Very CRAF-ty!

For the past week, I’ve been participating in the Consultation Regionale d' Afrique Francaphone (CRAF.) This is a gathering of French-speaking ministry leaders who have met every two years for the past sixteen to share best practices in mission outreach across their continent. The venue of a vintage seaside hotel in Dakar, Senegal has been a great place for this meeting as men and women not only enjoy lively African worship in the lecture hall, but all sixteen workshops and training forms have been able to function during the day in the available boardroom/classroom facilities.

Despite the fact there are quite a few white faces in the mix (usually Western mission staff working in Africa) CRAF is totally run and managed by Africans themselves. Having attended way too many consultations dominated by Westerners, particularly Americans, I’m finding this distinct African flavor of CRAF to be very refreshing.

One of the sober highlights of the week was a poignant personal report brought by Anatole Banga, the representative from Central African Republic. The accounts he shared and even a short video taken secretly by a cellphone of the atrocities carried out specifically against Christians by the foreign insurgents was simply too horrendous to even explain or repeat. How governments like my own can stand by and give political excuses for non-involvement in such a human tragedy is simply beyond belief. And despite a few French troops now guarding the Bangui airport, Anatole claims there are still street killings every single day.

My reason for coming to CRAF was in response to an invitation to be one of the trainers for the CRAF Institute, a set of nine elective courses offered morning and afternoon. My topic was Biblical Stewardship and Resource Development – a fancy title for how to do local fund raising. Because many had never heard the word “intendance” (stewardship in French) before, hardly anyone signed up at first for my course. But by the time the word got around, I had about thirty of the 120 total CRAF participants joining me. And, it’s cool seeing how “intendance” has become a real buzz-word of this conference.

What really blew my mind, though, is how the folks in my course started making applications of Biblical stewardship to other areas of life besides just fund raising. “This would totally change how we ‘do church’ here in Africa!” said one person. “We simply have never really been shown that the Gospel is not just about spiritual restoration but also restoration of all areas of life.” As a result, I now have a standing invitation to return sometime to Senegal and lead a more in-depth exploration with local pastors of how to create practical applications in their own context of Biblical stewardship.   

One thing is for sure: it’s great working together with such CRAF-ty people!