Practical Class Projects

By Sara:

Here are pictures of some of the things I've done with the students in my practical class at the college.

We built a clay oven, using the materials available to us here (for example, this one used really big stones for the base whereas the ones built in Uganda used small bricks).  We haven't used it yet; we're waiting for the clay to dry before we take the rocks and the sand out from inside.

I did a class about making compost and how it is helpful, so we built a compost pile.  Next term, we'll use the compost in a kitchen garden.

Then, we have our demonstration garden where we're comparing conservation agriculture with the conventional way of growing potatoes.  We have potatoes planted with mulch around them, which look the best:

Here are the conventionally planted potatoes. You can see how they are not as big as the ones planted in mulch:

And then, we intercropped some potatoes with peas to try out another way of doing conservation agriculture.  Unfortunately, after I took this picture, it seems that the college sheep got into our garden and ate all the pea plants, so it looks like we're not going to see how that system would work.

Even though we haven't harvested yet, the students were impressed at how well the potatoes were doing with the mulch and some said they wanted to go home and try it out in their own garden.

Back Visiting Amuria Farmers

By Sara:

I recently had a really fun opportunity to go back and visit Uganda with some World Renew-Kenya colleagues and agricultural staff from Kenyan development organizations!  It was very nostalgic to drive back to Soroti again and experience the sights and smells of a place that was home not long ago (it actually still felt pretty home-like).  We went to see the agricultural work that World Renew's partner organizations have been doing (the very places and people where I was working before).  I really enjoyed seeing people I knew and the progress that they've made since I left.

What was hard to see, though, was how dry it was.  It is supposed to be the short rainy season, but many people have had almost no rain at all.  Even many farmers' sorghum, which is a drought-resistant crop, is pretty much dead.  Most of the areas we visited looked like January, the middle of the dry season:

However, despite the challenges of an unusually dry season, we met farmers in Amuria who have been working with KIDO (who I worked with) who were very hopeful.  They are trying a new variety of cassava that is resistant to important diseases and is growing very well even without rain. 

One farmer has used a shallow well and dug a ditch from it to his vegetable garden so he can irrigate it a bit.

He is also working on mulching that whole garden to help the soil retain moisture, protect the garden from erosion, and improve the soil.

Another farmer has a diverse variety of crops and fruits so he is certain he will have food at home even if there is a drought.  He also grew a lot of eggplant, sliced, and dried it so he and his family will be able to eat it throughout the dry season:

World Renew, with both KIDO and KMDP (the two Ugandan development organizations I worked with in Uganda) trained some farmers how to use a soil testing kit so they can go around and test other farmers' soil for pH, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.  It will help them see how healthy their soil is, know better how to rotate crops, and also to see how conservation agriculture benefits the soil.  I enjoyed watching these farmers who I knew, give the demonstration.  They're rural farmers, but they were as comfortable with the test tubes and reagents as a chemistry teacher!

Not only did I get to see the great things and the hope of the farmers we visited, but I also got to spend time with some of the KIDO and KMDP staff who I was with so much over the past years in Uganda.  And I really enjoyed being with Edward again; he was our World Renew Uganda supervisor and is a good friend.  I already miss them and am so thankful for their dedication to the farmers and the work that they do.  This is Sharon, Geofrey, and Sam:

TV Show Recommendation - #1 Ladies Detective Agency

By Anthony:

If you want to get a taste of what modern African life is like, we recommend to you the show (only 1 season long), the #1 Ladies Detective Agency.  It is based on the books by Alexander McCall Smith.  It's a long series of books.  I've only read one, but I think Sara has read them all and she really enjoys them.  It's about a lady who sets up a private detective agency in Botswana.  She does things like tracking down missing husbands or solving thefts as well as other crazy things I won't tell you about.

It's an HBO show and is really well done in every way.  It has great music, filming, scenery, and acting.  It will help to take away some of your misconceptions about African life.  Yes there are wild animals in Africa in national parks, but that is not what most of Africa is like.  In the show, you'll also see people walking around with cell phones, driving cars, shopping at malls, etc.  For the average American who has never been to Africa, this will help you to picture what it is truly like today.

