April Update

Here is a short April update of what's been going on in Ouagadougou!

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March Newsletter

Here is the March newsletter in a new format.

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A vos casques! (Helmets everyone!)

How many people do you count?

Could your Bible stop a bullet?

When the conversation began, I had a plan, but immediately strayed. Sometimes my French is just good enough to get me into trouble... I wanted to find out what people thought of the Bible as a Holy Book, whatever that means. I began by asking the group of 20 Burkinabé university students in front of me whether or not they thought the Bible itself had magical power. "Could it stop a bullet if you carried it with you?" I asked. I'm somewhat cynical at times of the "magic" with which we endow our Bibles, as if God beamed the thing down from the heavens instead of passing through real human beings who wrote down what the Spirit was inspiring them to write.

Everybody laughed at my question. Then, some of the students began to summarize the lesson our very capable pastor taught them the previous week about how the canon was formed - by real people under the inspiration of God's Spirit. The Bible's power comes from it's ability to transform. I was impressed.

Less than a week later, a thief entered our university residence/church building and made off with several cell phones, only a little bit of money (thank God - the students need all they can get to register for the coming university year), and our lone, remaining computer. In conversation with the students the following day, one student marveled at how his phone was not taken - it was sitting right on top of his Bible. In his interpretation, the thief knew better than to steal something that was touching something so holy. Should I eat my words or shake my head? Could I be wrong about the Holy Power of such a book? Certainly, in the African context, there is no place for faith and doubt. Everything happens for a purpose for the African Christian. Do I believe this? Why not?

What do you think?

December Prayer Letter

For the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. – Luke 1.49

Holiday greetings to you and your family! May the Peace that seemed completely inconceivable during the turbulent times of the Gospels become a reality in the midst of your own turbulent times this season.

Someone asked the other day what I (Jeff) consider a “God-thing”. Three examples from our context here in Burkina Faso:

1. Marcel was a quiet, shy teen in his village church close to the town of Tougan, some 300 km northwest of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. His friends now cannot believe the transformation in this young man. Not only has he stepped in to fill a leadership role in our new Sunday School program at the Foyer Mennonite Evangélique de Ouagadougou, but he leads passionate prayer services on Sunday evenings. Following a prayer service last week, the wife of our pastor, Noélie, stood up and shared a dream she had had just the previous week. In it she saw Marcel wearing the same shirt he was that evening and giving a powerful exhortation to the congregation. She expressed her joy in how God is using Marcel and developing his gifts for God’s glory. Dreams are taken almost as reality here. The realization of this dream in the context of our church was evidence of a “God-thing” to our congregation.

2. Shortly after the above incident, one of the young leaders who we have been nurturing along for the last 3 and a half years gave the sermon. It was so good that afterwards the worship leader led an impromptu “laying of hands” on this young man, who everyone respects. The worship leader prayed that God would open doors so that this young leader might use his gifts to glorify God and the church. The whole thing pleasantly surprised us because, although we had been encouraging this young man to keep thinking about church leadership, he now seemed to have the blessing (and push) of the community – and this was all completely unplanned, without our knowledge. This comes at a crucial time as our church is in the process of discerning its future in Ouagadougou.

3. God has answered our prayers in an enormous way by calling Nicodème Coulibaly to the position of Executive Director of the Burkina Faso Partnership Council. We were in our annual meetings, once again blocked by the question of what to do without someone in this position. (For the moment, Tany is doing the finances of this position, but there are many other administrative tasks that can fall through the cracks.) International partners had expressed their strong desire that this be a Burkinabé that assumes this leadership position. What makes this all such a “God-thing” from the Burkina perspective is that Nicodème’s name just kind of came to me suddenly during the meeting. Nobody had mentioned him previous to this, possibly because he is relatively young for a Burkina church leader. When I mentioned the name, it was as if we had finally found the missing puzzle piece that we had been seeking for the past 3 years – and it was right under our noses! It is awe-some what God is doing among the young people in the Burkina Faso Mennonite Church. The youth are taking the helm – the future is bright!

*****

The university year is finally nearing its end, with many students having completed their first round of exams. If they pass, they are exempt from the second round. Many who are in this situation are returning to their villages for Christmas.

We have already hosted one new student from the Mennonite Church in Orodara, who came to Ouagadougou to register at the university for the next academic year. So we are getting ready for the transition of students exiting and new students entering our residence building.

