May 5, 2003 Volume 7, Number 9 - Current Issue - Canadian ...

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WiderChurch
Winnipeg, Man.
Dirks family ends assignment in Botswana
After seven years of working with
churches in Botswana, Rudy
and Sharon Dirks and their
three children (Nathan, Shawna and
Stephanie) have returned to Canada.
The work was challenging and rewarding
as they walked with African
Independent Churches (AICs) to
figure out how to apply the Bible to
life in Botswana. A big part of their
work, supported by Mennonite Church
Canada Witness/Africa Inter-Mennonite
Mission, was to help communities
deal with the physical and spiritual
dimensions of the AIDS epidemic.
Working in an AIDS ministry was difficult.
Their first three years, Rudy and
Sharon attended funeral after funeral.
There was “a feeling of hopelessness,”
says Rudy. Not everyone understood
the causes of AIDS; some people believed
it was spiritual judgment. Others
politicized it as a Western issue,
saying that AIDS stands for “American
Invention to Discourage Sex.”
Not all church leaders supported their
AIDS ministry. Some felt it was inappropriate
for sexuality to be discussed
in church. One female pastor had her
ordination taken away for speaking
to a youth group about sex. She was
reinstated after church leaders came
to realize the necessity of the church
dealing with HIV/AIDS and sexuality.
Mennonite involvement with the African
Independent Churches began with
Mennonite Central Committee work,
prior to the country’s independence
in 1966. A leader of the largest AIC,
the Spiritual Healing Church, said
of MCC, “This is very good in terms
of what you’re doing in development
work, but our churches also desperately
need our leaders to be trained in
studying the Bible.”
MCC invited Africa Inter-Mennonite
Mission to get involved. The Dirkses,
along with couples from Mennonite
Brethren and Evangelical Mennonite
churches, worked to help foster
discipleship among Christians and
inter-denominational cooperation.
The AIDS counselling centre that the
Dirkses helped to establish was an
inter-church endeavour. Showing care
Canadian Mennonite May 5, 2003 Volume 7, Number 9
and respect
for people
and working
together in the
face of differences
is having
a great effect
on their witness
for Christ.
AIC leaders
appreciate
that Mennonite
workers
are not out to
establish Mennonitechurches,
but rather
to walk alongside
them in
their spiritual
journeys, say
the Dirkses.
Sharon Dirks (right) says farewell to the staff of Tshepong
Counselling Network, an AIDS counselling centre in Gaborone,
Botswana. AIDS has infected 37 percent of adults in
that country.
“Batswana tell us that over the years
they have come to understand the
Ba-Mennonite—‘Ba’ is the plural
form in Setswana—as church workers
who care for people, who demonstrate
respect and non-judgmental
attitudes toward African culture, and
who have been willing to respect AICs
as partners in the fellowship of the
gospel. Mennonites continue to be the
only church workers willing to work
alongside the AICs in Botswana,” said
Sharon.
“The irony is that even though Mennonites
in Botswana never have
planted Mennonite churches, the Mennonite
name is just about universally
recognized across Botswana,” added
Rudy. “It’s interesting that that name
is synonymous with people who are
willing to work in a non-judgmental
way with churches and yet not compromise
on the centrality of Christ.”
The Dirks are members of Bethany
Mennonite Church in Niagara-on-the-
Lake, Ontario.—From MC Canada release
by Allison Peters and Dan Dyck