This show has great stories and you will find it very funny as well.  Even if you don't have a special interest in Africa you can really enjoy this show.

Dead Aid - Book Recommendation

By Anthony:

I recently finished reading "Dead Aid" by Dambisa Moyo and would like to recommend it to you. Parts of the book are really easy to read, but to be honest, a huge section in the middle is really dense and tough going because it is about economic details that were over my head.  But really I think you could still get a lot out of reading this book even if you skip/skim much of that section.   Most important, it is written by an African author, and it is good for us to hear African voices about aid to Africa.

Generally Moyo's argument is that billions of dollars in aid have been given to African countries over the last fifty years and yet the level of poverty has largely remained the same.  Moyo argues that not only is aid ineffective but that it has contributed to many of the problems in Africa such as corruption and dependency.  Moyo argues that it would be better to stop giving aid completely, but we should do so gradually over a five year period.  She is not talking about disaster relief aid or the aid work of small organizations.  She is referring to the large scale aid given to African governments from other countries (through grants and loans).  After advocating for aid to be cut off, she proposes various other solutions for bringing development to Africa.

I'm actually rather attracted to her idea.  I don't think I would actually advocate for it (way too risky and maybe cold-hearted).  But I do wonder what would happen.  I think at first probably a lot of people would die, especially those most vulnerable.  But perhaps in the long run I could see a lot of change happening once Africans realized they could not be dependent on aid and then real development could happen.  Perhaps Moyo is taking the long view, big-picture, perspective.  It is certainly arguable, I think, that although her idea would cost a lot of lives at the beginning, that in the end more lives would ultimately be saved through finally addressing systemic issues and finally having African countries develop and be less dependent.

Quotes:
“With an average per capita income of roughly US$1 a day, sub-Saharan Africa remains the poorest region in the world.  Africa’s real per capita income today is lower than in the 1970’s, leaving many African countries at least as poor as they were forty years ago.”

“life expectancy has stagnated – Africa is the only continent where life expectancy is less than sixty years; today it hovers around fifty years, and in some countries it has fallen back to what it was in the 1950’s (life expectancy in Swaziland is a paltry thirty years).”

I found much of the book compelling, but it's a far from perfect book.  There are problems with Moyo's research, argumentation, and proposed solutions.  I'm not an expert and simply don't have the time or motivation to hash out all of those problems.  I will just comment here that I agree with the reviews that while aid has at times been a big problem, there are discernible accomplishments from aid over the past fifty years that should not be discounted and Moyo did not mention them.  Aid is not wholly evil.  It can accomplish much that is good.  You can read about the other problems of the book in these reviews:

Why Dead Aid is Dead Wrong
Review: Dead Aid - The Road to Ruin
Review of Dead Aid by William Easterly 

I think the book is incredibly thought provoking and it will open your eyes to the larger world systems of aid, grants, bonds, corruption, economies, and governments.  That is why I suggest the book to you.  Here are a few other things that I thought were interesting or that I appreciated:

• Moyo does a great job at examining the paternalistic aspect of aid.  She is tired of Africans and African countries being treated like dependent children.  She is tired of Western musicians like Bono having more of a voice than the leaders of African countries.
  
  Quote with some paraphrase - “scarcely does one see Africa’s (elected) officials or those African policymakers charged with the development portfolio offer an opinion on what should be done, or what might actually work to save the continent from its regression.”  [Instead, this responsibility has been left to musicians and actors like Bono.  Because of this, debates about the pros and cons of aid have stopped.]  “As one critic of the aid model remarked, ‘my voice can’t compete with an electric guitar.’
 
• Her examinations of corruption in African countries was very interesting and depressing.  So much aid is given to corrupt African leaders who use their money on themselves rather than their people.  Unfortunately Western countries seem to keep giving more and more aid to such corrupt governments, even to leaders who are dangerous dictators.  Moyo mentions Bokassa's coronation as Emperor of the Central African Empire in 1977 and how he spent $22 million on the event.  Unfortunately aid often fosters corruption.  At least this is what Moyo argues and it makes sense to me.  It can prop up corrupt governments, keeping them in power.  I have heard about this happening on the small scale of Western aid given for NGO work countless times while in Uganda.  If it happens on the small scale level of aid so commonly, then it only makes sense that it would be also be happening on the large scale in governments receiving aid.  
 
