There is an old Haitian saying that says, “Giving people medicine for TB and not giving them food is like washing your hands and drying them in the dirt.”. i could share with you a number of stories where the “good deeds” of well intentioned people resulted in not only very little change, but often very negative effects on a specific community. In his book Mountains Beyond Mountains, Tracy Kidder tells the story of Dr. Paul Farmer who has dedicated his life to being an agent of change in the country of Haiti. If you have not read this book, i would go so far as to say it is a necessary addition to everyone’s library, a must-read. In his journey Dr. Farmer realized that the constant lack of nutrition, scarcity of clean water, and the exiguity of good hygiene will always work against, and often foil the attempts of treating what would otherwise be a curable illness in most places around the world. As a result, he has established rules at his hospital, that in addition to receiving free treatment for TB, each individual will also get regular visits from community health workers, and a small monthly cash stipend for food, child care, and transportation to their appointments. (Kidder p. 34) You see, he wants to save peoples lives. To do this they must do more than hand people a bottle with directions on hoping that they will not only follow those directions but also that they would somehow believe that what is in the bottle will actually do what it says it will, which in Haiti can be a very significant issue.
As it relates to evangelism, i have found that a similar law is at work. For over 18 years i have been leading teams of students on outreach trips around the world. For the past 10 years my journey has taken me to developing countries, primarily Nepal. Nepal is an exotic place that holds great mystery and is steeped in traditions that date back thousands of years. Our teams walk through ancient villages in remote places high in the Himalayan range where time seems to have stood still. The terraced fields are still plowed by hand or with a yoke of oxen. They build their homes from the rocks they unearth from the fields that yield their crops. There are no phones, no cars, and until recently not even electricity. They live from day to day, dependent on nature and each other for their survival. Their buddhist culture rings in your ears from the time the monks begin their morning prayers as the sun peeks over the mountains, until the time of their evening offerings long after the sun has made it’s journey to the other side of the earth. These are a people who often exist outside of the monetary system of their own country. They survive by working the land and bartering goods with one another. And when nature takes an angry turn during the monsoon season, and washes their lives into the river below, life gets very difficult. The needs that arise in that moment are paramount. They become all-consuming and the people make sacrificial trips over rough terrain, often for days, just to obtain food for the family. The entire village suffers as they rebuild their lives and try to hold on to some semblance of hope for the future.
These are the lives that 10 years ago i went to save high up in the mountains of Nepal. In my eager ambition and authentic love for Jesus Christ, i entered into these peoples lives with an honest desire to “save” them. i took teams of university students into their villages to share the phenomenal news of what Christ had done, and that He has them in His heart and on His mind. i wanted them to know the depth of love that He has for them and how He desires for them to know Him and His goodness. And so, as they reached out with empty hands, hunger pains and desperate hearts, i tried to fill them with words. Good words. Powerful words. But words they could not hold. Words that did not fill the stomachs of their children, and thus could not make it into their hearts. It took me a while to fully grasp what i was doing, which can happen when you are blinded by a passion for something good in a place or with a person you may not fully understand. It is not that this passion is wrong. Doesn’t Jesus tell us to go and preach the gospel? i think sometimes i get a little ahead of Him. Like a little kid, i run ahead and need to slow down and rethink not my passion, but the effectiveness of my communication. i learned that giving them a bottle with directions on it, or walking them through certain steps to salvation did not guarantee that they would be healed of their disease. For what good is medicine, when you are washing your hands and drying them off in the dirt? What good is the love of this “Jesus” whom they have never heard of, when their stomachs are empty, and their village needs to be rebuilt from the damage of the monsoon? When i began to rethink this many years ago, it quickly set in, which often is the case when true passion is involved. It may take a bit to get it, but when it hits, that potential energy quickly translates into kinetic!
