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| Our family has "gone native" in Chicago |
Dear
Family and Friends,
Thank you for your
prayers, support, and encouragement as our family returned to the United States
for a season. We look forward to this
holiday season to be with family.
Jana’s dad, Gaston Tarbet is recovering well from triple bypass surgery in
November. We are thankful that God
brought us to America to be with family during this time.
A little over a year ago
we sensed deep within our spirits it was time to relinquish our sense of home
in Africa, and for a season start anew in the United States. We believe missionaries are specifically
called by God to make disciples and develop churches. We also believe the missionary calling is
one of initiation. It requires us to
go to new places and new people who are in a crisis which can only be properly
addressed by faith in Jesus. We
thank God that our time in Africa gave us a great wealth of experience and
friendships. We believe these
gifts are to be stewarded with a great sense of awe. Thus it is our conviction that God is asking
for our family to continue to be missionaries to the Diaspora of Africa’s Great
Lakes in North America.
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| Wisemen visting Baby Jesus in Bethlehem |
As we enter this Christmas
season many memories come to mind. However,
one in particular is the beginning of our sense of call to return to America. In 2009 both Jana and Dave were
recovering from surgery. Over
Christmas we were with Dave’s family in Minnesota. While there we reconnected with old friends
from Uganda, Godfrey Lutalo and Tabitha Mugabi. We
knew them as university students in the early 1990’s. They had immigrated to the United States,
and we had lost contact. Several
times we had tried to look them up, but never were able to find them. Then the wonder of Facebook permitted us to
reconnect. We had dinner. In the process God opened our eyes. Lutalo and Mugabi had done well. They had married. She had completed a master’s degree and was
an executive for an insurance company.
He owned a small business. They
owned a home. They had three delightful
children. They had helped their extended
family immigrate. Lutalo’s brother
joined the USA military and had served in Afghanistan. They were ideal immigrants. They were deeply spiritual people. Yet for their family adapting to American
church life and socialization was a struggle.
We left our dinner with a sense of God whispering in our ear, “Your
people are in the USA. They need the
skills, network, experience, and gifting I gave you in Uganda and Rwanda.”
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| Rose Apolinary, Marguerite Nyagahura, and Jana at Christ's Church Rwanda |
Our people, the Diaspora
cluster in major cities of North America and Europe. Some came as refugees. Yet, as stability came to their home nation
some chose to stay dispersed. Some
came as students. Some came seeking
employment. Many are skilled
professionals. You find them in places
such as banks, small businesses, insurance, real estate, information
technology, and universities. They
are the largest source of foreign income for their home nations. They invest back in their home nation to build
homes, businesses, and schools. Some
explain their unique place in history as “transnational.” With easier means of travel than a few
generations ago plus the internet and mobile phones transnational Diaspora
remain deeply connected with their home nation. They present an extremely unique missions
opportunity. They are one of the
primary informal thought leaders of their home nations.
An example of Diaspora we
have been fortunate to know is Marguerite Nyagahura. Her childhood was spent in Uganda as a
refugee. She immigrated to Sweden,
furthered education, and developed professional skill. Jana met Marguerite in a small business in
which she was a partial owner. Marguerite
was one of the first to attend Christ’s Church in Rwanda (CCR) as we launched
on March 4, 2007. She began operating
a Day Care in the CCR property, and was a key advisor in our community. Recently, she was appointed one of Rwanda’s
newest Senators. In this role she
has the opportunity to shepherd national policy and infrastructure to bless
future generations. Thus both
theory and experience show that an investment into missionary work among the
Diaspora of Africa’s Great Lakes produces enduring fruit.
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| Jesus calls first disciples |
Currently, we are in the early stages of beginning a
ministry we call Great Lake’s Fellowship (GLF) in Chicago. We find ourselves much like Paul in
Acts 18 as he entered Corinth with a drop in support and without
colleagues. Yet he was clearly in a city
filled with many people God was calling .
We are making as many friends as possible. We are praying. We are looking for strategic needs,
clusters, and locations. We are in
the process of gathering a core leadership team.
Our plan after the gathering of a leadership team will
be to begin a monthly fellowship in Chicago. It
is our hope this fellowship will strengthen the relationship between local
churches and the Diaspora in Chicago.
We plan to rotate in different church locations in Chicago so that GLF
is accessible to all scattered throughout the Chicago area. During the fellowship we will have
vernacular worship to maintain continuity with home nations, a good speaker,
communion, and a common meal. It is
our hope that Great Lakes Fellowship will lead to several results which we
believe are key for disciple making in Africa’s Great Lakes. First, we hope it will promote unity that
crosses national, ethnic, and denominational lines. Second, we hope it will facilitate more
Christian investment in thought systems and the institutions of church, school,
and business in East Africa. Lastly, we
hope it will shepherd well the second and third generation Diaspora
children. Most are like our own children who are Third
Culture Kids (TC’s.) They live and
function in several different countries.
With this cross-cultural socialization comes a certain measure of
disorientation. Yet as TCK’s mature
they have remarkable ability to bridge cultures, and with this bridge building
capacity tremendous influence for the cause of Christ.
Some have also pointed out
that GLF has great potential not only for effective mission work, but to
promote high levels of local church involvement. For instance, GLF has the potential to
nurture local church understanding and involvement in the rapidly evolving
opportunities for transnational ministry.
Africans bring a sense of worship
and hospitality to local churches that stir new found vitality. As
with all of these new endeavors we know our foresight is limited. Yet we trust that God in His providence will
give us many new insights and open new doors of service.
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| Our family in Wheaton, Chicago, USA |
Over
$3,000 in total was given in response to our October newsletter and prayer
card. Thank you. We still could use some help in the expenses
of transitioning to America. Also,
as we have transitioned to the United States a few of our supporters have
informed us that they will not be continuing their support into 2013. We anticipate this will involve the loss of
approximately $3,000 per month. We
request that you make a financial gift to our ministry this Christmas season,
by sending a check to ROC Partners (with Jenkins in the memo) to:
3007 NW 63rd
Suite 205,
Oklahoma City, OK 73116-3605
Thank you for remembering
us this season. If we can visit you or
others please feel free to contact us.
Because He Lives,
Dave and Jana
1. God gave our family the privilege of 19
years of church planting as adults in East Africa. The Lord grew that gift to include a deep
well of relationships and experiences.
