Reality

For the past few years, I've taken the time around my birthday to look back on some of the things I've been blessed to do in my life.

This year, I'm not doing it for the mere fact that I don't think I have anything significant to add to the list. I could, of course, add that I had run off the edge of a mountain. Been in a boat that almost capsized in a storm. I had quit my well-paying job to be a full-time student. I've read countless books. Filled hundreds of pages with words. I've had more job interviews than I ever thought I'd want. I've prayed, believed, and still watched doors close to opportunities I thought were certain. I've sold even more stuff so I'd travel lighter.

I've served. Learned. Changed. Moved. Waited. Worked. I've shed some pounds. In a way, it feels like I've been spending time in autumn!

It's been a year of not only loss but also gain, though at this stage of the journey, it's hard to verbalize all I've gained.

My dissertation is moving along. Two friends with Ph.D.s in different fields recently told me on separate occasions: "The dissertation journey is a lonely journey." They spoke from experience. I can attest to the fact that working on a dissertation is possibly one of the hardest things I've done in my life.

Along the way, I've gone round and round about what I want to do with my dissertation. For a while, I thought I would want to work at a university and teach full-time. But the more I interviewed with tertiary institutes, the more I realized the activator in me would die a slow death in their mazes of bureaucracy. I could never just talk (or write) about things that need to be done. I have to be part of doing, of bringing about change in the world we live in.

And so, on the brink of another birthday, I shall continue to push in, wait, surrender, push some more, and walk believing that God is weaving something far more beautiful than I could ever hope to forge myself.

I certainly look forward to looking back from the vantage point of my 44th birthday. In the meantime, I'll do my best to enjoy this current season of seeking, shedding, changing, learning, writing, rewriting, asking, discerning & growing, knowing that even once I've completed my degree, these verbs will continue being central to my life.

Hopefully I'll have a job by then again, though, a place to call home. A place to hang my reticulated giraffe.

I get paid to do this...

Reality. Check!

What do you do when 90% of the people in your church are unemployed? Is xenophobia understandable (not pardonable, but understandable) within the South African context where hundreds of thousands of people flock into the country from countries around the continent, move into the slums, and stand on the same corners as men and women who are vying for R100-a-day jobs (about $12)?

These were some of the issues we grappled with in the Theology of Work class in Cape Town last week. And as a class from very diverse backgrounds (everyone having grown up in a segregated South Africa), contextualization meant that we had to talk about some very un-PC topics, especially for a group of ministry leaders and pastors. We learned from one another about thoughts on affirmative actions, about presuppositions of other peoples, about our very different worldviews.

The rest of the group will meet again in a month to discuss what changes they have made in their sphere of influence as a result of having attended the seminar. (I won't be traveling to Cape Town for that, of course.) But everyone agreed, we could not go home and slip back into the groove of "life as usual."

In which ways, you may wonder, does a "theology of work" affect your life in general?

First of all, it deals with our identity. We were created in God's image. He is the Creator, the Redeemer and the Sustainer. If we represent Him in our families, our neighborhoods (even a slum), in our workplaces, we need to represent all of him. (In the Christian church, we often focus just on the redemption part, and neglect the creative side, or the fact that we are called to also sustain our environment.)

Genesis 2: 15 talks about God putting Man in the garden to "till it and keep it." We were created to work, to worship God through our work. Next, he gave Man the responsibility of being creative in naming the animals. (Only after that comes the Fall, and with it, work becomes difficult.)

However, Christ came to redeem us from the consequences of sin. Even in the church service I was in yesterday, the pastor talked about this (the Fall in Genesis 3 and Redemption in 2 Cor 5) without suggesting for a moment that more than just the broken relationship between God and Man has been redeemed.

And this, my teachers would suggest, is not an isolated incident. Pastors are mostly trained to focus on the Redemption mandate (Matthew 28), not on the Creation mandate. These two cannot be separated.

So then, if we embrace the fact that God created us to work, and we are to represent God in our workplace the way he intends for us to do, it would have several far-reaching implications. Some are:
* We need to treat our coworkers with the respect they deserve as God's creations. This is one of the most effective ways of actually helping someone see themselves through God's eyes!
* We need to be good stewards of our time, our resources and our abilities.
* We need to trust people and create and environment where they can learn to tap into God's creativity.
* We need to work as equals (just as the Trinity is non-hierarchical, we cannot suggest that one vocation--church ministry, for instance--is more important than a career in sales).

I can go on.

And I will. Believe me, there's so much more to say. Because all of these implications carry over into family, government, business, leisure.

We cannot try to separate the various facets of our lives. But until we as teachers in the church and mission field learn to encourage people in "ministries in society" (what we'd sometimes wrongly call "regular jobs" as opposed to what, irregular or supernatural jobs??) to see their roles, too, as "full-time ministry," our lives will remain fragmented. As will the church. We as Bible teachers will deliver messages that have little impact on the business world because it's not a world we've been educated in. We can teach messages that fall flat in the workplace. But if we humble ourselves and ask those in full-time ministry in society for their input on workplace ministry issues, messages will become much more relevant!