• I was disturbed by learning in this book about all the loans given to African countries by Western governments and how it is basically impossible for them to ever be able to pay them back because of the interest that has accumulated. Unfortunately, some of the loans were given to corrupt pockets and the money was not used to build up infrastructure so there is not enough money today being produced to pay back the loans as intended.  And when countries default on the loans, there is not much Western countries can do about it.  Western countries cannot give severe penalties because we do still want to help countries who are in poverty.  I've read some other books lately that argue that these loans should be forgiven.  I have no idea of the correct solution to this problem.  It's just depressing to think about.
 
• I learned about how much aid is given that doesn't have any good impact.  Quote - “A World Bank study found that as much as 85 percent of aid flows were used for purposes other than that for which they were initially intended, very often diverted to unproductive, if not grotesque ventures.”
 
• Moyo has a long section about China's involvement in Africa.  This was super interesting to me as we saw a lot of Chinese influence when we were in Uganda.  I thought her analysis was pretty well balanced, though some of the reviews disagree.  The Chinese are investing in Africa in a huge way.  And both sides are benefiting.  The Chinese gain from the African natural resources that they need, and the Africans are benefiting through the developments of infrastructure that the Chinese are bringing.  It is true that the Chinese work in Africa in a way that is not always good.  For example, there are some labor abuses and environmental degradation.  But generally, we've seen in Uganda at least that the Chinese are bringing good infrastructure help and providing jobs, and that is one of the things that people need most in Africa, not more aid, but more jobs.  I wonder if more of these kinds of relationships (that are just and equitable without the abuses), are really what is needed.  If the US could stop giving so much aid but instead partner with African countries in a similar way, could that really turn the tide and bring real development?  Honestly though, I don't know enough about the details about how China works in Africa to know how well it's working, and it's also probably different in each country.
 
• I thought it was incredibly interesting thinking about what Moyo said about why few companies and businesses from other countries come to Africa to set up shop here.  (though the Chinese are perhaps an exception).  Generally companies don't want to come because of the poor infrastructure, poor power supply, poor roads, poor telecommunications, because of the corruption, all the bureaucracy, all the red tape and complicated regulations, the fact that the rules are not clear, the fact that investors don't know where to go or who to ask, not to mention the risks of war, unrest, poverty, disease, terrorists, and other social problems.  Investors have a bad image of Africa.  This makes sense to me.  But it is so unfortunate, because one of the best routes to development in my mind would be more American companies coming to Africa and providing jobs.  I realize this is the same thing that Americans are complaining about as they want the jobs to stay in the US.  Our world is a complicated place.  
  
  Quote illustrating the red tape - “In Cameroon, it takes an investor who seeks a business license on average 426 days to perform fifteen procedures.”  Quote -  “The Commission for Africa notes that Uganda’s economy grew by around 7 per cent between 1993 and 2002 when the country improved its regulatory climate.  It also reduced the number of people living on less than a dollar a day from 56 per cent in 1998 to 32 percent in 2002 after the government introduced measures to attract investors.”
 
• Moyo examined the trade rules around the world, as well as Western subsidies for Western farmers.  Quote - "Estimates suggest that Africa loses around US $500 billion each year because of restrictive trade embargoes - largely in the form of subsidies by Western governments to Western farmers."
 
• Some last quotes I found particularly good or thought provoking - 

President Kagame from Rwanda said, “Now, the question comes for our donors and partners: having spent so much money, what difference did it make? In the last 50 years, you’ve spent US $400 billion in aid to Africa.  But what is there to show for it?  And the donors should ask: what are we doing wrong, or, what are the people we are helping doing wrong? Obviously somebody’s not getting something right. Otherwise, you’d have something to show for your money.  The donors have also made a lot of mistakes.  Many times they have assumed they are the ones who knew what countries in Africa need.  They want to be the ones to choose where to put this money, to be the ones to run it, without any accountability.  In other cases, they have simply associated with the wrong people and money gets lost and ends up in people’s pockets.  We should correct that.” 

