As I process and look back on the past month in Kenya and think about all the amazing ways I saw God move I keep coming back to the word community.
“Community means caring: caring for people. Dietrich Bonhoeffer[1] says: "He who loves community destroys community; he who loves the brethren builds community." A community is not an abstract ideal. We are not striving for perfect community. Community is not an ideal; it is people. It is you and I. In community we are called to love people just as they are with their wounds and their gifts, not as we would want them to be. Community means giving them space, helping them to grow. It means also receiving from them so that we too can grow. It is giving each other freedom; it is giving each other trust; it is confirming but also challenging each other. We give dignity to each other by the way we listen to each other, in a spirit of trust and of dying to oneself so that the other may live, grow and give.” Jean Vanier, From Brokeness to Community, pp 35-36
I love the line: “In community we are called to love people just as they are with their wounds and their gifts, not as we would want them to be.” That is true love!
This summer I was blessed to be a part of an amazing team that understood community. In just four weeks I saw them grow both together and in God in ways you would expect only from a team who had been together for 6 months or more.
Jesus said, "Just as I have loved you, you should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples." John 13:34-35
I believe a powerful ministry the team took part in was exactly that…loving each other. It not only strengthened and encouraged individuals on the team itself but it spoke volumes to the people who witnessed it, especially those we were with everyday. Mama Ruth, our amazing chef told me how blessed she felt to spend three weeks with such a good team, who really loved and respected each other and the culture and people around them. Actions speak louder than words. I don’t think we will ever fully know to what extent the love our team showed toward each other impacted the people around us but I know it did because I saw Jesus in my team this summer in the way they lived in community so I know others did too.
As I process and look back on the past month in Kenya and think about all the amazing ways I saw God move I keep coming back to the word community.
“Community means caring: caring for people. Dietrich Bonhoeffer[1] says: "He who loves community destroys community; he who loves the brethren builds community." A community is not an abstract ideal. We are not striving for perfect community. Community is not an ideal; it is people. It is you and I. In community we are called to love people just as they are with their wounds and their gifts, not as we would want them to be. Community means giving them space, helping them to grow. It means also receiving from them so that we too can grow. It is giving each other freedom; it is giving each other trust; it is confirming but also challenging each other. We give dignity to each other by the way we listen to each other, in a spirit of trust and of dying to oneself so that the other may live, grow and give.” Jean Vanier, From Brokeness to Community, pp 35-36
I love the line: “In community we are called to love people just as they are with their wounds and their gifts, not as we would want them to be.” That is true love!
This summer I was blessed to be a part of an amazing team that understood community. In just four weeks I saw them grow both together and in God in ways you would expect only from a team who had been together for 6 months or more.
Jesus said, "Just as I have loved you, you should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples." John 13:34-35
I believe a powerful ministry the team took part in was exactly that…loving each other. It not only strengthened and encouraged individuals on the team itself but it spoke volumes to the people who witnessed it, especially those we were with everyday. Mama Ruth, our amazing chef told me how blessed she felt to spend three weeks with such a good team, who really loved and respected each other and the culture and people around them. Actions speak louder than words. I don’t think we will ever fully know to what extent the love our team showed toward each other impacted the people around us but I know it did because I saw Jesus in my team this summer in the way they lived in community so I know others did too.
Posted in A Trip Update by Sean Van Scott on 7/21/2010
1 Corinthians 3:10-11 10By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. 11For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.
During the second week of our time in the bush of Kenya the men on our team found ourselves with an amazing opportunity. The local church we were serving alongside had realized some time before we arrived that there were members who walked as many as 20 kilometers every Sunday morning to join in worship. Steve, our host pastor, is a man who's always looking for ways to expand the reach of the gospel, so he took this as an opportunity to plant a new church in a small, neighboring community called Morgan.
By the time we arrived about a month ago, the plot had already been purchased and measured and was ready for the work to begin. The men on our team were asked to dig the foundation for the new church building and, never being ones to shy away from a good man-challenge, we delightfully accepted grunts, chest bumps and various other displays of virility.
