Ministry Report: August 2014 to April 2015
When compiling a report of our work here in
Gambela, I am struck by how “unromantic” much of what we do may sound to the
average Westerner. While many may view mission work as the pure joy of
evangelism and church planting, the reality is much more down to earth and
mundane. Often life consists of dealing with the needs of ministry as they
arise and one does what has to be done as best as one can regardless of gifting
or training!
However, for the sake of clarity, I have
listed four major areas of responsibilities.
1. St
Frumentius’ Anglican Theological College:
I am the Dean of St Frumentius’ Anglican
Theological College, due to open its doors as the first Theological College in
the Gambella People’s Region this August. Up until now, most of our work has
been in preparation of this reality. The College aims to train new pastors and
lay leaders to deal with the explosive growth of the church in this region and
in the rest of Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa and will offer a two year
Certificate as well as a three year Diploma in Theology. At present, we have 87
churches in the Gambella People’s Region alone with only 16 active clergy…the
need is staggering.
Language Studies – Living in an area where
seven different languages are spoken can make life rather interesting. We have
jokingly said that we communicate with signs and wonders – we make signs and
people wonder what we are trying to communicate. This, of course, works both
ways. However, Louise and I have been learning bits and pieces of three of
these seven, namely Amharic, Nuer, and Anywaa.
Building Program – We live on a compound a
few miles outside of the capital of the Gambella People’s Region, a town by the
name of Gambella. There were a few existing buildings on this property when we
got here. The Bishop’s home, a guesthouse, a canteen, a lavatory and shower
block, one small classroom that also serves as the meeting space for the St
Barnabas Anywaa congregation, a library, a small office building, and three
smaller structures that serve as guard house, gate house, and workshop
respectively.
The office building was renovated and has
become our home. The library needed to undergo some rather extensive
renovations as well. Both projects have now been completed. At present, the College
Chapel, which will serve as the meeting space for St Barnabas as well as for
the Annual Area Assembly, is being built. We are also raising funds for the
renovation of the existing classroom, the building of two new classrooms, the
changing of the workshop into a one bedroom flat, and the building of an
additional new small faculty home.
Curriculum development – As we are starting
this College from scratch, I have had to work on developing a curriculum. This
has been a challenge as we are seeking to be culturally relevant, but also
academically challenging with subjects and standards equal to other colleges.
We visited other Colleges and Seminaries in the country and one in South Africa
to see what was being done and how it was being done. Most of the larger
accredited seminaries seem to be based on a Western model while the smaller
country Bible Schools tend to be more flexible and contextual with an openness
to an oral learning approach. As Gambella appears to be in-between two worlds,
the literate world and the oral world, we think it best to attempt to
accommodate both styles of learning. This will call for creative lesson
planning and creative teaching, but I do believe it can be done.
Government permission – We also had to make
appointments with various government officials to seek permission to open the College
in Gambella. Thankfully the separation of Church and State is so strict that we
do not need additional approval as long as our Diocese is licensed and
recognised.
Recruitment of students – As our goal is to
train new clergy and lay leaders for work in the existing and future parishes,
we have sought the aid of our pastors and church councils in the selection of
possible candidates. All students must have the approval of their pastors and
their local church. The cut-off date for applications is the 28th of
April, as decisions have to be made so that we may apply to various sources for
bursaries.
Fund raising – Gambella is the poorest
region in Ethiopia and nearly all of our funding comes from external sources.
This means that we have to raise money for student bursaries as well as all
other costs for the operation of the College. Much of our time is spent writing
to possible future partners as well as reporting to current partners to keep
them up to date with the progress of the work they are funding. Trying to do
this with an Internet as temperamental as ours is interesting.
Administration – I have never viewed myself
as an administrator, but part of the reality of mission work is doing things
you generally would not do anywhere else. We have been busy setting a budget
for the College, working out an academic schedule, fixing dates around the many
Ethiopian holidays as well as the excessive heat of February and March, and
writing general rules and regulations for staff and students alike. Thankfully,
we now have an amazing Church Administrator who has kindly assisted me in
crunching numbers and generally organising myself to look and act more like a College
Dean than a parish pastor.
Staff – I interviewed a possible future
faculty member and am thrilled to say she will be joining us in August! I will
be chatting with another future faculty member when I am in Cairo in May.
English Language Teaching – As the primary
teaching and learning mode at the College is through contact lectures and small
group interaction in the English language, we thought it necessary for
prospective students to be proficient in English – including reading, writing,
and comprehension. So, all students will be required to take intensive English
language classes before registration as well as the English language classes offered
each semester. I have written and will be teaching the first of two Intensive
English Grammar courses set for June and am organising the teaching of the
second in July by a visiting lecturer from the US.
Intensives – As many of our existing clergy
need training themselves, we are including intensive training courses as part
of our College curriculum. These classes will last for one to two weeks, which
will allow pastors and other church leaders who may not be able to be full time
students to take the courses for credit. Other than Bishop Grant, whose duties
as Bishop for the Horn of Africa will cause him to be absent from the area from
time to time, we will use various visiting lecturers, both local and from
abroad.