“Senegal’s President Wade remarked in 2002: ‘I’ve never seen a country develop itself through aid or credit.  Countries that have developed – in Europe, America, Japan, Asian countries like Taiwan, Korea, and Singapore – have all believed in free markets.  There is no mystery there.  Africa took the wrong road after Independence.’”

African proverb book ends with - "The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago.  The second-best time is now."

Fun Teaching Activities

By Anthony:

There are so many good discussions that we have in class that I don't have time to tell you about all of them.  But I keep trying to tell you the most interesting things.  In this post, I want to focus on some of the fun teaching activities I've done recently with the students.

Just last night Sara and I hosted a game night of Bible trivia and Bible Pictionary.  We had 9 teams competing of 5 students each.  Right now there are about 60 students around the collage because the regular students are still here, and the modular students have also arrived.  They all take exams together next week.  So we gave them a break from studying exams.  It was fun, but we are not sure we will do it again - the students were quite rowdy and noisy and hard to handle!

• Earlier on, Sara helped me lead a cross-cultural learning game with the mission class of students.  One group of students were the foreigners coming to visit a culture.  The other group of students were people of the host culture which had very difficult rules of communication.  For example, if someone speaks without waiting for 5 seconds of silence, you get offended and walk away.  The students who were visiting the host culture did not know all of the culture's communication rules and had to figure things out as they went along.  It was interesting, and the students learned how to be patient in cross-cultural communication, and how to learn from their mistakes.  Here is a photo:

• In my New Testament class, we discussed the issue of Bible translation.  To help them understand the process of how we can end up with different versions today like the KJV and the NIV, I had them translate one Bible verse from English to Swahili.  It was really funny because even though they all had the same verse, each of the eight student's translations was completely and totally unique. 
• It was also really fun in this same class, when I did one of the things I always look forward to in teaching- to have the students look up Mark 9:44 and 46 in their NIV Bibles.  Then I start yelling and cajoling them, wondering why no one is reading the verses I asked them to read out loud.  The verses don't exist. It made everyone laugh really hard, and then I was able to explain why those verses are in the KJV but not the NIV and how the NIV is more accurate, because the translators had access to far more ancient manuscripts than they had during the time the KJV was translated.  If this is new information for you, don't be afraid.  You can trust the Bibles we have, you can read all about it here if you are interested - About the NIV, and here - missing verses.
• I had another really funny episode in class when I was talking about the history of biblical interpretation.  I was mentioning some of the types of biblical interpretation among Westerners, trying to read the Bible objectively (without the bias of faith), which led some Christians to reject the resurrection.  It was a good reminder to speak really clearly.  One student raise his hand and in a shaky but firm voice corrected me, "No, it did not happen like that.  You see, Jesus really died, and really rose again from the dead in three days."  He had misinterpreted and thought I was teaching against the resurrection!  I was so proud of him for being willing to challenge me in front of the class and proclaim the truth.
• For those of you from the Christian Reformed Church, you are probably familiar with the Heidelberg Catechism and the Belgic Confession.  For systematic theology, I had my students read those to get some good quick summaries of the basic theology we were discussing in class.  I didn't know how it would go, but they loved it.  They made photocopies of the entire confessions.  In their words, "Reading it was so very sweet."
• Recently we had a really busy week where I was working overtime, teaching my normal classes, and trying to teach other students in the evenings who had come only for a week.  Sara, being a great help to me, was willing to teach a review class for me to some of the students who were there temporarily.  The students were really impressed with this lady who was an agricultural expert but also has a masters from a theological college.  I'm impressed too!

We don't always just work really hard.  Sometimes we relax, and sometimes we even do fun things with the students.  Occasionally we jog together with the students, though the most people we had jogging at one time was 8 people.  Sometimes I play volleyball with the students right out in front of our house.  And we've even started to play ping pong with some of the students using a homemade net and table.  Here is one of our jogging groups minus one or two who didn't make it in the picture.

Here is a video to remind you that many of the students are really quite young.  They act like kids sometimes, both in good ways and bad.  They make me feel old!  In all seriousness though, because Sara and I and our friend Charles (the computer teacher) are pretty much the only staff living on campus, we end up doing some counseling, some scolding, some caring, and keeping people in line.

