THE JOY OF THE MISSIONARY CALL

Senator and friend, Marguerite Nyagahura with our foster son, Gabe

There were many privileges the Lord gave us during our season in East Africa.  One of the greatest ones was joy in our friendships with the African people with whom we served.   We had a few furloughs where we returned to the United States wounded by religious charlatans.   We know missionaries whose return to the United States came during a season of wounding that created Afro pessimism and spiritual bitterness.   Yet, in our departure from Africa’s Great Lakes we had an immense sense of fulfillment.   The institutions we labored to build were stronger than our charisma.   They endure.   Also, our friendships blossomed.   Those we shepherded blessed us.   We are immensely grateful.

            Our missionary calling is a unique spiritual gift.  We believe to be a missionary is to be one sent from one’s earthly home by the Holy Spirit for the purpose of making disciples and developing churches.   That call means over time we become a cultural insider who is never completely at home.   Thus we’re prophetic in holding leaders accountable while pastoral in building institutions that bless coming generations until the Lord returns.   This calling is from the Holy Spirit.   It is never about economic power, race, or national origin.  Only a few will hear a missionary call.   Yet, the call is never restricted to those from certain earthly privileges.

            We believe all cultures need missionaries in their midst.  We observed that over time the missionary vocation became a great source of social strength in East Africa.   Our heritage not only developed churches.  We built schools and scholarship programs.   We counseled diverse national leaders.  We helped the poorest of the poor and most vulnerable.

            Our family believes our new call is to serve the Diaspora from Africa’s Great Lakes who are in North America.  We believe we are doing what missionaries always do.   The Lord is leading us to new niches that most do not see.   A typical weekend for us involves going to social functions of Diaspora in Chicago.  Sometimes we know someone at the function.   Yet, sometimes it is simple beginning introductions.

            We usually say these words, “We are very thankful for the 19 years the Lord gave us as adults in East Africa.   He put a missionary gift in our heart.   We believe we are still to be missionaries even when we return to the USA.”

     

Paulin Byusa, Ame Ishimwe, Joseph Masengeshu, Joris Manzi at Commemoration

       Then spiritual magic happens.   We are met with smiles.   We are met with stories.

            “I went to a missionary school.”

            “A missionary sponsored me and found a scholarship for me to study abroad.”

            “A missionary baptized me.”

            “A missionary performed my wedding.”

            “A missionary prayed for me (or my child, nephew, niece, grandchild, etc…) when I was sick and I was healed.”

            “A missionary counseled a difficult situation in our community and brought unity.”

            “A missionary kept my mom safe during a season of turmoil and strife.”

            We are immensely thankful for such a heritage.   Yet this heritage is not one to hoard.   It calls us to see new community needs, and initiate.   In the process we make many mistakes.   Yet, God’s grace goes far beyond our failings.   Thus the Lord is glorified.

      

      In April as Rwanda faced the month of mourning the tragedy of the 1994 Genocide we sensed it was time to pastorally initiate a commemoration.  As it closed a few Diaspora told us thank you.   The Chicago Rwanda Genocide Memorial would not have happened without a missionary in the Diaspora midst.

            We then spoke something that our missionary elder statesman once said to us.

            “Don’t give me any honor for this.  It was just a missionary thing to do.   The honor needs to go to the Holy Spirit which called us.   All this call is about is discerning when the community has a need that can only be met by an outsider understanding enough to initiate.

            You can be a missionary too.   You are away from home.   America needs you to be a missionary to them.   You will return to your African home someday.  When you return go as a missionary.   Be a Holy Spirit inspired starter.”

            To one thankful Diaspora mom we said, “Again this is no big deal.  It is just a missionary

Diaspora kids - Christian, Zam, and Aisha sharing a meal in our home

call.  The Holy Spirit may call your children to be missionaries too.  If so, bless your children in that call.”

            This is pure missionary joy.  We empathetically understand these old missionary words generations upon generations have repeated, 

 "I can’t tell you how happy I am to learn that many members of your family are diligent in living out the Truth, exactly as commanded by the Father. But permit me a reminder, friends, and this is not a new commandment but simply a repetition of our original and basic charter: that we love each other (2 John 1:4-6, The Message with a little tweak.)"

THE NECESSITY OF OUTSIDE IN VOICES

On 27 February I wrote a column entitled, “The polarizing perceptions of Rwanda.” In the column I compared Rwanda’s leaders to historical figures that Jewish and Christian theologians call, “post-exilic prophets.” Approximately 2,600 years ago, the nation of Judah was in exile. While in exile her brightest youth became masters of foreign thought, language, and culture while never giving up their national identity. After exile they returned, and built systematic institutions of security, education, business, and religion. In the process their voices polarized the known world. They spoke as outsiders with inside understanding. The term prophet refers not so much to their mystical ability to predict the future as it does to their gifts of profound moral insight and exceptional powers of expression.