Aside of being in one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen, this turned out to be a huge blessing for us. Every afternoon for about a week we were able to drive to the middle of nowhere (at least by my classification of "nowhere") and labor for the sake of the gospel both spiritually and physically. We would gather together every day before digging and pray over the soon-to-be building and the people who would one day hear about Jesus there. Then we would pick up our shovels and pickaxes, dig for a while, and then end with prayer again.
The foundation had to be dug two feet deep in about a 25'X50' rectangle. This sounds easy enough but we quickly figured out that the task was more menacing that we originally understood. Apparently our team had an anointed ability to break every tool we got our hands on while trying to dig through the boulder-infested clay. While spending a great deal of time removing huge rocks and fixing the rapidly disintegrating tool handles something really began to hit me. We, as part of the church, were doing something of incredible eternal significance.
It hit me that what we were doing was not all too different from what Paul, Peter and the other early disciples were doing. Given, many of the people of Eburru, Morgan, and the surrounding areas had some exposure to the gospel already but we were setting a foundation on which others might come and build. It was great to have a part in constructing the church building, itself, but so much larger than that we were proclaiming Jesus as the foundation for The Church, that He is THE Way and THE Truth and THE Life! I'm about to jump about of my chair as I type this! What greater privilege is there in life than to lay down ourselves and pick up something that really, finally matters, Jesus Christ? So go now and be Church builders. Dig foundations, break up the tough ground and show people that our Savior is the only good foundation. Amen? Amen!
Posted in A Trip Update by Sean Van Scott on 7/12/2010
Dear Kenya,
until next time, we will miss you dearly.
It's hard to believe that our time together in Kenya is rapidly coming to a close. After being challenged in more ways that we can count and watching the Lord faithfully come through every time, we have finished our ministry time running hard and now are winding up our trip with a few days of debrief. Today we were able to worship the Lord in wonder of his creation at the Nakuru Game Park while thinking back on all that He's done over the past couple weeks. Tomorrow we'll be leaving our beloved community of Eburru to head to Nairobi. While there we'll enjoy a few more tourist attractions and prepare to rejoin our friends and family back home in just a few short days.
For now, we don't really know what else to say other than that we're so proud of every one of these students. It's been such an honor to serve as their leaders for the past month. They have truly blown us away with their faith and encouraged everyone they've met to grow more deeply in love with the Lord. To be sure, they'll be telling stories of the hugeness of God on this trip for years to come.
To all of you who have been praying for us, we thank you tremendously. This trip would not have been the same without you partenering with us.
We ask now that you would pray for our next two days of debrief and then flights back to Atlanta on Wednesday and Thursday.
Posted in A Trip Update by Sean Van Scott on 7/9/2010
We are finishing up our last couple days of ministry. Throughout our time in Kenya, we have ministered to several cities and have seen God move in awesome ways. We have been able to reach the children here in Kenya by teaching many songs, telling stories, and simply by loving them.
Yesterday we visited a secondary school in the area and after our team presented our program, a student shared his testimony with us. He grew up in a Christian home but after primary school, he dropped out of school and started living a sinful life. He had a dream one night about how he should come to Christ. A few weeks after the dream, he re-dedicated his life to the Lord! We were able to encourage him and even though we are here to minister to them, the people here have touched our lives as well.
We are so excited to see what God has planned for our team for the short time we have left here in Kenya! Please pray for safety for our team as we finish up our time here and travel back hom. God Bless you all!
