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August 2002
Dear Family and Friends,
May the Peace of God be with you! With reports of war and violence
coming in from around the world, there is such an opportunity
for the church to speak for peace and justice, to serve as a beacon
and safe haven for people to find reconciliation. How often is
the church failing to do just this, even in her very midst. When
we went to Cameroon three years ago we chose to live on “the
church hill,” the historical center of our partner church’s
headquarters where we hoped to become part of the community. Some
meaningful friendships developed, but not the sense of belonging.
Only after a year did we begin to understand that distrust had
long since destroyed any such sense of community there.
For years, internal struggles and intrigues for influence and
power have tarnished the Christian witness and ministries of the
Eglise Presbytérienne Camerounaise (EPC). The latest conflict
erupted 18 months ago at the General Assembly of 2001 and has
turned violent at times. With guidance from PC(USA) staff we’ve
prayerfully discerned our role as partners and tried to follow
a modus operandi that kept the responsibility for solving the
problems within the church herself. Abstaining from taking sides,
we continued the basic work at the departmental level, but avoided
interaction at levels that could undermine our political impartiality.
Throughout the conflict our living situation afforded us with
ample opportunities to observe how the conflict was played out,
including the violence and repeated intervention by the police
and other security forces. In an already complicated working environment,
we also felt the implications in our social and family life. We
came to understand our ministry to be one of “presence”
in the midst of, and despite, this conflict. While the residence
next door remained initially inhabited by the EPC general secretary
(stated clerk) elected at the GA in 1999, the EPC national headquarters
opposite our house became occupied by the leadership of the group
that claimed to have deposed him from that function. It has been
a painstaking process to be with and relate to the community in
this way, constantly balancing the risks of being drawn into the
conflict and isolating ourselves from people of the church. In
an effort to avoid allegations of partiality we resisted initiating
visits to the church properties occupied by either side, but kept
the doors to our home and office open, stressing our availability
for all of the community and our desire to relate to people of
either side. We decided that the conflict on the hill should not
interfere with our children’s routines of playing with neighbor
friends, even though some took that to argue against our neutrality.
For nearly a whole year, our family continued to go to the church
nearest our home, despite the lack of spirituality and the use
of the pulpit for provoking the situation rather than calling
for reconciliation.
Regrettably, calls for peace and unity from inside and outside
the church were not heeded by all of the leaders. In an attempt
to bring the two sides together at the General Assembly 2002,
and at the request of both tendencies within the EPC, the PC(USA)
had made arrangements for two observers to attend a unified GA.
These preparations turned out to be in vain as the leaders did
not come to an agreement on the basics for holding the GA together.
In January 2002 the two sides pursued each their own separate
meetings. Several other developments turned the work and living
environment grim for the missionaries serving through this church,
and the PC(USA) eventually decided in April to suspend the partnership
with the EPC. Parameters were set for reconsidering in time the
restoration of this longstanding and historical relationship with
our sister church. We hope and pray that our sisters and brothers
of the EPC at large may feel empowered to demonstrate their desire
for unity and that God will indicate whom they should charge with
the responsibility to lead their church to a new era of faithful
witness and healthy administration.
As a consequence of the suspension of the EPC-PCUSA partnership
we are no longer serving through the EPC, and our family has had
to move from the church house in which we lived. As in previous
unforeseen moves, God provided for us another nice home in a timely
manner. It does not have the outside space the children previously
enjoyed, but it provides other advantages to sooth this change.
In our next newsletter we will explain how we will continue our
service in Cameroon and Central Africa.
Please pray with us for the church in Africa. Although in many
places she is growing considerably, we are also seeing destructive
conflicts, which are negating her witness. May we all as Christians
learn to address our differences in ways that strengthen the church
rather than weaken her.
In Christ,
Jeff and Christi
The 2002 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 31
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