in 4:2.
My impression about the topic of unity is that many people are sceptic that it can work. In the process of preparing for the article I have to write, I came to the conclusion that we are afraid of allowing unity in the church, mainly because we know that most Christians still lack the characteristics described by Paul in 4:2. In South Africa, for the past 34 years, Christians in one of the main churches have been speaking about working towards unity in churches still segregated along racial lines. And the fear that I hear in the voices of those opposing it, is that they will be forced to give up certain things which are important to them - and obviously the fear will be even stronger amongst the minority groups. The same is going to happen when the Reformed Ecumenical Council (REC) and the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) will combine to form one new body, which I wrote about previously. The REC has 39 member churches in 25 countries. The WARC has 200 member churches in about 100 countries. It is clear to me that the members of the REC would be wondering whether they are going to lose out on the deal when the two organisations combine.
And then things started making sense to me. If we have the attitude that Paul writes about (humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with each other in love) then it should not be a problem. Then the stronger group should have enough understanding for the fear of the smaller group and accommodate them to the best of their ability so that their fear could be minimised.
As human beings we tend to show our power if we are stronger than our counterpart. It happens in marriages. It happens in politics. It happens in the church. But because we are Christians and because we are controlled by the Holy Spirit, God expects another attitude from us - the same attitude which was found in Christ (Philippians 2:5-8).

Coming back to Ephesians 4:3, one has to understand something about the demographic structure of most congregations in the times when Paul was still alive. Most congregations consisted of two distinct groups of people, those who had come to Christ from Judaism and those who had come to Christ from heathenism. And it is clear that there was a lot of friction between these groups. Those Christians from a Jewish background had grown up with the conviction that Jews and heathens were not allowed to mix. Peter’s reaction in Acts 10 is a vivid example of this. These two groups of Christians were constantly in competition with each other which led to a lot of jealousy between the groups. Ephesians 2:11 gives a hint of this jealousy: “Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. You were called “uncircumcised heathens” by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts.”
Keeping this in mind, it comes as no surprise that Paul urges his readers to live a life which is totally different from that which they are used to. He starts chapter 4 (the second part of Ephesians which gives more practical guidelines for the Christian) with these words: “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” Humble, gentle, patient, love… Not really words that one would associate with the normal person of those days and even less so when these attitudes had to be demonstrated between Jews and heathens.
What seems to be clear at this point is that Paul is asking these Christians to do something which would not normally be found amongst non-Christians. In fact, I believe that what Paul is asking for is virtually impossible. Just coming back to my own background where I grew up with the extreme racial tension in South Africa, I can see how difficult it is, even for Christians, from different races to accept each other unconditionally.
But this is what Paul is asking the Christians to do. And Ephesians 4:3 reveals the secret which enables us to do this.

I’ve been invited to submit an article for World Alliance of Reformed Churches’ theological journal, Reformed World. In 2010 two ecumenical bodies, the Reformed Ecumenical Council and the World Alliance of Reformed Churches will combine to form one new body which will probably be known as the World Communion of Reformed Churches. Preparing for this occasion, the coming issue of Reformed World will be devoted to the topic of unity and in view of this, I’ve been asked to write an article on the topic of church and unity, using Ephesians 4:3 as background: “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”
I’m just starting to put my thoughts on paper about the topic and decided to use this blog as public forum to discuss these thoughts. So please respond to this post as you see fit, sharing your ideas about this verse and about the topic.
I remember some years ago that someone wrote a letter in a church magazine in which he attributed the reluctance of Christians churches to unite to the certainties and arrogance found in most churches. It is these same certainties and arrogance, according to this author, which drove people to war and it is the very same attitude keeping Christians apart today.
The irony in these words - and I think the author is correct in what he said - is that the most outstanding characteristic of the post-modern world is supposed to be that we cannot be sure of anything anymore. And yet, at the very point where we need to admit that our knowledge is imperfect, we find that Christians become almost inapproachable because of their certainties and arrogance.
I’ll be the first to admit that I struggle with this myself. The Reformed theology has strong viewpoints on many issues. I usually find myself fairly comfortable within this theology. But I’ve been in many situations where this theology had been attacked and where my first reaction is to defend what I believe in. I’ve changed a lot over the past decade or so, being much more willing to accept criticism and to be more willing to accept people regardless of whether they agree with me or not. In fact, some of my closest friends are on fairly opposite grounds with me regarding our theology. And while I do not necessarily agree with everything they do, I have accepted them with their differences (and they have accepted me) and we just have a great time together as Christians.
In a next post I would like to come back to Ephesians 4:3. But in the meantime I would appreciate your thoughts on the topic.