Other Class Discussions:

• Students keep commenting about how much water I drink.  It's funny because I rarely ever see Africans drinking water at all.  It's like they don't need it.  So it's not surprising that they think I'm drinking constantly. 
• Students really appreciate our punctuality in teaching, in keeping time.  As much as people try to say that African time and Western time are different but equally good, I'm convinced that African time is not truly helping anyone.  It is good that they value relationships over rushing around and being punctual, but I still believe we must be good stewards of the time God has given to us. The students have trouble keeping time, but it's one of the biggest compliments I've received here, that we keep time.  They really appreciate it, and they all wish and hope that they can change to keep time the way that we do.  It's the Westerners that write books about culture that say the two methods of time are equally good, but just different.  But if you ask Africans, they say that not keeping time is one of their biggest problems, and causes them so many difficulties, in family, church, and work.  I'd rather listen to what my African friends tell me, rather than the books about culture.  And they tell me that they don't want me to adjust to African time.  They want me to stay punctual and help them to learn punctuality as well.  So that is what I will continue to do.  (Don't worry, I'm actually pretty flexible and tolerant of African time in general).
• Speaking of time, I was very happy the other day, that although I tried to get my theology class dismissed on time, that the students made me stay to answer their questions.  They are eager to learn!  We had discussed God's providence, suffering, evil, and prayer for 4 hours of class discussion over a couple days.  And then even near the end they still had 30 minutes straight of questions, so we got out of class really late.  But that was fine with me!   Then when we discussed election and salvation and grace, they grilled me with questions for 1 hour straight.  I love students who are eager to learn.
• In theology, we also discussed what it means that humans were created in the image of God.  You might be surprised, but I did have students who thought God has a real physical body just like us.  Though it's possible they were just giving me a hard time.
• In missions, when we talked about culture, we had a great discussion about church culture and rituals we do in the church.  There are a lot of rituals in the Anglican church, like bowing before the cross, and reading through liturgies that are pretty much the same every Sunday.  It was a powerful time of teaching, talking about how the rituals are not necessarily good or bad, but what matters is whether we are meaning what we are doing from the heart, and thinking about what we are saying. 

Fireless Cooker

By Sara:

The other night, we had a fun extra educational opportunity for the students, some staff, and some friends from Berea Farm.  Anthony shared some helpful websites that the students could use as resources in their theological studies and as pastors.  Then, I shared with them about the fireless cooker.  (Oh, also our friend Emily was visiting at the time in case you're wondering who that other white person is!)

A fireless cooker isn't literally "fireless" - it just allows you to cook things that usually take a long time (like beans) with much, much less fuel.  It takes longer for the food to be ready, but you don't have to be present, except at the beginning, and it reduces the amount of fuel needed, therefore saving money (and the environment!).

I talked about how you can use different kinds of containers - a basket, a box, a big plastic basin - and then fill it with insulating material to keep your food hot so it continues cooking even after you take it off the stove.

One thing you can use for insulation is old clothes - these were Anthony's holey shorts that got sacrificed to the fireless cooker while we were in Uganda.

You can see that I also had a pot with me.  I had dry beans and maize (to make a dish called githeri) in it, which I covered with water while everyone watched so that they could soak overnight.  The next morning, I boiled those very beans and maize for ten minutes, took them off the stove, put the cover on the pot, and put it into the fireless cooker.  I left that in the cafeteria all morning and at lunchtime, we opened it up and everyone got to taste the completed githeri.  They were impressed that it was still hot and tasted just right after only 10 minutes of cooking, rather than the 2-3+ hours that it would usually take. 

Lots of students said that they wanted to try making a fireless cooker when they went home.  We asked them to bring us a picture or tell stories of whether it works for them or not, so hopefully we'll have more to share about that later.

I also gave time for questions during the session; here's a short video to show you what the discussion was like:

Bees

By Sara:

As part of my work with ADS (Anglican Development Service) here, I am assisting them with their new bee keeping project.  They have a bunch of beehives that were set up at Berea Farm in around May of this year.  I agreed to help check on the hives to see how the bees are doing.  So, Justus, the ADS director, and I suited up one evening.  The challenge was that the bee suits that they have were not particularly good ones.  The material is really thin nylon, so we made sure to wear heavy clothes underneath the suits (I also wore a sweatshirt with a hood to protect my ears) and hats.  Next time, they plan to have better suits.  At least we entertained people by looking seriously ridiculous!

