G.O. 2005: Namibia (pt. 18)

Part 18 of my Namibia 2005 Chronicles. Just two more sections to go... Lord willing, I'll have them up in a few hours. Earlier sections of the document are available in the right hand panel.

Promise Of A New Day (part 2)
What has the final say? The promise of a new day…
It seems to me that you could sum up the old, conventional view of short-term missions, and church participation for that matter, in the phrase ‘believe and then belong’. While they didn’t express it in those words, that is the sentiment behind my peers’ perceptions of our inviting people who were not active in the church to the mission field. It really smacked of an ‘us’ and ‘them’ distinction.

The problem that I was having is that Jesus made no such distinction. In fact, Jesus was most often found among the people that the religious leaders of the day thought of as ‘them’. Jesus invited people, “Come, follow me”, and it wasn’t until a couple of years later that He ever got around to asking them, “So, who do you say that I am?” Jesus operated on the reverse paradigm: ‘belong and then believe’.

In the months that followed the 2005 trip we saw this ‘belong and then believe’ paradigm at work. A few members of our 2005 team and even members of their families continued in relationship with Christ’s Church folks, and in spiritual conversations to one degree or another. It is evident that God is at work in many lives.

The summer of 2006 brought an opportunity for two of the ‘05 dancers’ parents, who had not been a part of Christ’s Church prior to their daughter’s trips, to make the trip to Namibia as part of a Christ’s Church team. One of them was the mom who had told her daughter back at the beginning, ‘If there’s anything fishy going on there, get up and leave, and don’t give them my check’. I believe that both of those parents would tell you that God has continued stirring the waters of their souls in very particular ways since the 2005 trip. As I type this, one of those two parents has booked a solo trip for the beginning of 2007 to continue ministering alongside our friends in Namibia.

But the realities we were awakening to as the trip neared its end have come to pass. In the eighteen months since the dance trip, many of the dancers themselves have moved on into very different settings – three into their second year of college now, two into their freshman year, four having moved from Middle School to High School, a handful of them given keys to the car – and few and far between have been the opportunities for most of our paths to meaningfully cross. While my involvement in the dancers’ world as a dance parent has given me slightly more opportunity to run into the girls than the other Christ’s Church members of our team, it certainly isn’t the same. A few of the girls still go out of their way to greet me and converse, but with a few others I feel fortunate to see even a smile or a wave. Gone are the days of long walks and heartfelt talks. What I would not give for another late-night stroll with Carli and Diandre; another talk about going home with Becca; another ride with Stephanie; another chance to hear Bonnie call me ‘Dairy Products’; another seat by the morning fire next to Casey; another glimpse of Sam sitting up late writing in her journal; another chance to see Steph, Carli, Adria and Michelle dance to Honest Questions; another chance to see Jaclyn dance to Nowhere To Lay My Head; and one more sight of Jaimie singing worship songs with us around the fire.

But it is, after all, a new day.

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