Posted in A Trip Update by Sean Van Scott on 7/6/2010
Our ministry has moved on from Eburru and we have begun a new chapter in the conquest for the hearts of the Kenyan people. Today was our first day serving in Kasarani, a small town about an hour drive from Eburru. We went to small Christian schools, told them a bible story, taught them a memory verse and a few simple songs, then let them teach us songs they knew. With every new activity the kids grew more excited, more involved and ten times more precious. In every school that we went, the kids were disciplined and organized and listened intently to what we had to say. Later, we went to a large public primary school of 1600 students ranging from 7 to 18 years. We met the older half of the group today. Connor gave an awe-inspiring impromptu sermon that sent shivers up my spine. As if to prove that we were making a difference, I was sitting in the car just about to leave the school when, in the middle of a crowd of kids, a boy reached in the window, grabbed my hand and said, "I have a question. Could you explain to me what saalvation is?" I was shocked but answered his question. Every new day I spend here I see more and more how God is working through us in extraordinary ways.
Posted in A Trip Update by Sean Van Scott on 7/5/2010
"As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, 'Follow me.' And he rose and followed him. And as Jesus reclined at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, 'Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?' But when he heard it it, he said, 'Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick...'"-Matthew 9:9-12
Last week the men of our team were giving an incredible opportunity. The church in the Eburru area (except for our host pastor) has a very judgemental view on anyone who drinks any amount of alcohol. Because of this there are very few Christians who are willing to make their way into the crowded bars to make friends with these "sinners". Instead of recieving the grace and love of our Lord, many drunks and even social drinkers are shunned as sorts of spiritual outcasts. For three days last week the seven of us guys were able to show many men in the two major Eburru bars what Jesus would have done if he were physically present. We went in each evening at about 4:00, right when people started coming in to drink, and simply hung out with these social-lepers. It was incredible to see their reactions as they realized that we weren't drinking alcohol or hitting them over the heads with our bibles but simply loving them and getting to know them. The first day we just spent time getting to know them and some of their stories. I've heard it said that the best way to minister to Muslims in the Middle East is over a thousand cups of tea. Aparrently this is true of Eburru men but with soda instead. We sat and sipped our coca-colas and fantas intently listening as these men opened up in ways we never imagined. Some would come drunk one day and then ask us to return the next day so they could meet us to discuss Christ while sober so they wouldn't miss out on what we were saying! Some agreed to attend a local Alcoholics Annonymous chapter and something drastic changed in others as they realized that we were there just to love them. Every day as we left, excited about what the Lord was doing, it hit me that this is exactly what Jesus would be doing were he there. At that point I continued to remember that Jesus was there. As the body of Christ, we were able to represent him to so many who never had the chance before to hear to His true, unashamed, outrageous love and grace.
How beautiful is it that we are so adored by the friend and lover of sinners. The one whose regular company was drunks, prostitutes, liars and money swindlers is the same one that intimately invites ALL to come to himself to sip the one drink that truly will Satisfy. Bwana asifiwe, Praise the Lord!!!!!!
Posted in A Trip Update by Sean Van Scott on 7/2/2010
Kenya in two words: incredible and strength. The incredible part is pretty eassy to define. Our
team is living in legit African huts with the grass roofs and mud walls. The views are insane and
the community is extremely loving.
There are also many signs of strength in this beautiful country. From all the different tribes to
watching the women labopr in the corn fileds, it's all new, exciting, and absolutely life
changing!
The most significant display of power is not in the adults but the children. I have come into
contact with an 8 year old girl who lives down the road from our ministry sight. Her name is Lucy
and she is always smiling and hugging me and french bradin my har (which is very painful!!). The
strength that I see in her is the little life that she constanly is carrying on her back. Lucy
has a 6 month old sister named Monica. Her mother is single and attempting to raise food for the
family, so the weight of taking care of the baby falls to little Lucy. She always wraps Monica up
in layers of blankets, adjusting them at the slightest need. Lucy lavishes kisses and loving pats
on Monica even when she should be playing Red Rover with the other children.
The fact that Lucy has taken a reponsibility of an adult and has been cheerfiul while doing it
just oozes strength. She is not the only one. I have counted several girls with babies strapped
to their backs. They may not be able o plow the fields or even read a book, but the incredible
power and strength is definitely with the. It';s the chirldren of Kenya. It is strength
