Africa Time

The conference this morning began at 8:30 on Africa time. Africa time is a time zone of sorts, but unlike New York always being 3 hours ahead of LA, and Nairobi always being 10 hours ahead, it has no geographical relationship to any location save itself. Essentially, the formula is that wherever you are in Africa, the time there is always anywhere between 30 minutes to 2 hours behind the time wherever you are in Africa. Faustin did advise us on the time change, noting that we shouldn't plan to get started until 9:00 to allow time for people to arrive and greet each other on the first day. But a 30 minute cushion wasn't quite enough. We headed from the hotel to the church, which I remembered very well from my deja vu, and I would have been right to assume that it couldn't hold 90 people, but I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the Lord had blessed them with the funds for a new structure. The corrugated tin building held up by a matrix of tree branches over a dirt floor would seem very primitive to us, but for these people, it is a matter of pride, and a testament to the Lord's provision. We rolled up around 9:30, and enjoyed meeting and greeting many new faces, as well as a small handful of familiar ones, then went inside to enjoy some authentic Kenyan worship before the conference began. Finally, enough of the attendants had arrived to begin, so at 8:30 this morning, we began right on time at 10:30.

The conference began with Mike's first session of teaching. He introduced his discipleship curriculum, which applies three key scriptural metaphors - those of light, water, and fruit - to the philosophy and practice of discipleship. As I've mentioned, the concept of discipleship is something desperately needed here in Africa. Of course it's desperately needed everywhere, but there seems to be an extra barrier between these people and the understanding and acceptance of the idea. That is not to say that they're unwilling - these men and women have hearts for the growth of the kingdom of God that are as fervent as any hearts in the world - but discipleship has not been a natural part of their faith up to this point. After all, they've been evangelized with the "here's a Bible to read, now I'm going home" method. They were given faith without foundation, ministry without mentorship. Why would we expect them to engage in discipling one another when they have never been shown how? Mike's teaching concluded with an intense small group study session (some practice forming discipleship groups would seem like a decent idea...), and a question and answer time. It seems that reluctance to be the first to speak in a classroom setting is as universal a condition as lost-socks-in-the-dryer syndrome (The point isn't that these people don't have dryers - or socks, for that matter - the point is that if they did, they'd surely lose their socks in the dryer eventually, and be just a bewildered as you or I. Also, that's not the point either. The point is that they were hesitant to speak up.) After a short lull, they came out of their shells, and really began to latch on to the teaching.

Tea time came around lunch time, and proved to be the highlight of my day for an entirely different reason. We took bicycle taxis back to the hotel. I think the world would be a much better place if all transportation - or at least all taxi transportation - was handled in this fashion. The passenger rides behind the driver on a padded seat over the rear wheel. There is a tiny handle under the back of the driver's seat to hold onto. When we finally got off back at the church, I noticed that Mike's knuckles were quite pale. I took pictures and video the whole time, and seriously contemplated riding backwards for a more unobstructed range of camera angles.

Africa time continued as we had lunch around 2:30, and the first day concluded with Faustin's turn to teach. His focus was the other side of Mike's discipleship coin: leadership. The two teaching times really enhanced one another. I love watching Faustin teach, because his style really sits somewhere in between Socrates and Billy Graham. He speaks with wonderful insight and interacts frequently with his classroom, but he has the fire of an evangelist. It's a beautiful and effective mixture.

Back at the hotel, we ordered dinner, and just as the night before, it was served to us an hour afterwards. I think they really do have to go kill the chicken first. The wait provides ample time for contemplation, and I got to thinking about when the entire world must have operated on Africa time. Certainly we didn't always have something better to do all the time. When did we forget how to sit still? There was a time when men knew how to talk with one another without having to schedule the meeting on their iPhones. At least for this month, I think I'll enjoy my trip back in time. Back in Africa time.