VULNERABLE MISSION

MISSIO DEI 4.1 (FEBRUARY 2013): 81–88
statement says it all: “When you can put your Church on the back of my camel then I
will think that Christianity is meant for us Somalis.” 9
Pastor Charagu told me how one day he arrived at his church and saw a pile of rocks
dumped right in the front of the entrance. He became upset and exclaimed, “I have had
enough with our neighbor; he continues to make things difficult for us!” Pastor Charagu
called the head of his men’s department to complain. The department leader responded,
“Pastor, slow down! The neighbor did not unload those stones in front of the church.
One of the cell groups brought those today as part of their contribution to build our
permanent church.” Pastor Charagu was utterly encouraged to see the church members
give sacrificially and without provocation.
This community of believers plans to build their church using a method called “divide
and rule,” which is used by local politicians. Unfortunately, politicians abuse this method,
but they plan to implement this approach in a righteous way. In this “divide and rule”
manner, different people will be responsible for different facets of building the church,
such as the drawing plans, stones, roofing, pillars, windows, and so forth.
The ingenuity, sacrificial commitment, and resolve of Pastor Charagu and his church
are an example of the beauty of mobilizing local people and local resources. It is what
happens among the people who use local resources through dependence on God and on
one another that make the difference: prayer, sacrifice, faith, companionship, gift sharing,
creativity, teamwork, capacity building, and perseverance. I guarantee that when you see
an elaborate structure built with outside funds, you will NOT see the make-a-difference
characteristics that you would observe among a community that has built its own church
or creatively found ways to do church within existing structures (homes, community centers,
urban garages, businesses, backyards, under trees, etc.) The beauty is in the process,
not the finished product. Better the small that reveals a group’s effort toward responsible
self-help than the big that reveals donations from outside. Our big and better methods in
someone else’s country do not fool God according to Leonard Sweet:
86
The ancient Hebrews compared God’s workings to the monstrous cedars of Lebanon and
wings of eagles. Jesus loves looking at mustard seeds, grains of wheat, leftover crumbs, and
barnyard hens. He invites us to look around at our fields, our gardens, our orchards, our
vineyards, our backyards. Jesus is not against large but invites us to start small and do little
large. “Little is much if God is in it.” 10
We need to cease making people of other nations believe that money and what money
can accomplish are the key to making disciples. If we despise the small beginnings of
other nations by shoving our supposedly efficient, bigger and better structures and methods
down their throats, we are guilty of crushing the dignity and initiatives of men and
women. We can learn from the interchange between the angel and the prophet Zechariah
on behalf of Zerubbabel who was responsible for rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem:
I asked the angel who talked with me, “What are these, my lord?” He answered, “Do you
not know what these are?” “No, my lord,” I replied. So he said to me, “This is the word of
the LORD to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD
9 David J. Phillips, Peoples on the Move: Introducing the Nomads of the World (Grand Rapids: IVP, 2001), xiii.
10 Leonard Sweet, Nudge: Awakening Each Other to the God Who’s Already There (Colorado Springs, CO: David
C. Cook, 2010), 37.