Beating the Bush About

"Why are we so often beating the bush about?" That's not the expression... but I know what he means. Steven is a pastor in Rwanda, a long-time friend of Faustin's, and an integral part of the TLAfrica leadership team. He's one of the ones that really gets the ideas that Ed is putting forth in the conference. Steven is fond of exclaiming "I didn't know we had a New York Times journalist in our midst!" whenever he sees me taking pictures. My first interaction with Steven was a pretty heavy discussion about evangelism shortly after Ed and I arrived in Rhungeri. "You do not go to orphaned children with no place to live and give them candy." he continued. "Of course they will take the candy, but that is not what they need." What are we doing with candy in foreign countries with foreign needs? Why don't we find out what needs are actually there? Why don't we allow them to tell us what we need? We are the body, so why should an eye take a look at a lacerated finger and say, "What you need is a contact lens!" The finger knows what it needs. If the eye asked the finger, or at least did some in-depth study, it would discover that clearly a band-aid is required, and perhaps some neosporin. What's really going on is blurry vision. The eye needs a contact lens, and a strong prescription at that. Instead of going blindly throughout the world satisfying needs that do not exist, let's take a good accurate look at what discipleship really means, and start by empowering leaders in communities all around the world. Let's let them tell us what they need. If they can build houses fine on their own, put down the bloody hammer. Stop beating the bush about. Seriously, the bush is just going to get hurt. This is what I love about Faustin's vision for TLAfrica. He knows these people, so he is bringing in resources that will be effective to address the needs that he knows are there. Money is always necessary, and that's all that some people are equipped to give, but money is rarely enough. This is one of the many big things I am learning here. All the monetary support that Ed could donate for ten years could not compare to the endowment he offers by coming here himself to impart wisdom specific to the needs that are present. I hope that my presence here is felt as a blessing. I'm sure that there is more I could do. There always is. There is always another need that we're not aware of. So, why don't we, as the privileged church in the United States, invest a little more time into figuring out what it is that is needed, and pull for someone else those strings that we've become so adept at pulling for ourselves.