The kids around the farm were extremely entertained by us.

 Here are some of the bee hives.  I find it really interesting, the way that they set up these Langstroth hives - wiring them to posts.  I've never seen Langstroth hives hanging, but it helps to keep ants from getting into the hives since they would have to climb up the post and then walk along the wire in order to get in.  It can also help to protect them from other animals that might try to get in at the honey.

One of the third-year college students, Phillip, is an expert bee-keeper so he came along to advise us.  And being extremely brave around bees, he took pictures from the nearby maize field while not wearing a bee suit (the good thing was that he was able to zoom in with the camera so he wasn't actually that close - still, I would never have gotten that close without a bee suit on!)

We found that bees have settled into three of the hives and are busy making honey and reproducing.  However, there isn't enough honey to harvest yet.  Phillip said that he would expect it to take about a year from bees moving into a hive to the time when you can harvest honey, so we will check again around February to see if there is honey to harvest then!

After leaving the hives, we lost the bees that wanted to follow us by weaving through a maize field, letting the plants brush the bees off and making it hard for them to stay after us.  When we got back to the non-bee-suited people, we found that one of the kids had made a cabbage hat.  I'm not sure how warm it could make your head, but maybe it helps keep rain off?

Purposefully Putting Culture Before Christ

By Anthony:

As a teacher, you have to be ready to deviate from your notes sometimes.  With my class on mission and evangelism, we had a tangent that amounted to a four hour class discussion over two days, not counting the time spent discussing outside of class.  What began as a simple discussion about whether God uses dreams or visions to call people to missions, culminated in a few students questioning whether Jesus is really necessary as a Savior, whether they should write a new Bible that doesn’t challenge their beliefs, and a couple students boldly declaring that we must obey our culture before obeying Christ if the two contradict.  Let me tell you what happened.  Have no fear, this story ends well, making it one of the most serious and disturbing class discussions I’ve ever had, yet one of the most delightful at the same time because God used my teaching.

The heart of the discussion was the relationship between culture and Christianity.  I suggest that one of the greatest challenges facing Africa today is that Christians have not had a truly transformed worldview, based on the Bible.  Instead there are many Africans who are still abiding by the beliefs and practices of traditional religion and culture, while at the same time attending church on Sundays.  So there are very many Africans claiming to be Christian, but very few who have actually had a transformation of their mind, to believe and to act according to the truth of God’s revelation to us (Romans 12:2).  (Perhaps this is still a problem in America as well!). Our class discussion is evidence of this reality in Africa.  This is why I’m a missionary teaching in a country that is already reached with the Gospel.

I had already spent two hours discussing the relationship between Christianity and culture.  Most my students are from the Kikuyu tribe, but there many tribes in Kenya, and our class had several other tribes represented as well.  We talked about how every culture has things that fit with the Christian faith and can be enjoyed and celebrated, and every culture has things which are fallen.  All people need to be transformed when coming to Christ.  We talked about contextualization and the Christian faith finding a home in each culture.  We talked about how Christianity is not about Western culture, and is not a white man’s religion.  We talked about the ways that Christianity could look different in Africa versus the USA.  We talked about the tension between how we remain a part of our culture even as a Christian, but yet you are also somewhat of a stranger to your culture as a citizen of the Kingdom of God.  We talked about the uniqueness of African Christianity and celebrated aspects of African culture.  The students were tracking with me and understanding, and I thought we were all on the same page.  But it must have been going over their head and not truly connecting to their lives and reality.