Library – Bishop Grant donated his large
personal collection of theological books to St Frumentius and the mammoth task of
cataloguing over 4000 books has largely fallen on Louise. We have also written
to various publishers asking for the donation of books for use in the library
and I am happy to say that IVP-UK and IVP-USA have been most generous. We are
also grateful for other donors, both churches and individuals.
2. Local
Outreach:
We are part of an Anywaa community as the
compound is situated in their area. Louise and I have been trying to make
friends with our neighbours as best we can, again mostly using the signs and
wonders method of communication, but learning the language as we stumble along.
We also offer film evenings on Fridays, which
are very well attended, as there is no form of entertainment here other than
watching the cattle being slaughtered every evening across the way from our
gate. We have shown the Jesus Film in Anywaa several times, the Passion of the
Christ once, as well as The Gods Must Be Crazy. The audience has ranged from 86
to 300. The demand for more has us scratching our heads. As there are no films
in the Anywaa language other than the Jesus Film, what can we show them that
will not need excessive translation? We have decided to show documentaries such
as the various BBC Richard Attenborough series and perhaps some cartoons thrown
in for good measure and are making appeals to our partners for DVD’s. Some of
the children in the area do not go to school and this may serve as a form of
education for our church folk.
3. The
Jesus’ Film:
We have shown the Jesus Film to the Anywaa,
Majenger (a sometimes unreached people group – otherwise considered unengaged),
the Nuer (many of whom are refugees from South Sudan), and the Opo (who came to
Christ 8 years ago). The Jesus Film has not yet been translated into Opo, so
the film was shown in the Amharic and Nuer languages. We have asked the Jesus
Film folk to consider coming to Gambella to record the film in Opo as another
people group in South Sudan shares their language.
We only have one projector at present (we
have another one waiting for us to bring over from the US) and we can barely
keep up with the demand for showings. The average audience at these showings
ranges from 200 to 1,500 (our record so far!).
At a recent showing, there were so many
people that we placed the screen in the middle of a large field so that people
could watch the film from both sides!
As we are dealing with many oral learners,
the Jesus Film serves as both an evangelistic tool as well as a teaching tool.
Few people can read, especially in the more rural areas, and so the film serves
as a copy of the Gospel. We were amazed to hear a few teenagers reciting the
words of the actors during the showing of the film. Apparently, a Nazarene
church used to show the film in their area and they learned the dialogue off by
heart!
4. Diocese:
We also serve the larger Diocese as well
from time to time as needs arise.
Preaching – I have preached on several
occasions at St Matthew’s, Addis Ababa, St Luke’s, Gambella, St Barnabas, Gambella,
and at Bethlehem Anglican Church in Abobo.
Teaching – I have taught at a St Matthew’s
Retreat, and at various Clergy Training events, and Louise has assisted Dr
Wendy LeMarquand in teaching at Mother’s Union Health events.
Visitation – We have had the privilege of
accompanying Bishop Grant on some of his Episcopal visit around the area.
Reports and articles – I have written a few
articles for use in newsletters, annual reports, and websites of various partners
around the globe, as well as an article for my alma mater, George Whitefield
College in Muizenberg, South Africa.
Staff devotions – Whenever Bishop Grant is
absent from the Anglican Centre or otherwise indisposed, I lead the staff
devotions every morning.
Synod – We will be attending the Diocesan
Synod in Cairo, Egypt this May as well as visiting with the Principle of the
Alexandria School of Theology.
Conferences – I attended the Clergy
Conference in Luxor, Egypt last September.
Guesthouse and visitors – We have many
visitors, both local and from abroad, and Louise helps to keep the guesthouse
in tip-top shape. This also involves a lot of cooking, cleaning, and general
hospitality. We love our visitors and want them to be as happy as possible
while they stop with us!
Compound – We also assist in general
maintenance jobs around the Centre as well as doing odds jobs on “work days”.
Refugees – While we have been kept from
entering many of the camps all around the Gambella People’s Region, Bishop
Grant has been able to visit most of our people in the churches, and we have
been able to distribute clothing to some. We have also managed to give some
food to unregistered refugees.
I have tried to give a general overview of
what our work at the Gambella Anglican Centre involves and I am very aware of
the lack of detail in most of this report. It is hard to describe a “day in the
life of” Johann and Louise as each day brings different challenges and demands.
There are days when most of our time is spent trying to get water into the
Centre as the local municipal pump has broken or the pipes have silted up - or
in getting the “Power Company” to turn the power back on after having to give
away our precious supply of frozen food only available in Addis or abroad – or
in killing snakes, dealing with minor cuts and scrapes on the legs of our local
children who play soccer at the Centre, getting rid of bats in the ceilings, recovering
from malaria or other less glamorous illnesses, and many other such oddities.
We do pray that you will prayerfully
consider supporting us again in the future, as we simply cannot do what we do
without your partnership in this ministry.
Respectfully submitted
Johann and Louise van der Bijl