Cultural Adjustments

Travel back to the States for my Home Assignment was uneventful. I flew from Windhoek, to Johannesburg, to London, to Boston. Layovers provided some welcome hours to sleep stretched-out and lying down, and to use the free airport wifi. Overall my travel lasted about 31 hours bringing me back to the place that I had for so long called 'home'.

However, it didn't take long before I started running into cultural differences where I needed to readjust. Apparently the Red Sox had just played a baseball game in London the night before, so our plane was filled with Boston sports chatter and American accents. As soon as I walked out of the airport I was confronted with the humidity of a temperate summer. After loading my baggage into the trunk, I waited behind the car desperately trying to figure out which side was the passenger side so I wouldn't be embarrassed by going to the wrong door. The friend who picked me up from the airport, his kids had gotten tall and really grown up in the 3 years since I'd seen them last. After picking up my borrowed vehicle, I had to keep reminding myself that there is no clutch to push down and to stay on the right side of the road. Even just drinking a Coke today, I was reminded that they use different recipes for different regions, and I've grown used to the taste of southern African Coke.

It's funny the little things that we become so used to, that become such ingrained habits. Those are some of the things that make up our culture, the things we think and do "unthinkingly," as Dallas Willard says. Even when you are well-prepared and expecting them, some of those difference can still take you by surprise when they happen, like a simple sip of Coke. So that's the stage of reentry that I'm in at the moment.

Photo of the Day

Peaceful mornings on the lake

Home Assignment

Having been in Namibia for five years now, my second year term is finishing up and I'm about to return to the States for a 6-month home assignment (What is "Home Assignment"?). During that time I will be reconnecting with all those Stateside who have been participating in this ministry through prayer and financial support and sharing more about what God's been doing in Namibia. I'll be visiting churches to encourage them to be involved in God's mission in the world. And I'll get to spend some time for rest and spiritual refreshment.

I'll spend about three of those months investing back into my home church in New Hampshire. The rest of the time I'll be traveling around the east coast and northern mid-west area making visits along the way. If you're in any of those areas and would like to connect up or have me visit your church then please let me know!

One Day

This past weekend my church hosted their annual One Day youth camp. We had over 100 youth in attendance, plus many church members and young adults volunteering to help pull it off. I was helping out as part of the worship team. The theme for the day was HE>i (that is, "He is greater than I") and the main sessions looked at how God is greater than everything, greater than us, and greater than our mess ups. During our closing session 17 youth made decisions for Christ for the first time! Then in our worship jam session after that they sang so loud that the band couldn't even hear what we were playing in the monitors. 😂Check it out...

Along the River

Rundu is the second largest city in Namibia located along the Kavango River which makes up our northern border with Angola. This area of Namibia is one of the most diverse in terms of languages and people groups. One of those is the Hambukushu people living in villages spread along the river about 160km past Rundu. In one of these villages, SIM had a historic mission station that has since been handed over to the church. It was leaders of that church who invited me to come lead a weekend training seminar with their youth leaders.

It took the whole day to drive from Windhoek to Mbukushu, so that Friday evening we only had time for brief introductions. Since I arrived after dark, it was only the next morning when I could actually see where I was. The church plot is located right along the river, the rising sun glistening off the rippling water. It's a place where everything is green and the trees grow tall and the dry desert sinks into distant memory. There are a few old missionary houses on the plot. I was staying in one with another missionary, and the 20 or so youth leaders were all bunking in another. The church building is small but sufficient for the few from the surrounding village who attend.

Mornings were quite cool by the river, so we held our sessions outside where we could catch some warmth from the sun. We spent most of our time talking about why we do ministry with the youth, and how we need to be taking the gospel to the next generation. We also thought about their own circles of influence and who in their lives they need to be intentional about discipling.

The church building in Mbukushu

The youth workers of Mbukushu

Small group work at the training in Rundu

On Sunday afternoon I drove back to Rundu where I led some similar sessions on Monday and Tuesday evenings. We also had about 20 youth workers for these sessions, but they came from many different churches. It was a great display of unity as they are all working together to help the young people of that community grow up in Christ. We observed how our strategy is often inviting people to "come to church," yet Christ commissioned us to "go and tell." One of the cooler suggestions on how they can be "going to make disciples" was starting a ministry amongst juveniles in the local prison. I hope that, growing out of our time together, many ministries like that would be started amongst the youth in and around Rundu.

The Kehemu EBC church in Rundu

Sunset over the Kavango River

Synergy Conference

"Synergy" means to combine efforts to accomplish something greater. Anybody who is in the field of youth work knows that this is exactly what we need. Thus, the inspiration behind the name of a youth workers conference I attended in Okahandja. It was organized and hosted by two local youth pastors from Windhoek who are growing in their passion for training youth workers. Other speakers included an Afrikaans rap group from South Africa who are doing great ministry amongst artists in their community, and a representative from the Office of the First Lady.

One of the coolest parts of the conference for me was having one of my current NETS students leading the worship, another in attendance, and one of my former students leading us through some team-building activities. He joked that now he was the one giving out grades! Though at the end of the day I gave him an A+. It really is a great encouragement to see some of the results of such a long-term investment.

But perhaps the greatest benefit and encouragement for me was networking with other youth workers. It was great to hear stories from them about how God is using them in ministry across Namibia. I hope this idea of synergy doesn't stop at the conference, but that we continue to combine our efforts and work together to reach the next generations with the gospel.

The whole conference crew

Ministry to Children and Youth

This week kicks off final exams for our students at Namibia Evangelical Theological Seminary (NETS). The semester is almost over and then students will have about a 5-week break before returning for second semester in mid-July.

This semester I've been teaching two courses, OT Survey and Ministry to Children & Youth. In our youth ministry class, one section looks at a number of different contextual realities and issues that youth in Namibia are facing today. These issues are like landmines and as youth traverse the minefield of adolescence they are not coming through unharmed. We as youth workers can't heal them ourselves, but we're more like medics who drag them out of the battlefield to the One who can.

We also spend some time talking about facilitating experiential learning. All of us experience tension, anxiety and frustration in our lives. Often our responses are not as Christlike as we would prefer. If we know how to evaluate our responses well and seek biblical conclusions, then we can learn and grow through our experiences. My students learn how to help young people work through this learning process. Here [in the photo] they are experiencing a little tension of their own regarding 'personal space' and teamwork, which I was then able to use to model this kind of facilitating.

Other highlights of the course include visiting and evaluating an existing youth or children's ministry, four mentoring sessions with a teen of their choice over the course of the term, and writing a lesson plan regarding one of those landmine issues.

As students are now turning in their final assignments, it's a great encouragement to see how far they've come since the beginning of the semester. I'll close off with this introductory paragraph one of my students wrote in her final paper...

"I am one of the people who thought youth ministry is not a big deal because they do not have much to do besides keeping the kids away from the streets, in particular, bars and dance clubs. How wrong have I been! Upon visiting youth programs, mentoring and actually just making conversation with teens, I have really changed my perspective and the youth workers have my utmost respect."