When we came to a later topic about dreams, I found out that in their culture, if they have a person (even a Christian) who has been having a lot of dreams, they offer a sacrifice to “cleanse” the person and purify them so they no longer have dreams.  Yet the sacrifice is not being offered to God.  In this post, it’s not necessary to get into a discussion about this particular ritual, or our later conversations about witchcraft and curses.  I was not trying to teach them that their cultural beliefs and practices were wrong.  I was actually trying to learn more about these things from them.  But I did challenge them to think about their beliefs and if they really fit with the Bible or not.  I tried to make them think through why they believe in the power of witchcraft, or uttering curses.  Where does the power come from?  The discussion was not about whether their cultural beliefs and practices regarding these things are good or bad.  That’s not the point.  The point was rather what we should use to determine whether they are good or bad.  I taught them that we should only continue in such traditional beliefs and practices if they fit with what the Bible teaches us.  But a few students argued that it does not matter so much what the Bible says.  They told me they have to continue in such beliefs and rituals for two reasons:  
1. They know from experience and stories people tell that the rituals work when prayer to God doesn’t work.  
2.  They cannot go against their culture or there will be consequences, notably other people being unhappy with them.

So we talked long, vigorously, and intensely about the relationship between culture and Christianity.  I pushed them really hard, challenging them and asking difficult questions.  I made them deeply think through what they believed and why.  I so very much appreciate how honest they were willing to be with me.  They trusted me enough to be open, and I think this was one of the first times that they were honest with themselves about this.  They understood that I did not want them to embrace Western culture, and that I was not against their African culture.  But the crux of the issue was what to do if our culture requires something different from what God requires.  Though they probably would never have dared utter such a thing before this class discussion, after forcing them to really examine their beliefs, at the end they were willing to be honest and say that culture comes first, and Christ comes second, and they will only take what Christ says in so far as it fits with their culture.  It wasn’t all of the students who said this.  Most of the students agreed with me, and some weren’t sure what to think.

At points in the long conversation:

•          Some claimed that Christianity is a white man’s religion (even though they know from church history that Christianity was in Africa first).  Some of the students were really considering that their tribe should write their own Bible, and not have this one from the Jews.  So we had to review the biblical teaching of how God revealed himself first to the Jews but always had a plan and heart for all the nations.
•          Some students, while wondering and trying to put their thoughts into words, tried to articulate that maybe Jesus is our savior and our help in some ways but in other ways we find salvation and help through the traditional culture.
•          Some claimed that their culture, before the missionaries came to Africa, was already perfect.  They already worshiped God, they were already saved.  Basically, they had no sin, and didn’t need a Savior.  I said, “you have freedom to believe this, and I will still love you, but then are you saying that Jesus is not really the Savior, and that those people did not need to hear about him?”  It shook me to my core to hear some of these pastors-to-be wonder out loud, “no, they did not need Jesus, maybe he is not the savior for all people.”  I trust that God continues to give grace in such experiences of learning and wrestling through such doubts and issues.
•          One student suggested what amounts to modern day pluralism, that each religion finds its own way to God, its own path of salvation.  And God will judge each person according to the beliefs and standards of their religion.  So I had to teach about the logical problems with a pluralistic view.
•          Many of the students said they would do whatever is practical to meet their needs.  “If prayer to God doesn’t solve my problem, I will do the traditional rituals.”  This is really common in African Christianity.  People do what works, not what is right.  If prayer doesn’t work, do a sacrifice.  If the sacrifice doesn’t work, go to the witch doctor.  Whatever works to get me healing and to get more money, that is what I will do.
•          The main reason the students gave for not going against the culture was that there are consequences for not following the culture.  I said, “But Jesus called us to do what is right, even if it means that we will suffer, to deny ourselves and follow him.”  But they kept insisting that you have to follow the culture to avoid causing a problem and being criticized by others.  So we discussed how the early Christians in the Roman Empire suffered for going against the culture, how American Christians have to go against parts of our culture today, how Indian Christians have to go against parts of their culture, etc.  Some of the students were really getting it and were ready to suffer for Christ, but some still could not fathom suffering by going against the culture.  I explained that that is the challenge of being a follower of Christ.  “Jesus said to count the cost, and we cannot be one of his followers if we are not willing to suffer for him.”
•          Some students tried to argue a middle approach, trying to reconcile what I was teaching and what some of the students were teaching.  They said we need to accept both Christianity but also the culture, and that they go hand in hand, fitting together perfectly.  They had trouble accepting that there are fallen aspects to every culture.  It seems they only want to focus on the good aspects of their various cultures, because when I tried to point out that corruption is a huge part of the culture in Kenya, they agreed that corruption is wrong, but didn’t want to say that it was part of the culture.  (Only 1% of all the money spent by the government of Kenya is spent according to the law, according to how it was supposed to be spent – see this video). 

