A change in perspective

Have you ever had an experience in your life, where you took a risk, didn't know what to expect, but found that absolutely everything about the experience was worthwhile? Welcome to my trip to Sierra Leone. Located on the Western Coast of the African Continent, Sierra Leone is a small country only about half the size of South Carolina in land area, but abundantly wealthy in natural resources such as diamonds and lumber. Many people have seen movies such as Blood Diamond, which is said to portray the struggles of the 10 year civil war the country endured from 1991 until 2002, however the movie falls far short of showing the reality of the nation. During my time in Salone, as the people of the country call it, I was challenged to lay aside the notion of Africa as a continent with great untapped potential, and came to see a nation of real people, with real lives, accomplishing amazing things. 

          

  Although my trip was not a Christian led experience (see earlier post), the work in which I was engaged was still kingdom building. As James 2: 14-17 says, “What good is it my brothers, if a man has faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, ‘Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action is dead.” As a follower of Christ I believe part of fulfilling the Great Commission in Matthew 28, is working to first live out James 2 and meeting people’s immediate needs.

So often Christians travel abroad on what we have termed “Mission Trips” and enter into a culture which we more often than not, understand very little about. We come with a mindset of “helping the least of these” failing to recognize the beauty in the lifestyle and practices of the people living there. We enter into unfamiliar situations with our western mindsets and feel that our way of worshiping God and living for Christ is the only way to do it. Rarely do we stop to consider how a group’s cultural practices might fit in with living a life for Christ, and allow the people to preserve their cultural identity. I have heard stories of Christians entering Muslim societies and telling women they have been freed by the love of Christ and should show it by rejecting the practice of wearing a hijab (Muslim head covering). While it is true that the love of Christ does set us free from religion and saves us by grace over deeds (Ephesians 2:8-9), forcing such a practice into the cultural fabric of a society fails to recognize the cultural relevance of such a practice. Will Christ reject a woman who chooses to wear a hijab and worship him? Are the two beyond reconciliation? Absolutely not (Romans 8:38-39). As Christians, as we live out the Great Commission as given to us in Matthew 28, and follow Christ’s command to “go and make disciples of all nations” we must do so in humility and with the understanding that we too have much to learn from those whose souls we care so deeply about.

Prior to this trip I deeply believed and told everyone who cared to hear it, and even a few that didn’t, that my life goal after paying off my college debt, is to be a missionary in  a developing nation (not a “third world country”, see my earlier post about Honduras for how I feel about the term “third world”). However, after spending time in Sierra Leone and gaining insight into the Christian culture of viewing a nation of people as a project to be saved, the thought of taking on the label of a missionary soured for me. While I do in my heart of hearts believe that most Christians have good and honest intentions in traveling to show the love of Christ through good deeds in less materially wealthy nations, I saw first-hand the damage that can be done to a country when little is understood or considered about how to promote long term well-being. Salone has been flooded with donations all over the world since ending the war. While the nation initially did need assistance in recovery, the continued view of the poor destitute people (which is extremely misguided) has led to an over-abundance of donations being dumped in the country. For people who understand the economics of supply and demand, you will understand how this overabundance of free clothing, shoes, bags, ect. has led to the inability for any markets to be established by the people living in the nations themselves as anything they make and try to sell, people can go somewhere else to get for free. This means that if a person wants to be an enturpanure and try to make an income, it is nearly impossible as they cannot get people to pay for the goods they are selling, as people can go elsewhere and get the same goods for free from donations sent to the country by well-intentioned people. This is a huge topic, and has deep roots, and as this post is already shaping up to be quite long, I will cut this shot and just say that as we seek to show the love of Christ we should do so with the best interest of the people in mind, not just by doing what is easiest for us or what makes us feel like we helped the most. I will say that after this experience I desire to live in a nation like Sierra Leone more than ever and have every intention of moving to such a nation, (God willing) and living life with the people and simply being a resource to assist them in achieving their goals, whatever they may be.