You see, Jesus healed the Leper of Matthew 8 with a word, but restored his dignity with a touch. Jesus did not give the woman at the well a systematic approach to who he was and then leave her there to ponder this new formula for obtaining eternal life. i heard John Piper say in a recent sermon, “He did not even condemn her for her sin of adultery.” (desiringgod.org) He simply pointed it out and continued to tell her about the living water that He longed to give her. He also did not end their conversation on a distant hillside, but Jesus continues to meet a need by going into the village and living among them for a few days. By doing this He physically demonstrates and embodies the love that He has for them; pouring Himself out, the living water that will never run dry. As a Jewish Rabbi this was so radical...we can’t even wrap our minds around what He was doing and the cultural barriers He was shattering...it is absolutely crazy!
i have found these same principles hold true in Nepal. When the local people see these students working to rebuild the only trail that connects their village to the rest of the world, when a widow with four hungry children sees me walking up to her make shift home with a 50 kg sack of premium rice, when the 450 children at the local mountain school see a group of students from the U.S. repairing the playground equipment, when a team takes time to “live among” the people and invest in their lives into them...it is then that they see Jesus. When, over a hot meal, we share what Tim Hansel calls the 5th gospel, the story God is telling through OUR lives, it is in that holy moment that they not only see, but are experiencing the lavish love of the Savior of the universe! This is the kind of love that leads to the transformation of entire villages. Villages that now have house churches on Saturday mornings and whose worship rivals the chants of the buddhist monks who have stood uncontested for over a thousand years. It is this love that leads those same monks to inquire how they can experience this Man who has so altered the road they have traveled. It is in these moments that the simplicity of the gospel comes to life. A man was quoted once as saying, “And the word became flesh, and through theologians became words again.”. Now please don’t misunderstand me. There is definitely a place for systematic theology, for the study of God’s word and for spiritual formation. It is for this very reason that we have another team returning to the remote parts of west Nepal, for an in depth training conference. But when someone is sick and in need of medication or they might die, you may very well need to couple that medicine/message with personal investment. Meeting of the impending physical or emotional needs that would otherwise constrict or even mask the transforming love that is the ultimate healing agent, becomes vital. This has become an intentional focal point in how we DO outreach in places like Nepal, Haiti, and Turkey.
Now i find myself back in the affluence of my comfortable suburb on Lake Minnetonka. The rules have changed, and the needs are again shrouded by a different way of living. How will i adjust to effectively communicate the good news of Jesus Christ? Are there physical needs that are in the way? Emotional hurts buried under layers and layers of forced smiles and self sufficiency? People here in the US are equally as needy for the Gospel; we just miss it because it is more subtle than a stomach visible with malnutrition. We hide our superstitions much better than the witch doctors of Haiti. As followers of Christ, our passion should be to reach ALL people with the good news of Jesus Christ, those who are our very best friends who we don’t want to make uncomfortable, our co workers, and our class mates. How are we loving them, living among them, demonstrating the love of Jesus through our intentional actions. Everything Jesus modeled for us was intentional...how are we emulating Him?
i am always looking for good answers to these questions. In no way to i have the market cornered on this “evangelism” thing. i would love to hear your stories or the different ways you have demonstrated this love to those around you. i am always encouraged by the stories of what God is doing in your lives. Write a note on our Facebook site, respond to the blog...How are you meeting needs and loving others well and leading others into an eternal relationship with Christ?
To learn more about our trips, check out our web site at www.212degrees.org. We are headed back to Nepal this coming January. We have a team heading to Haiti this fall, and our training team will be in Nepal at the end of Sept through mid October. Keep us in your prayers. i also covet your prayers and financial support as my income is dependent on your kindness. You can support me via our web site donation link or shoot me a note if you want more information. Thanks for honoring me by reading my often meandering thoughts and reflections. It has been a while since i have written, and God has been giving me many good things to ponder. i look forward to sharing with you and having this be a very reciprocal “blogging” relationship. Much love to you all, and thanks again!! God bless you as we all crawl towards the Lamp.