(Another example of confusion between culture and Christianity, perhaps part of what my students are reacting against.  In East Africa, a Christian wedding is not only a wedding that is done in church before God, but a wedding with a white dress, tuxes, and a cake.  And "Christian names" are Western names like William and Harriet that aren't even in the Bible)

After the 4 hours of discussion, everyone could clearly see and understand all these issues, facing this dilemma honestly perhaps for the first time in their lives.  But about 3 or 4 of the 13 students were stubbornly insisting that their first allegiance is to the culture, and secondly to Christ and the Bible.  I challenged them seriously, but also in love, that to be true Christians we must put Christ above all other gods, including our own cultures.  We must die to self, be born again, and find new life and identity in Christ.  I said if they want be followers of the culture, and only follow some of Christ’s teachings, that they should be honest and not call themselves Christians.  And that I could not recommend anyone to be a pastor who is not willing to put Christ before their culture.  It was tense, serious, and I spoke very slowly and carefully and in love.  This might have seemed harsh to some of them, but it is the truth.

Outside of class, I checked on the students who disagreed with me.  I was relieved that they had loved the discussion.  They said it was the very best way to learn and appreciated me so much for allowing them to honestly discuss.  They did not feel offended at all.  It was one of the most helpful classes they have had.

Reflecting later, I know that part of the problem is that people are trying to value their tribal cultures that were so strongly put down by Westerners in the past.  Some of these tribes went through awful things during the colonial period.  Many of the tribes started to lose their identity and traditional practices and beliefs, many of which were good.  Many of the colonials and missionaries of the past preached Western culture right alongside the Gospel.  And some actively preached against traditional African culture, again, some of which was very good.  So I understand that now these African Christians, my students, are trying to hold on to their cultural identity and celebrate what is good in their cultures.  I’m not against that and told the students so.  I had even told them I appreciate their cultures more than my own in many ways.  But it’s ironic or at least interesting that the Kenyans today are emulating what they saw of Western missionaries in the past.  If the Western missionaries could preach their culture along with the Gospel, why can’t Kenyans do so today as well?  If the Western missionaries put their culture before Christ at times, why can’t Kenyans do so at times as well? 

It’s hard for any of us not to put our cultures first.  I’m thankful that I have been a part of so many different cultures and known so many people from around the world.  It has helped me to better see (though not perfectly of course) what is really the core of the Gospel, what the Bible really teaches, and then the cultural periphery that changes from culture to culture.

I felt like the class discussion was a huge success, even though I couldn’t convince all the students to put Christ before their culture.  Most Americans or Kenyans or any Christians who do put their culture over Christ, don’t realize they are doing it, or aren’t honest that they are doing it.  At least these few students are able to recognize clearly what they were doing and articulate it. 

But the best part came later!   After we agreed to disagree, the students themselves continued the discussion, all of them together, outside of class.  And the rest of the class was able to convince some more of the students that Christ comes before culture.  One who had initially disagreed even came to tell me of his heart/mind change, that he is putting Christ first, and that he is now going to work on convincing the last of the hold-outs.  I’m so grateful for this class of students, to wrestle through hard topics like this together, and support one another in figuring out the truth.  And I’m thankful for God using me to help them think through these things.

How about you?  Do you put culture before Christ?  You might quickly say "no."  But are you sure?Are you willing to suffer by putting the truth of God's Word first in forming your beliefs?  Are you willing to be called a bigot for believing what God says even if it radically goes against the culture's ideas?  Are you willing to go against your political party because you put Christ first?  Do you get your identity first and foremost as a Christian, rather than as a conservative, or as a Baptist, or as a Dutch person, or as a Democrat?  I'm proud of my students for admitting what they were really doing.  Can we be courageous enough to also admit if we are forming our beliefs and opinions about controversial issues based on our culture's ideas first rather than God's Word?