| The church in Sudan has great
potential to be a very powerful instrument for God’s will.
We as brothers and sisters from outside Sudan who are concerned
about Sudan must stand alongside them and walk with them as they
develop this vision for the future. However, we must also be very
much aware of the negative influences that we have; we must be
willing to admit our mistakes and we must be willing to make hard
decisions ourselves. In my opinion, one of the greatest threats
to the Sudanese church is that of dependency on outside funds
and the sense of helplessness on the part of many church leaders.
The “self-victimization” attitude that because they
are poor and displaced they are unable to do mission or to do
anything on their own with what local talent and resources God
has blessed them with can cripple and is crippling the church.
In our affluence and desire to fulfill God’s command to
do mission, we need to be aware how easy it is not only to create
dependency but to unconsciously desire that dependence in order
to feed our own egos. In many instances our financial contributions
have opened the way for graft and dishonesty and have taken away
the focus from God and placed it on “Western partners”
as the supplier of needs. We need to see this and to take responsibility
where necessary. Many of the younger Sudanese pastors have a growing
awareness of the issues and are beginning to take up the struggle
with this dependency and sense of helplessness.
The time has come for those of us involved in mission work with
the Sudanese to prayerfully and humbly ask for God to show us
where we are in His will and to show us where we need to change.
I am certain that this does not include just throwing up our hands
in frustration (although I must admit to doing this myself on
occasion) but to be willing to walk the walk and not just talk
the talk. We must look at how we do mission in such a way that
allows us to grow and allows our partner churches to grow into
what God wants us all to be. Please continue to pray for us and
for the Sudanese church leaders as we begin on this journey towards
a more independent, mature indigenous church.
Finally, we ask that anyone interested in our emailed updates
please send us a note with your email address and we will add
you to our mailing list.
God Bless,
Barry and Betsy
The 2003 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 37 |
