Back to Africa

Translated into English from Hausa, it means, “Western Education is Sinful.”  But the dreaded words, Boko Haram has come to mean something far more sinister to the local Christian populations of northern Nigeria. This radical Islamic faction has acknowledged their objective to attack police, military and Christian institutions in order to mandate complete Sharia law in that part of the country. As a result, they have openly admitted responsibility for most of the repeated bombings during the past year that have taken the lives of thousands of Christians in the region.

Reading all this in the March 10 issue of World Magazine (http://www.worldmag.com/articles/19236) on the first leg of a trip that is taking me to that very area of Nigeria might make you think I should simply turn around and go home again. But instead, I head out today with clear confidence that God is also strongly at work in that part of the country and despite the recent incidents, I can be no safer than in the center of His will.

This is my first overseas trip representing Wycliffe Associates (http://www.wycliffeassociates.org/ ) in my new capacity of promoting organizational development among national Bible translation agencies.  In this case, it will be the NBTT—Nigerian Bible Translation Trust. When I arrive in Jos on Friday, I will spend the next five days interviewing various NBTT leaders to learn what organizational barriers are keeping them from effectively tackling the huge job of Bible translation in their country.  With over 500 languages native to Nigeria, only 22 have completed Bibles and another 100 that have only begun a translation process.  That means there are still some 356 of languages left to be translated so that people might have God’s Good News in an understandable form—the largest number of any country in Africa.

I will do my best to share what I learn along the way—so keep posted on this blog for further updates.

Sample map showing which people groups have the Bible (green) or
the NT (yellow) or nothing at all (red)

As I board my United flight for Frankfurt and then Abuja, Nigeria, I must tell you about some of the “cool tools” I am carrying with me. Hopefully, these things will facilitate greater effectiveness for our national ministry friends. First, are a set of colorful maps provided for me by Global Mapping International (http://www.gmi.org/) that show each of the Nigerian language groups color coded according to their scale of evangelization as determined by the Joshua Project (http://www.joshuaproject.net). 

Taking it one step farther, my friend, Marv Bowers of ILS International (http://www.ilsinternational.net)   has spent the past 48 hours refining another set of fantastic maps of Nigeria just for me that not only show language sectors needing translation, but are also geo-coded so that I can display them on my iPad by means of a special app http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/avenza-pdf-maps/id388424049?mt=8) that will also show my actual GPS position superimposed on the map. 

Finally, my briefcase has got several copies of a brand new Organizational Capacity Assessment Matrix that I will be trying out for the first time on this trip. Thanks to a neat partnership with Lisa Price, a student at Benedictine University getting her Masters Degree in organizational behavior and her advisor, Tiffany Yates, we’ve designed a new tool that should significantly aid in organizational capacity evaluation for any national ministry.

So, armed with all these “tools of the trade,” and most of all, with the faithful prayer support of a whole bunch of friends like you, I feel ready for this eight day trip and look forward to how I can add my little bit of encouragement to our Nigerian brothers and sisters who daily face such challenges as those of Boko Haram.

Sharp Contrasts

This past week, we have been shocked with the tragic news of two incidents in the Middle East that resulted in the unwarranted death of innocent people. The first, and most publicized, the massacre of 16 villagers in southern Afghanistan by U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales. The second, happening just three days earlier in the Kurdish province of Iraq, was the execution-style shooting of American teacher, Jeremiah Small, by one of his students, eighteen-year-old Bayar Sarwar.

A shot of Yousiff & Alia Matty taken
during my visit to Iraq in 2006

This second incident happened in the city of Sulaymaniyah in a classroom of the Classical School of the Medes, a project of my good friends, Yousiff and Alia Matty. All of my eight years at Partners International involved helping to fundraise for their impressive vision of building three K-12 schools in northern Iraq utilizing the renowned international classical curriculum.

