10 POINT VISION OF SHEPHERDING AFRICA GREAT LAKES DIASPORA AS MISSIONARIES

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.

2.      Our people, the Diaspora (a people dispersed from their original homeland who form community http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Diaspora.) from Africa’s Great Lakes (Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda) are clustered in many major cities in North America.     They are doing very well professionally and academically yet some have spiritual struggles in their adaptation.   Their children are Third Culture Kids (TCK’s) just like our own children. 

    3.      We have a solemn pastoral responsibility to shepherd the Diaspora from Africa’s Great Lakes.    We have spent a year praying and listening.    Our intent is to begin a monthly fellowship in Chicago land to shepherd the Diaspora in the fall of 2013 called Great Lakes Fellowship.

   4.      Christianity’s influence in North America has experienced a rapid decline in the last 20 years.

   5.      The greatest growth of Christianity in the 20^th Century was in China, Korea, Latin America, and Sub-Saharan Africa.

6.      The children and grandchildren of some of the previous century’s most effective

church planters are Diaspora now in North America.

7.      The United States ethnic composition is rapidly shifting.   Caucasians will soon be a minority.

8.      Diaspora esteem deep held American ideals such as faith, knowledge, freedom, ingenuity, and perseverance.

9.      We believe one of the most crucial tasks for Christian influence in North America is to church plant among and with the children of Diaspora peoples.

10. Thus we conclude we have a sacred responsibility to shepherd Africa’s Great Lakes Diaspora through their transitions to become missionaries who plant multi-cultural churches in North America (James 4:12-17.)   We intend to begin a new multi-cultural church in Chicago called Nations Chapel.

PRAY FOR KIDS

Our family arriving at the Chicago's O'hare Airport on Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Dear Family and Friends,

It has now been 4 months since we left our home in Africa following a call to return to the USA because of our hope that our ultimate home is heaven.    The transition has been overwhelming yet our Lord continues His steadfast love and providence.    Our pace has been slower.   In many ways this has been a season to catch our breaths.    This month we ask you to focus your prayer upon children.    In this transition kids occupy our thoughts, prayers, and actions.

1.    First, please pray for the children in our African Great Lakes region.   (In catching our breath Dave blogged about AIDS’ deaths and children at   http://jenkinsinrwanda.blogspot.com/2012/09/i-hate-little-coffins-yet-my-boss-is.html.  It took 19 years to put the wrestling into words.)   There is tragedy, but also great hope.    May the children of Africa’s Great Lakes remain healthy.   May they thrive in exceptional education.    May they bring a new vision of the future to us.

Our kids all together in Chicago for the summer

2.   Second, please pray for our own children.      The sociological term used to describe them is TCK (Third Culture Kids.)    Our kids are a blend of several different cultures.    This gives them great empathy and resiliency.   It also means that during some seasons of life they must make rapid adaptations to assimilate and thrive.   This is one of those seasons.   They have done well:

• Sophia is participating in Wheaton College’s “Chicago” program.   Since her whole life has been overseas she chose not to do an “overseas study,” but to study for a semester with 11 other Wheaton students in Chicago’s Up Town neighborhood.

•   Caleb has shown remarkable resilience as he was uprooted from his home in Kigali for his senior year of high school.   He is taking courses at the College of DuPage and preparing for entering a Christian liberal arts university next fall (To read about the humor of American education and bureaucracy that Caleb has masterfully navigated check out http://jenkinsinrwanda.blogspot.com/2012/09/office-bouncing-in-usa.html)

• Ethan is playing JV2 Soccer for Wheaton North High School.   Two weeks ago he was awarded, “Man of the Match” for his soccer play.   He has enrolled in more difficult academic classes and is doing well.

•     Ruth is in a local Ballet, enjoying Wheaton’s Franklin Middle School, and leading our family in making the most new friends.   It has been delightful to watch her grace and beauty.

• Timothy is playing soccer for the Kopion Junior Academy.   All who meet him are struck by his immense resiliency, rhythm, and outright speed.    God answered his prayer to be on the second floor of Lowell Elementary School.   (To read about Timothy’s journey of blessed persistence check out http://jenkinsinrwanda.blogspot.com/2012/09/give-me-these-stairs.html.)

Six of KICS graduates of 2011 are at USA universities.

3. Please pray for the children of our African neighbors in Chicago (Cyikago is how some of us with Africa roots spell this American city.)   We are amazed at how many we are meeting from Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and Congo in Chicago.   Some have come as refugees.  Some have come as working immigrants.   Some have come as students.   The children of our African neighbors are like our own children.   They are TCK’s.    Please pray that they will also grow in their gifting, empathy, education, and resiliency.   Also, please pray that our family will discover how God intends for us to serve our African friends in Chicago.

Mungu akubariki (God bless you),

Dave and Jana