{"id":13554,"date":"2017-06-21T20:33:15","date_gmt":"2017-06-22T03:33:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=13554"},"modified":"2017-06-23T16:21:55","modified_gmt":"2017-06-23T23:21:55","slug":"an-unforgettable-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/an-unforgettable-story\/","title":{"rendered":"A Convicting Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

Author Mark (Johannes) Mathabane wrote his autobiography in 1986\u00a0in order to\u00a0give people a window into\u00a0the atrocities of Apartheid. <\/em>The book Kaffir Boy<\/em> describes life in the segregated township of Alexandra through the eyes of a child who eventually escapes the suffocating claws\u00a0of poverty and segregation through the pursuit of education.\u00a0Through his love for\u00a0tennis, Johannes\u00a0eventually gets a\u00a0college scholarship in America and manages to escape Apartheid.<\/p>\n

The book is fascinating and heartbreaking.\u00a0 It speaks to the heart.\u00a0 It brings so many emotions and thoughts as it\u00a0puts a face to segregation, poverty, and hunger. \u00a0It also\u00a0captures\u00a0the theological deficiencies common to a Christianity\u00a0shaped by African traditions that\u00a0Matthew Michael identified in Christian Theology and African Traditions.<\/em><\/p>\n

Reading Mathabane’s life made me reflect on three areas related to ministry.<\/p>\n

1. The holistic nature of the Gospel.<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Many black\u00a0South Africans perceived\u00a0Christianity \u00a0to be a white-man religion created by white people to keep\u00a0blacks under\u00a0white supremacy.\u00a0 In the midst of so much suffering, Mathabane reacts to the message of eternal life as presented by two evangelists:<\/p>\n

\u201cI know people of your kind. You\u2019re dirty stinking liars! You make people forget reality \u00a0and dream about some stupid heaven no one really knows exists! If people like Limela don\u2019t confront reality in the face, who\u2019ll do it for them, heh, tell me, who? Who\u2019ll fight for their rights, their honour, their dignity?[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

That question resonates loud in my mind. Who will fight for their rights, honor, and dignity?\u00a0 Ironically, God had entrusted His people with this task. He wants us to be the ones who practice justice and love mercy (Micah 6:8) and to look after orphans and widows in their distress (James 2:10). This quote\u00a0makes me realize that what Johannes needed was a gospel that did not only address the afterlife, but the current life.\u00a0 He needed a loving hand, not just a loving message.<\/p>\n

2. The embracing nature of Gospel.<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Appalling.\u00a0 That is the only word that comes to mind when I see how Christians used the Bible to define\u00a0black Africans as\u00a0an inferior race with smaller brains who were\u00a0under Ham\u2019s curse and therefore were destined to serve the white race.\u00a0 I found Mrs. Smith honesty refreshing when she said,<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, I do believe in the Bible. That\u2019s why I cannot accept the laws of this country. We white people are hypocrites. We call ourselves Christians, yet our deeds make the Devil look like a saint. I sometimes wish I hadn\u2019t left England.\u201d[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

Sometimes, the ills of a nation can be better perceived by outsiders who end up residing in the nation. That same conflicting feeling experienced by Mrs. Smith is what I have been feeling ever since I started my research on the history of race in America. I can\u2019t believe that Christians who proclaim to love Christ\u00a0can at the same time embrace segregation. The response from Johannes\u2019 grandmother made me shed some tears: \u201cYou\u2019re not like most white people I\u2019ve worked for, madam,\u201d Granny said. \u201cMaster and you are kind toward our people. You treat us like human beings.\u201d[3]<\/a><\/p>\n

Is it really that simple?\u00a0 Yes, it is.\u00a0 The more I minister in a multiethnic ministry the more I realize that a key ingredient is\u00a0to treat everybody\u00a0as an equal human being. To treat others like human beings means acknowledging that we are all created in God\u2019s image, descendants of Adam and Eve, and therefore we are related to each other\u2014we may not look alike but we are family.\u00a0 It means recognizing that we are all fallen creatures\u2014our faults are not due to our skin color but to our sinful nature, therefore we all need to be treated with grace. It means embracing the fact\u00a0that we are all created with potential to become more than what we currently are, and therefore we all need opportunities\u00a0to pursue our God-given potential.<\/p>\n

3. The intentionality of the Gospel.<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Mathabane\u2019s story helped me see\u00a0the impact that education and acts of generosity can have in the life of a person in extreme poverty.\u00a0 Despite his father\u2019s lack of support, his mother convinces Johannes to pursue education with this premise, \u201cI want you to go to school, because I believe that an education is the key you need to open up a new world and a new life for yourself, a world and life different from that of either your father\u2019s or mine.\u201d[4]<\/a>\u00a0 She was right.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been in Africa. I have seen in Liberia the schools that churches established\u00a0to help orphans. I have seen the children in need of books, uniforms, and scholarships.\u00a0 I have seen the teachers with little income. Now that I have read this book, I think of these needs\u00a0differently. \u00a0Many churches want to help the poor, but I want for Ethnos to be impactful. Mathabane tells me that one\u00a0way to be impactful is to intentionally invest in opportunities that seek to give people in extreme poverty not only a better present, but also a better future.<\/p>\n

As I write my last blog of my\u00a0DMin, I see this book as a good culmination to our reflective reading. As a leader equipped with global perspectives, God calls me to live an impactful life for His glory.\u00a0 I become a better leader when I invest my life in God\u2019s interests, when I see humanity in every person, when I see beauty in diversity, and when I care for both the temporal and eternal needs of people. I look forward to visiting\u00a0South Africa as we meet once again to refine our leadership skills\u00a0with\u00a0global perspectives.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Mathabane, Mark, Kaffir Boy: The True Story of a Black Youth’s Coming of Age in Apartheid South Africa\u00a0(New Millennium Books. Kindle Edition), p. 220.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Ibid., 190.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Ibid., 191.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Ibid., 133.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Author Mark (Johannes) Mathabane wrote his autobiography in 1986\u00a0in order to\u00a0give people a window into\u00a0the atrocities of Apartheid. The book Kaffir Boy describes life in the segregated township of Alexandra through the eyes of a child who eventually escapes the suffocating claws\u00a0of poverty and segregation through the pursuit of education.\u00a0Through his love for\u00a0tennis, Johannes\u00a0eventually gets […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":71,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[972,689,981,1001,688,702],"class_list":["post-13554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-ethnos","tag-ethnos-bible-church","tag-ethnos360","tag-mathabane","tag-pablo-morales","tag-pastor-pablo-morales","cohort-lgp6"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/71"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13554"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13554\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13652,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13554\/revisions\/13652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}