| Robert and Jan Nettleton's Zambia Trip Reflection - July 2010 |
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Robert and Jan Nettleton travelled to Zambia to partake in the work of Dignity...Read on to catch a glimpse of what they saw and what they learned from their trip!
What is it to have ‘dignity’? By Robert and Jan Nettleton
What is it to have ‘dignity’? To be no more and no less than we are... but by what standards? The cliché does not invalidate the observation, as a first time visitor to a ‘developing’ country, of the startling disparity between living conditions in both urban and rural settings compared with the material plenty of the west that we hold as obvious necessities for a dignified way of life. And yet... a week in close proximity to Christian brothers and sisters in Zambia both affirmed the reality of such disparities, yet brought into question their significance.
For three days we were based with Dignity workers Jon and Judith Witt and their three young boys. Their expansive rented property has made progress in its reclamation of three year’s advance by ‘the bush’, as Jon, Jude and local farm workers retained with the property have worked together to make for themselves a home. Daily routine involves shared effort (getting the generator to start); small celebrations (the expertise to get its timing ‘just right’); rewards (the ubiquitous cup of tea); and the liberal use of the 3-fold African handshake that dignify common human connection.
Our days were spent with Jon, Jude and David in local villages. David is a member of the ‘Life Group’ in his village in the bush near Mkushi. We joined the group at the village place of meeting.
 David and Family - Members of a Life! group
As we divided into subgroups, I asked what advice I could give my friends at home about why it was a good idea to meet in small groups? It’s different from church where you might be too shy to say something. Here it’s easier, because you know people.
How have things changed for you?
We understand the Bible better.
For example?
Jesus went to a lonely place to pray – we have our own such places now.
We also met with contacts from a number of churches to arrange visits to invite villagers to sample a ‘Life Group’ session based on Dignity’s ‘Rooted in Jesus’ course materials and to a showing of the ‘Jesus Film’. In the evening we had a taste of what this involves. Communication about where and when we were going to show the film had got a bit confused... but still about 400 people turned up! And at the point at which the crucifixion was presented the film was stopped for me to do a five minute preach and appeal – quite a shock to my system! After the film about fifty people responded to the invitation for prayer.
Public Christian faith is much more in evidence in Zambia than the UK. A secular outlook is more the exception than the rule. Our next five days were spent in Lusaka (the capital) with rural pastors and evangelists from farthest flung corners of Zambia and many denominations. Here again participants were challenged as to the source of our dignity. Identity can easily be linked to a denomination (they are many and varied in Zambia) or the expectation that ‘others’ (from the city, the government, western missions) will be the providers of solutions to problems. Dignity’s ‘Life Initiative’ responds to the invariable disappointment that false hopes bring. Life Groups, through being ‘rooted in Jesus’ focus on his all sufficiency to meet needs within communities, breaking chains of external dependency. In the conference, sharing examples of how Life Groups have identified solutions to needs identified by group members helped loosen the captivity of our imaginations. Rather it became possible to believe that as Jesus read to his hearers from the prophet Isaiah
The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour.
[...and he began by saying to them], "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
(Luke Chapter 4: 18-21).
Practical team tasks around the hotel (preparing a bedroom; food preparation; table laying) combined powerfully with Bible Mediation on Philippians 2: 1 – 7.
If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant...
 Life! group in Lilanda, Zambia
For pastors who are so poor that they struggle to provide for their children’s education, the call to relinquish status is a tougher call than most western Christians could contemplate. While throughout the conference all joined in the exuberant singing and worship, the response to Philippians 2 was hushed with holiness. If, in the New Testament, it was ‘too much’ for the ‘rich young ruler,’ how much tougher is it for the mature Zambian pastor to let go of meagre threads of dignity derived from the favours of more well-off urban congregants or external agencies? (No wonder the ‘prosperity gospel’ holds an allure). There are huge and distorting imbalances in power, resources and so on. Poverty and dependency sap dignity, whilst wealth can provide it’s counterfeit. Within the conference we realised that we are ‘gifted’ by the Holy Spirit and his fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. And we were released to direct them in ‘works of service’. Such gifts and fruit re-describe reality in terms of faithfulness, hopefulness and love directed relationships. Dignity is not a matter of poverty or wealth but a manifestation of the Kingdom of God fulfilled in your hearing.
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| Last Updated on Thursday, 20 October 2011 11:34 |