We praise God for…

• The visit of Jeff’s parents and for good health during this time.
• The young leaders God is developing in Burkina Faso. Our sister Mennonite church in Bobo (Burkina’s second largest city) has sent a young man to Bible School who will likely take a much-needed leadership role in that church upon completion of his studies.
• Cooler nights and the hope God gives that good health is returning for us all, despite all the dust.

We request your prayer support for…

• Land – the Ouaga church has decided to look into land prices, even though we have no idea where funding for this might come from. Purchasing land can be a very tricky process. Pray that God would guide us and allow us to make wise decisions.
• Students who are preparing to write the second rounds of exams. This can be a stressful time because not passing the exams means failing the school year, losing a year of tuition, and maybe being excluded from bursaries and other student financial aid.

Burkina Traditions

There is a very interesting article on the traditional Mossi Chief who "holds court" every Friday afternoon in Ouagadougou. Check it out at:

www.lonelyplanet.com/burkina-faso/ouagadougou

Christmas Fundraising in Africa - or Something Else?

It's been a while since I've posted on here. Sorry for the silence! Besides the busy-ness of Christmas (Yes, even in West Africa, it get's kind of busy!), it is dusty season and it is sometimes hard to stay healthy.

On Nov 16, a series of bandit activity in previous weeks culminated into one of the biggest highway robberies in Burkina history. Nine transport cars and a small pick-up truck were stopped by an unofficial road-block in plain day. Eight armed men with 4 military rifles got everyone out of the buses. Over 15 million fcfa in money (Around 38,000 CAD)was taken, as well as some deluxe cell phones.

Is it some last minute Christmas fundraising by some lucky bandits who will have a very Merry Christmas? I don't care to think of it as much more than this, even as some here in Burkina claim that this is the tip of something much bigger and deeper. After all, some claim, this was exactly how trouble started in Ivory Coast - by filling the float of the renegade army.

One of our Bible students recently lost his whole year's tuition in a similar robbery as he was traveling to his school. Please pray that those affected by these robberies may experience the Peace of Christ this season. Pray also for safety for those traveling over the Christmas season.

5. The role of the Christian in the state

Due to computer-related problems, this article came much later than anticipated. Thanks for your patience!

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If there is one way Christians in Burkina Faso would like to impact their country positively, it is through their government. The Evangelical community stands squarely behind their Prime Minister, who is part of the Christian community. The Prime Minister has recently worked visibly against the corruption of the country. The President too claims to be Christian, although less is said about his attachment to any church.

A few weeks ago, I preached a sermon on Matthew 13 (the mustard seed and the woman hiding yeast in an enormous amount of dough). The theme was on how the little things we do count in the Kingdom of God. Referring to John Howard Yoder, I talked about how the Kingdom is less concerned with who is president or what kind of laws are made, but about how we are faithful in daily life: raising our children to be disciples of Jesus, caring for each other, loving our spouses, our neighbour, our enemy, and renouncing injustice. After the sermon, the worship leader got up and, as is often done, summarized my sermon. He said, “You see, we have to be faithful in the small things because that way God will make us big and powerful and give us important things to do.” Did I not fail to get my point across here?

The Kingdom is coming in a big way and through big efforts from the Burkinabé (Ouagadougou) church perspective. That’s what makes them excited every time a Christian moves up the ladder in politics. Enter the Mennonites and our political phobias and apprehensions. Where to go from here? Solutions?

This is where I end this series of articles (unless I somehow discover other themes in the near future.) In closing and in summary (and to answer the two short questions I just posed), the answer is time. We can’t expect our Burkina brothers and sisters to embrace such radical Anabaptist values overnight. Relationships must be continually developed. Many of you have suggested not speaking about Anabaptist values, but about what is biblical from the Anabaptist perspective without spelling out that these are Anabaptist principals. This has been helpful, but the challenge is still to tell some of our great Anabaptist stories in a way that makes the hearer reflect on whether or not this is something that is feasible or worth emulating in one’s own life.

It was interesting the response given by one Burkinabé to the story of Dirk Willems, who was fleeing from a guard who would catch him, and return him to prison where Dirk would ultimately be executed. As the chase was on, the guard fell through the ice. Dirk returned to save his life and help him out of the water. A Burkinabé response was, “God delivered Dirk, and judged the guard. Why did Dirk not accept this deliverance and flee?!!” Perhaps another thought might be, “How many Israelites jumped into the Red Sea to save an Egyptian after God closed the waters?”