That's a lot to think about. And a lot to talk about. It means we've got to listen more.

I know I'll blog about these topics often as time goes by, since I hope to be focusing more and more on presenting training on this topic as the main focus of the teachings I'll do. There's still so much more for me to learn.

I'd love to hear some of your thoughts on these issues, especially if you're someone who doesn't work in a church or a mission agency.

The journey continues.

Can you tell I'm excited about what I'm learning? :)

News from the bottom of Africa

It's just before 6 am. I'm wide awake, listening to the rain coming down. Rain and wind is nothing unusual in Cape Town. Not this time of year, at least.

It's been an amazing two days. On Sunday, I flew down and was picked up at the airport by my sister, Sanet. We drove along the coast, seeing at least 20 or so Southern Right Whales playing in the waters off the coast. One must've been as close to shore as 50 feet. They come to calf in the waters off the South African coast this time of year. Sadly, I don't have my good camera with me, only a pocket camera, which doesn't do as good a job capturing those moments.

Sanet's place is close to the waters, near Simonstown (for those who know the Cape), and the view of the waters (and whales in the bay) is breathtaking.

On Monday morning, we braved the traffic and rain to get to the other side of the city, where my class is.

We're about 15 students in class, and this is technically an independent study for me, since the other 14 are only attending the week's discussions out of interest. No-one else is taking the class for credit. So it's funny being the only person typing away on my laptop while Gwen's speaking!

Dr. Gwen Dewey is one of the directors of the Theology of Work program, and it's an honor to be able to take this class from her. She wrote the curriculum for the program, so she's the most knowledgeable, I'd say, on what the Theology of Work training is all about.

I guess a one-line summary of Theology of Work would be that it's about the intersection of faith and work, or how one can effectively be a Christian in the workplace. Not a new concept, but this program presents the ideas in new ways, I believe.

Will see if I can get some photos uploaded in a bit.

Time to get ready for what's lying ahead today. :)

I'm back!

It’s about time that I step forward and write an update again. Right now, I’m heading to Cape Town, at the southernmost tip of Africa, to attend a class on “Theology of Work.” The person who wrote the curriculum for the program is offering the class in Cape Town, and she would be best able to answer all the questions I have regarding teaching the content in other contexts.

What is Theology of Work?
The premise behind Theology of Work is that God’s first mandate to man was to work (to take care of the earth). Work came before the fall. Work was originally an act of worship, of unity with God.

In the church, we tend to have an understanding that “regular” work is of lesser value than “spiritual” work. Which can lead to making the majority of the people in church fell like their lives have little significance.

Point in case: A few months ago, I read a disturbing comment on the blog of a friend. She “came out” on her blog, admitting that she worked at an insurance company (if I remember correctly). She said that she felt like all the other Christian bloggers were stay-at-home moms or women in ministry, but that she wanted to be honest about the fact that she had to go back to work to pay the bills.

If we’d help everyone understand that their roles to which they have been called are truly significant, that their sphere of influence at work (be it on a farm, in a factory, in a classroom, or at home) is like their very own church, where they are responsible for each person—not to preach at them, but to serve and love them in ways God desires for us to serve and love one another. If we as Christians would operate in such a way, the church would look quite a bit differently, don’t you think?

Why this?
As I set out to work on the paper for my last class, I was invited to join a classmate of mine (who works in the slums of Nairobi) to teach Theology of Work. My paper itself was on leadership and power, and I equated power to being fire. (In rural Africa, neighbors often borrow fire from one another.) I concluded that if we were to lead in appropriate ways, it would be like giving others fire, or the ability to step out and take leadership in their own circumstances.

I believe that the ideas presented in the Theology of Work program are as such that it allows each and every believer who is mature enough to embrace these responsibilities to “have the fire” to lead (serve) in their places of work. That is true empowerment! And that’s why I want to focus more on teaching this field of ministry.

I’m in the process of visiting with the ELI board regarding what such a change in ministry focus would look like, and I’ll keep you posted.

I landed in Johannesburg earlier this week, and spent a couple of days at my sister Liesl’s place, packing up my things I had stored at their house. Liesl and her family have been offered a job in Davis, California, and they’ll be moving next month.

On Thursday, I flew to Port Elizabeth and came to my parents’ place in Jeffreys Bay for a couple of days. I was able to do a presentation to a group of people from their church on the work ELI is doing in Kenya, as well as my role at ELI.

It’s an unexpected blessing to have been able to spend a few days with my family. (Nowhere else do I get breakfast in bed!)

Today, I’m heading to Cape Town. I’ll get to spend the night at my sister Sanet’s place, and from there, go to class for the week. I believe this week’s class will be very significant regarding the next chapters in ministry.

I look forward to sharing more with you this week and as the journey continues.