Allow me to use another term to describe why Rwanda is so polarizing – missionary. I am not writing purely about odd foreigners with romantic ideals, colorful personalities, and strong convictions. I am writing about a much older definition. One of my favorite seminary professors, Dr. Ed Mathews defined missionaries as “one sent by the Holy Spirit for the purposes of communication that creates followers of Jesus.” Let me make the definition more pragmatic. A missionary is one sent in God’s perfect timing with message. He is an outside in voice.

Though few dare use the term missionary to describe when Rwanda’s leaders speak to world powers who consider themselves gods, I think it is quite appropriate to use the term missionary to describe Rwanda’s role as an outside in voice. As can be expected those who consider themselves gods respond in polarizing ways when their godhood is threatened.

The catch about missionaries is that every culture needs them. Without an outside in voice not only does a culture slip morally it slips economically. Even the great economic power, the United States of America needs outside in voices to economically thrive. Some of America’s brightest economic minds are now arguing one way to restore America’s economy is through immigration reform. When economics meets good religious reasoning the term becomes economic missionaries. All cultures need an outside in voice to see a new possibility and launch entrepreneurial endeavors. The ethnicity, nationality, and race of these outside in voices is irrelevant. What is relevant is that they come sent with a message that is transformational.

From Rwanda’s current government, business, and religious leaders to her brightest youth scattered in the world’s top universities many Banyarwanda meet the definition of missionary. Conversely, there are many in Rwanda who look like traditional missionaries and are missionaries.

My best atheist and agnostic friends in the Great Lakes have whispered to me, “What is the deal with these missionary characters? Do they really hear God’s voice? Do they have some hidden agenda? How do they benefit from being here?” I am thankful for friends willing to be candid.

Jenkins' family Sent by CCR to North America

Please allow me to be candid. My mzee professor got it right. Is there evidence they have been sent? If no one from their country of origin is willing to raise their hand, and say, “We sent them,” they are not a missionary. Instead they are delusional. If they don’t have a message that inspires with its hope and goodness they are not missionaries. If their actions do not lead to transformation of a culture in all its many facets – education, business, and leadership – they are not missionaries. Some who claim to be missionaries are not missionaries. They and Rwanda are best served with a gentle conversation that leads to a quiet departure.

Yet, the vast majority of those who claim to be missionaries are speaking gentle transformational messages and building generational endurance. I am very thankful to have been considered such honor as mine, and to have served in the Great Lakes for so many years with so many inspirational comrades. They heard God’s call to leave all comforts of home. They came with no personal agenda. Their reward has been many earthly friendships and the hope of heaven.

Lunch with Clarisse Irabagiza in Cyikago (Chicago)

Many have asked our family as we transition back to our passport country, “Do you need to go?” We leave called. We would much rather stay in Rwanda. Yet, our community needs us in another location. Our parents have not had us consistently near them for 19 years, are getting old, and we need to be near. Our children are reaching university age in cultural transition, and need us near. The institutions we have built must be stronger than us. In order to become God’s intent we must relinquish the institution’s leadership. Lastly, we sense God wants us near the many Banyarwanda youth we have been fortunate to facilitate studying in the USA. We leave our home of Rwanda as missionaries to the USA because of our hope in our heavenly home.

My boss once spoke about this odd relationship as the ones who receive a missionary become missionaries themselves and inherit missionary rewards. He said, “Anyone who receives you receives me, and anyone who receives me receives the Father who sent me. If you receive a prophet as one who speaks for God, you will be given the same reward as a prophet. And if you receive righteous people because of their righteousness, you will be given a reward like theirs. And if you give even a cup of cold water to one of the least of my followers, you will surely be rewarded (Matthew 10:40-42, New Living Translation.)”

Seven years ago, our family entered Rwanda with an idea of beginning an English based church with a good children’s program. All we had was a few friends who sent us and a few Banyarwanda friends who received us. The results have been more honor than a single man is due. If honor must be given to humanity it should be given to the community who accepted us as friends, nurtured our lives, dreamed, and labored with us. We are immensely grateful.

This is the last column I will write for Focus as a Rwanda resident for this season of life. Thank you for such a thrilling journey. I will go as your missionary to the USA. I will seek to be near your youth and give them my best pastoral care. I trust you will continue to share your abundant grace and kindness to my fellow missionaries. I also trust that the Lord will continue to use you as missionaries to our world’s powers. May God bless all.