While Sierra Leone is predominantly an Islamic Society, there is a Christian minority. Although I did not share the Gospel directly with anyone while there, I did have the opportunity to build relationships and show the love of Christ. Religion is a topic openly discussed in the society, and on more than on occasion I was asked if I was a Muslim by inquiring young men, to which I would respond I was a Christian, and receive a response of “Ah, Christian. But there is only one God and he is the same (implying we both served the same God).” Everyone in the nation claims a religion as the existence of God is an undisputed fact, and atheism is the strangest belief of all, a concept many cannot understand, as GOD just IS, in their culture.

I visited a local Methodist church one Sunday and although the service was different than the services I attend in the states, the fact that they were worshiping the same God and Christ that I worship at home was more than enough. There was not a huge choir or air conditioning and although the people are not materialistically wealthy by American standards, offering was given twice. The first offering was simply a thanks offering for God waking everyone up that morning and allowing us all to congregate to praise him, everyone gave whatever they could afford to give at this offering, while the second offering was an optional giving much like the offering collected in American churches. For the people of Salone, life is not something that is taken for granted, it is a precious gift to wake up and serve God anew. During the service I attended there was prayer for two families at the church who had lost loved ones that very week. The families came to the front and the whole church spent about 5 minutes praying for peace and comfort during their time of loss.

 An interesting difference between this church and the churches I am so accustomed to here at home, was that offering was a celebration. The music was turned up and everyone danced down the one isle of the church to the front where two offering chests sat, and dropped their money in. This is not a criticism of the American church by any means, but rather a simple noting of the differences in cultural praise. Although it was hot in the small church and we were all in close quarters sweating, the spirit of praise that encompassed the service was amazing. The majority of the service was singing and a beautiful depiction of Psalm 95:2-3,“Let us come before him with Thanksgiving an extol him with music and song. For the Lord is the great God, the great king above all Gods.”

During my time in Sierra Leone I found myself struggling to stay in relationship with God as I do in the states. I was still reading my bible first thing every morning and every evening before going to sleep, but it was not penetrating my soul, showing me areas of my life I needed to reevaluate and re-align with God’s will. I was so confused as to why I felt as if I was drifting further away from God the longer I was in the country, when I wanted to glorify him above all else with what I was doing. I searched my heart and asked God to reveal to me why I was not in constant conversation with him and why he felt so far away. I was still fully aware that my feelings did not dictate truth and I knew God was still near, but I was perplexed as to why in a country with limited electricity, minimal sewage facilities (some bathrooms had flushing toilets, most did not), and public infrastructure which made driving an adventure within its self, was I so outwardly and inwardly happy, but placing God in a box and only talking to him when I was frustrated with people on the trip or when trying to be patient. At some point after I had returned to the states and was in full conversation with God about how I did not want to give into the selfishness of the culture around me, I finally realized that my struggle to conversate with God in Salone stemmed from the fact that the lifestyle in which I was engaged in Sierra Leone was so much of what I struggle to obtain here in the states. Because material things were not readily available or easily affordable to people there, there was not a preoccupation with non-essential aspects of life, one of the things I most often find myself asking God to remove from my desires. Because I was not struggling with things I struggle with in the states, I subconsciously fell into a place of complacency where I acknowledged God, but I failed to set aside time to truly engage with Him and hear from him. The relationship became very one-sided with me thanking him for the beauty of the nation and for the opportunity to learn, but me never stopping to take the time to listen to him as I do when I am in need. This realization has led to some serious self-searching and time on my knees asking God to constantly remind me of my need for him, and it revealed to me my own shortcomings in setting time aside to be still and just listen. Too often, even when doing good deeds for the advancement of the kingdom, we get so caught up in what we are doing and talking to God about that, that we forget Psalm 46:10 and in our busyness, we lose sight of our number one priority; our relationship with the lover of our souls.