As much as we would appreciate seeing more of the world embrace such Anabaptist values, we need to also be ready to learn from our Burkinabé brothers and sisters who unconsciously challenge our Anabaptist values. Do Mennonites not need to re-examine themselves and ask: Are we doing enough to work for ecumenical unity? How do we neglect the work and power of the Holy Spirit in our lives? In our attempt at a rebuttal of the evangelical perspective on eternal life, how do we snuff out the joy one feels in knowing that life next to God forever, away from sin and all that is bad, is what is awaiting us after death? How does a peace theology apply in one’s home country where there is already a relative peace? How do we limit God’s work by implicitly suggesting that God cannot or chooses not to work through national and international government bodies? This is the richness that exchanging with our Burkinabé brothers and sisters will bring.

Please respond!

http://warkentins-blog.blogspot.com/

4. The Relative Peace in Burkina Faso

The Burkinabé have a dysfunctional democracy, not that pure and functional democracies solve everything. However, the Burkinabé look around them at the rest of Africa – there is war, there is violence, there are ethnic disputes. They are glad that these problems have not affected their country for quite some time and many are grateful to their president for providing this stable atmosphere to their country, even if the country remains quite poor and dependant. Peace is a given for the society. The lack of peace is something that most people detest, and the country’s lack of peaceful times is already a distant memory.

There are even built-in cultural strategies for dealing with differences of opinion, which all help to keep the peace. Examples of this include ethnic teasing (plaisantérie) groups where 2 of the 80+ ethnic groups in the country are paired up and culturally have the right to tease the other group all in good fun. Your average Burkinabé will rarely disagree with you, and if he or she does so, it is to “complete” what you are saying or to “add” another idea. For this, it is hard sometimes to get to the bottom of the truth sometimes. For instance, asking someone if they would like to go to church with you will always elicit a positive response so as not to offend anyone.

When I consider places like Ethiopia or the Congo where the largest groups of Mennonites are today; or South Korea where Anabaptist views are being wholeheartedly embraced despite a militarized culture; or even Columbia where peace and justice issues dominate church life, I find myself wondering how the Mennonite peace perspective can take hold in a country that is relatively peaceful. Sure there are injustices. The church can speak against corruption, but does encourage change in the here and now? The Protestant/Evangelical church preaches first and foremost a message of hope for those who suffer here – that they will one day escape this life and experience eternal life if they accept Christ as their personal saviour. This appears to be a stronger call to Christ in the Burkinabé context than the Kingdom theology Mennonites believe so strongly in.

Our next and last topic: The Role of the Christian in the State

September Prayer Letter

Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us.

- Psalm 62:8

The rain started in Ouagadougou around 4 am. It would not stop until almost 4 pm that same Tuesday in the afternoon. When it was all said and done, almost 300 mm of rain fell on our usually dry city. Much damage was done. In the city centre, shops and businesses offices filled up with water. Basement parking garages became underwater caves. Personal items left by missionaries in the basement at the local Bible translation facility were ruined. But the greatest impact was felt by those in the so-called “non-lotis”. These are the undeveloped outskirts of the city, or squatter settlements where drainage and roads have not yet been developed, and where housing is usually done as cheaply as possible. Many of these poorly constructed houses were completely washed away in the flash flood. Money, photo albums, even a small child were taken by the rushing water. It was the biggest rain in the recorded history of Burkina Faso/Upper Volta. Two days later, in the parts of Ouaga that we frequent, you would hardly notice that a catastrophe had occurred. But now is when the real catastrophe begins as people move on and forget the many homeless that must find a way to keep on going.

*****

The university students had 2 weeks of classes following the professor strike. Then everyone claimed their right to the August vacation and most people went home for the month. Currently, students are back in classes. The big problem now is that the university restaurants claim they are out of money and cannot open for the rest of the university year. You can probably guess what happens in a French bureaucratic system in such a situation, when one group of stakeholders is not happy. Yep, strike! We will keep you posted. For now, students continue their studies in the hope that this will be resolved soon and that they might finish the school year. Will we ever get a “regular” university year?

We praise God for…

• Safe travels for our students, many of whom went home to their villages and returned to Ouaga safely.
• God’s protection during the big rain. Shortly after, Jeff rode his bike home. His bike wiped out, but strangely he did not.
• A brave start to the school year for Asher and Danika. It was Asher’s first time.

We request your prayer support for…

• Those who lost their homes and much more during the rain.
• Our students as they try and get enough to eat and study for the end of the school year at the same time.
• Asher, as he adapts to a new school and new teacher. The French school system seems quite different than the Canadian one at times, and this can be hard on a little guy.