THE STORY OF TIMOTHY'S MOST RECENT BIRTH

On September 29, 2002 the world was graced by the birth of my youngest son, Timothy David Sanyu Jenkins. His birth was one of human tragedy as for a few brief weeks he had no family. Then by God’s sovereign grace Timothy made his way from Sanyu Babies home to become a full child with all rights and responsibilities of the Jenkins family. Within days after entering our family Timothy displayed his intense strength of both will and likability. While other babies cooed, Timothy growled. He would roar as a young lion. The world would always know when Timothy Jenkins was near. A few months after Timothy came to our home we noticed his struggle to move his right arm and leg. He was diagnosed with a minor case of cerebral palsy. We pondered the future. Timothy responded with his strong will. We may be an active family, but Timothy made us strong. He crawled, walked, and then ran. Rwanda may be the best place in the world for a family graced by Timothy for each day we live out the words of President Kagame, “Others may walk, we must run.” In Timothy’s family running is the only option.

Our family comes from a religious tradition that practices believer’s baptism. (For the sake of this blog I’ll skip lengthy bible commentaries and theological discussions and just tell our journey.) In our tradition baptism is practiced by immersion for those old enough to conceptualize faith in Jesus of Nazareth. Socially, baptism signifies inclusion into God’s family. With inclusion comes the practical membership at a local church and a shared weekly meal called Holy Communion or The Lord’s Supper. This sacred meal is a time when our church family remembers Jesus’ death and resurrection. In this process we are reminded of both the community we share with Jesus himself and Jesus followers around the world.

A perpetually awkward moment of our tradition is that we ask for each baptism candidate to come to his own faith before considering baptism. However, how old or much understanding is required to participate in our sacred ritual of immersion? Is it just the simple children’s Sunday School answer of “Jesus” or does a baptism subject need to be able to explain complex theological topics such as grace, the Holy Spirit, the Kingdom of God, and “The Church?” If there is not some proper understanding of belief our community risks heresy in each new generation of faith discovery.

Another portion our awkwardness is our revival tradition. We believe in repentance and discovery. We must continually weigh our thoughts, actions, and character against the holiness of God. In this process we continue to discover more grace. This causes us to celebrate and change. We hope this revival process will over time with the regeneration brought on by the Holy Spirit make us Jesus’ representative on earth. We believe revival takes place both in our personal lives and in the lives of our community.

With each of our new discoveries of grace and renewal a temptation is to look at our old ways and consider them “not Christian.” At times our revival tradition makes us not honor God’s work in either our past live or our community’s. It can lead to legalistic elitism. Some who experience this will look upon their early baptism and consider it not worthy of our Christian ideals. Some will be re-baptized several times in life as they discover more.

A worry of parents in our tradition is twofold. One, we may baptize our children when they are too young. With such a situation they may come to resent our overbearing influence or to conclude their young faith was really no faith. The second struggle is that we may spurn their early requests to be baptized. Thus we crush their tender young seeking hearts.

Two weeks ago, Jana I were given 2 requests by our fast footed son. These were “I want to be baptized and I want a football helmet.”

With both questions we proceeded with caution. After all, we had just been staying with a friend who allowed Timothy to borrow his Texas A and M helmet. The thought of our fast son becoming an Aggie sent a chill down our neck. What if an even worse fate happened - Timothy became a baptized, but unbelieving Aggie?

We began by asking Timothy, “Why do you want to be baptized?” Timothy responded with simple answers. Everyone in his family had been baptized. Those he admired at church had been baptized. He watched others share our church meal of communion and felt excluded. The most startling words he used were “I am all alone.”

Timothy’s strong will is matched by two deep parts of his personality. One is the sense of personal responsibility. The other is a strong sense of community. Timothy at times grieves over the loss of his arm. One of our most difficult moments was his request for “a new arm for Christmas.” Yet, his grief always ends in resolve. He will run fast, throw hard, and shoot true whether the game is basketball or just childhood tussles. Timothy also deeply grieves over his failures. He is a child with a deep conscience who models contriteness and repentance. For brief moments his contrite spirit can reach the point of self-hatred. It is at those moments that he most needs affirming parental love, grace, and forgiveness to re-discover the will to simply do better.

His sense of community is compelling. He has a tremendous capacity to give and receive affection. He needs great amount of human touch. He is rarely alone. When placed with his peers within a short time most will be following his choice of play. He instinctively possesses the traits of great leaders – empathy, understanding, vision, and resolve.

We discussed with Timothy the nature of our faith. We believe that Jesus rose from the dead. We are all sinners (full of flaws and mistakes.) By believing in the truth of Jesus resurrection; He lives in us, forgives us, and molds us into His likeness. Timothy nodded that he understood these truths.