Those who have been reading my blog regularly will know that I grew up in Apartheid South Africa. As was the case with most Afrikaans-speaking people of my parents’ age, they also supported the policy of Apartheid, not because they were intentionally racist, but because they believed, as so many others, that Apartheid was the only workable solution in a multi-racist country like South Africa. Although I never considered myself to be racist, it was only while busy with my PhD that I really looked at the system in a critical way and realised how absolutely bad and sinful this policy was. My PhD promoter and I spent hours in discussing these issues. He was a supporter of the African National Congress (ANC) while the party was still banned and Nelson Mandela was still in prison.
One of the issues we often discussed was the role of the church in an unjust society. Was the church allowed to support an armed struggle? (We differed on that issue.) Was the church supposed to speak prophetically against injustice? (We agreed on this.)
One of the people he often referred to was Dietrich Bonhoeffer who was imprisoned during the Second World War and accused of being part of a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler. And the question was raised: If a person or system is so corrupt that millions are suffering or dying because of one person or one system, does the church have the right to keep quiet? Many clergy, including such prominent people as Bishop Desmond Tutu and Dr Beyers Naudé put their lives and their occupations on the line because they believed that they could not refrain from doing something to change the situation in South Africa.
Yesterday I received an email from a friend in Florida, FL, in which he asked, on the grounds of the atrocities taking place in Zimbabwe at the moment - of which you can read more on http://www.sokwanele.com - “It’s such a shame. Why can’t anyone just take Mugabe out? I guess they said the same about Hitler.” This morning I received a message on my mobile phone from a Christian: “Robert Mugabe has challenged God by saying that only God can take him out of office. Please pray that God will do this.”
There is, of course, another side to the argument. In my research on the book of Revelation, it is accepted by most New Testament scholars that John, the author of the book, wrote the book in the time when Domitianus was the emperor of Rome. He not only challenged God. He openly declared that he is God! Although Revelation is full of promises that the Roman government will eventually come to a fall, the church is nowhere called to bring about this fall.
The specific task of the church within an unjust society is still not quite clear to me. Perhaps someone would like to add to this discussion. What is the task of the church when confronted with injustice, such as that experienced by the people in Zimbabwe? What can we do to bring about change?

Do a Google search on “Threat of world Aids pandemic among heterosexuals is over, report admits”, and you’ll be surprised to see how many articles refer to a report, written by the World Health Organisation (WHO), in which it is said that, apart from Africa, “there will be no generalised epidemic of Aids in the heterosexual population.” More details can be found here.
My son was speaking to some kind of medical professor from the USA some time ago and she told him, after he had told her what we are doing in Swaziland, that, as far as she is concerned, AIDS is under control in the USA. With the progress made in research and the development of ARVs, I can believe that this may be the truth. AIDS, I always say, is treatable but not curable. With the right medicine and more or less ideal circumstances, most HIV+ people would be able to live long and productive lives.
The fact is that Africa does not provide the ideal circumstances within which to fight a disease such as AIDS. ARVs are expensive. The cheapest tablets that I could find in a pharmacy in Swaziland costs around $50 per month. Where 70% of the population receive less than 45 US cents per day, it is clear that for the most people it is not an option to buy ARVs. Government hospitals supply ARVs, but the choice is limited. The privilege of adapting the treatment with different drugs to find the correct combination for a specific person, does not exist for the majority of the population.
Another problem is that ARV treatment is usually started too late. Last week one of our care supporters told me of someone who’s CD4 count had been determined. It was under 20. Treatment with ARVs in Swaziland should be started when the CD4 count falls below 200. But even that is too late. I spoke to a medical doctor some time ago who specialises in treating people with HIV and he told me that tuberculosis (TB) starts when the CD4 count falls below 350. According to him, if ARVs could be administered when the CD4 count is still above 350, the chances that a patient could live a fairly long life could be hugely increased, as many people who are HIV+ actually die because of TB. But where would Swaziland find the money for these drugs?
Furthermore, ARVs without healthy eating habits also does not give the required results. And this is another problem we have to cope with. Fruit and vegetables are expensive. We have seen, time and again, how people start using ARVs, but because they don’t eat balanced meals they seem to become stronger for a while and then their condition suddenly starts deteriorating and they die.
I can understand why the WHO says that the AIDS pandemic is over in many countries outside Africa. Although, I think in countries like India and Russia we are just starting to see the tip of the iceberg. But if the pandemic could be brought under control in the USA and Europe, then it means that we have to do even more to bring it under control in the rest of the world which is still severely affected by this disease.