As I reflect about these two incidents, I see amazing similarities in the actions of the perpetrators.  For example, both…

-          Acted totally alone

-          Used guns firing at point-blank range

-          Obviously reached an emotional breaking point resulting in their violent actions

-          Acted out in the open in front of others, not secretively or clandestinely

-          Resigned themselves to their subsequent fate (Sgt. Bales gave himself up afterwards while Sarwar turned his gun on himself, taking his own life.)

But it is the sharp contrast of the victims’ families’ reactions that leaves me most impressed.

In Afghanistan, the cry is for revenge. Regardless of the just punishment Sgt Bales will receive, I will not be surprised to hear in the next few weeks that the spirit of revenge has spilled over into other incidents of Afghans wanting to get even by somehow hurting other innocent Americans.  Whether or not you blame local culture or Islamic religious tradition, the fact is that wanting to get even for such an act of unwarranted killing is simply built into our human spirit. It is tragic, but it is human, and we can sort of understand that.

In Iraq, however, the response by Jeremiah’s parents stuns both us as it did the local population. Instead of venting their anger on Sarwar’s family, they instead offered a public forgiveness. As World Magazine reports:

… most remarkable was the reconciliation evident between Small's family, who are Christians, and Sarwar's, who are Muslims. The shooter's father, Rashid Sarwar, apologized to the Smalls for the killing. The teacher's father, Dan Small, said, "We do not have any hatred for the family of the student who killed our son." At one point both men embraced. (http://www.worldmag.com/articles/19280)

The Smalls choose to have Jeremiah’s body buried there in Iraq announcing to all, “We give you our son.” This action speaks volumes to a Middle Eastern culture that understands it as a strong symbol of respect for their culture. Not only does it leave a bond between the Small family and the Kurds, but it will be remembered for years as an act of love and care.

What a shame this positive ending to such a tragic event has not been given more media exposure that portrays the sharp contrast to the other events in Afghanistan. I know our world could certainly benefit from this powerful example of the human reconciliation that is possible from God-reconciled and transformed hearts.

Meanwhile, Back On The Home Front. . .

I’ve been reminded this past week that not all of the impressive activities going on in the mission world these days are happening on the “front lines.” 

Since last Sunday, I’ve had the privilege of being the keynote speaker for a mission’s conference at a church celebrating its centennial anniversary. The Western Springs Baptist Church (WSBC) is located in the first tier of suburbs just west of downtown Chicago. I came prepared to impress folks with my latest PowerPoint presentation on the state of the mission world. I did not come prepared to become impressed instead by the amazing stories people have been sharing with me about the historic mission involvement of WSBC.

For example, I’ve learned that this church. . .

Some famous WSBC pastors including Lloyd Fesmire (left)
and Billy Graham (right)

• ·         Was the first place that Billy Graham pastored right after he graduated from Wheaton College back in 1943.
• ·         That his successor, Rev. Lloyd Fesmire, made the weekly, Sunday evening radio program “Songs in the Night” a huge success. It can still be heard today on Moody Radio.
• ·         That George Beverly Shea, who was the great baritone soloist for Billy Graham crusades, not only attended this church, but also dedicated the pulpit used for many years as a memorial to his father.
• ·         Among the many illustrious missionaries supported over the years was the Newman family who served in Irian Jaya and whose tragic death in a plane crash was made famous by Don Richardson’s book, Lords of the Earth.

If that isn’t enough, WSBC was also one of the first churches that supported my parents, Art and Helen Lewis, when they became missionaries to Portugal in 1951. (I was just one year old!) Years later, Anita and I came to this church in 1978 after joining Mission Aviation Fellowship and have been supported by these friends ever since—a total of 33 years!

But what is even more impressive than all of these great historical facts is the continued enthusiasm for missions at WSBC--something I have witnessed here this entire last week.  From Sunday morning services to Saturday evening banquets, and multiple meetings in between, it has been so refreshing to see an entire church body—children included—so engaged with the cause of building God’s Kingdom around the world.

What a great reminder that the exciting stuff happening out there on the front lines of missions simply does not happen without a home-base commitment like I have witnessed this week at WSBC!