We have a tradition of asking our children to write their reasons to be baptized so that we have permanent record of their thought process. As Timothy did this he asked for our help. He did not know how to spell many of the words he desired to write. Some of the words included “alone, bored, annoying, and tired.” He struggled to explain, but hungered for more. It seemed his struggle was much like our adult world that the Apostle Paul wrote about as we struggle to communicate our deepest needs to God with our insufficient human language (Romans 8:26).

Jana and I took some time to wrestle and discover. An old book came to my mind – J.I. Packer’s, Knowing God. I spent a portion of Thursday, June 26 in a library in Roscoe, Texas and could not find the book. I went to Roscoe’s book store and found I could order it in 2 weeks, but we would be gone. On Friday, we went to Abilene, Texas to host a reception. We stopped at a Christian bookstore and asked only to find that Packer’s book was out of print. Thankfully, we had a little time to check out Abilene Christian University’s library and finally found our old memory. Packer takes a chapter and writes about the nature of being “Sons of God.” He makes several startling statements. One is that not all of humanity are “children of God.” Only those who have been born again have that privilege. The other is that our “adoption” into God’s family is "the highest privilege of the Gospel."

We read Romans 8:23 – “Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.”

We concluded it was the Spirit of God within Timothy that cried out for the completion of his adoption. He had been in our home and raised as our child since he was 2 weeks old. We went through a 3 year process to adopt him in Uganda. We went through several weeks of form filling and interviews in Nairobi for him to immigrate to America. Upon reaching US soil he became a bi-national and after some more hoop jumping carried both an American and Ugandan passport. He was a Ugandan, American, Jenkins; but his sonship was still lacking. Only by being born again of water and spirit could he claim his full privilege as a son of God.

We were traveling and away from our oldest children – Sophia, Caleb, and Ethan. We were away from our home churches of Christ’s Church in Rwanda (Kigali) and Quail Springs Church of Christ (Oklahoma City). However, for a few brief days we were with Jana’s parents, Gaston and Jan Tarbet. Family is not constrained by geography. We decided now was the season.

Gaston called an old friend, Royce Clay and we arranged for Timothy to be baptized at the Colorado City, Texas Church of Christ on Saturday, June 26.

Now is where the video makes it all too real and displays that faith may be its truest in the midst of the humorous.

I spoke briefly to our little community and Timothy about adoption. Then Timothy and I began stepping into the baptistery. I’ve had 20 years of good pastoral fortune related to baptisms. I can’t remember myself ever having a baptism experience that became “a preacher story.” Today was my day. I stepped into the water afraid of cold water and nasty algae, but found the water warm and clean. I took 2 more steps and suddenly realized my fears should have gone to the other extreme. I screamed as the water was beyond hot. I rushed out of the baptistery and grabbed Timothy along the way. It was one of those moments where I wished I had been wiser. (For FB junkies check out the video.) Then I repeated a phrase to those who I thought may argue, “The water is far too hot.”

The thermostat of the baptistery was broken. The water kept heating. We called another church member responsible for the baptistery upkeep. Then we drained and filled the baptistery twice and added 6 bags of ice before the water was cool enough for human contact. About an hour later Timothy and I again descended the waters of baptism. My only thanks to the Lord was for the grace that I was the one who got a little burned instead of Timothy. I am so glad the memory of a water burn is mine and not Timon’s.

I asked Timothy two questions – “Do you believe Jesus rose from the dead? Do you want to make Jesus the boss of your life?” He answered, “Yes.” I gently placed him under water in the name of the Father, Son, and Spirit. Then I brought him up to new life and watched him smile.

Our family shared a meal that evening in celebration. The following Sunday we all shared the meal of Holy Communion.

Evidence of a changed life?

A few days later Jana and I found a football helmet. By the grace of God it was not an Aggies’s helmet. Instead our only options were Oklahoma Sooners or Oklahoma State Cowboys. Timothy chose to be a Sooner. Later, the next day I overheard Timothy discuss with his older sister Ruth, his favorite football player, Adrian Peterson. Timothy is like him in many ways – black skin, fast as can be, and both have Oklahoma roots. Timothy enjoyed comparing himself to Adrian. Then he added one more comment. The most important accomplishments and identifications this side of heaven are neither speed nor ethnic background. They are being part of God’s family. Timothy did not know Adrian’s baptism status, but he chose to define himself not by similar speed, but by the family of God.

Timothy still has his strong will. We’ve done our daily tango a few times. Yesterday, Timothy astounded me. He is learning to swim during our summer travels. He has hit the point of having no desire for floats and an unwavering sense of courage. He is a struggling swimmer, but even as he grasps for air he is not afraid. We need to keep our eyes on him in a pool, but we know courage is the mark of good swimmers. Courage also is a mark of God’s children. Timothy is forever changed.