Empowering Leaders

Some few years ago Jurgens Hendriks, a South African public theologian, gave an address to a gathering of Christian leaders in Kampala, Uganda. He asked the group, “What is the most important mark of leadership?” After sharing many worthy responses, it became clear that the group had not found the answer he was looking for. Jurgens then asked the group, “Who is the best and most memorable leader in Africa?” Well, that was an easy question – “Nelson Mandela!” With their response, the answer to the original question then dawned on them. The most important mark of leadership is the ability to relinquish leadership, precisely what Madiba* did after just one term in elected office. The most important mark of leadership is letting go, allowing others to step forward, empowering others to go beyond one’s efforts.

In February 2018, the principal of Nile Theological College (NTC) in Juba, South Sudan, asked me to resurrect the college newsletter. When I responded, I told him that I would take on this task with one condition, that I would recruit a group of students and staff to assist me. I took the rest of the semester to pray about which students to approach for this initiative. By the end of the semester I approached four students and one staff member. They all agreed enthusiastically, in fact, they felt honored to have been asked.  

The following semester we took action. By God’s grace we produced the first newsletter in eight years. It was a boon to the college, students even contributing from their own meager funds to help with print production. The following semester we again tackled this task with fervor. We doubled the length of the newsletter and invited more contributors. We circulated the newsletter electronically to partners worldwide and published 70 copies to distribute to partners and churches throughout South Sudan. I was deliberate throughout, ensuring that each student had a role and felt ownership of the work, walking alongside them in their respective roles. 

With students, creating NTC Newsletter (September, 2018)   

After a season of prayer and discernment, we selected and approached three more students from the new class to join us. Now, the biggest hurdle stood before us. I was leaving for the U.S. and would be gone for five months, the entire second semester. After a time of prayer, as a group we selected David Dach to take my role as leader and to facilitate the work of the “Media Team,” as we now called ourselves. To be honest, I was not sure whether the Media Team would succeed in my absence. Creating a newsletter is a big job with lots of technical features. Though I had spent countless hours with the students, I knew it would be a formidable challenge. You can only imagine my joy when I learned from the principal they had succeeded. “Neshkur’Rabuna!” (Thanks be to the Lord!).

Returning to South Sudan in January I began praying about my involvement with the Media Team. My teaching responsibilities would resume, but I was also starting my research proposal for a doctoral program. After speaking with the principal, we both resolved that the way forward was for David Dach or another student to continue as leader and that I would support them in an ancillary role. A few days later I requested David to call a meeting. David prepared our agenda which included turning leadership back over to me. I took a deep breath and said a prayer before I was given the chance to speak. I told the students that I had a “surprise” to share with them. I laid out for them the vision for how we could move forward together with new roles, for David to continue leading us, if he was willing, and for me to support the team as consultant or adviser. The students were surprised! However, as they processed out loud together this new configuration, they saw the wisdom in it. They lamented how leaders in their context never release younger leaders into roles of authority and leadership. They mentioned how leaders should even “pray that those whom they lead would surpass them!” It felt like a paradigm shift and a moment of emotional catharsis was occurring right before my eyes in the hearts and minds of my students. 

NTC Media Team (March, 2020)

With the current Covid-19 coronavirus situation, NTC has closed its doors for 30 days. That will hurt the Media Team with the momentum we have gained. Again, I am back in the U.S., probably for 3-4 months at least because of this global crisis. Nevertheless, I am prayerfully confident and hopeful that we will produce at least one newsletter this year. More importantly, our students are being empowered to lead with faculty and staff encouraging and supporting them from the rear. “Leadership,” as one might say, “is better caught than taught.” I believe that David and the others have ‘caught’ some important principles of leadership, and I believe wholeheartedly that David and the team will go beyond where I could have taken them.  May God bless and multiply our efforts.

*Madiba is Nelson Mandela's clan name, a name of endearment.             

Small beginnings

A few weeks ago, before Coronavirus took over our thoughts here in South Sudan, I joined a meeting of women to talk about community development. Women gathered in a circle after the church service, many of them holding young children on their laps. I started the discussion by reflecting on John 10:10, where Jesus expressed his intention to give us ‘life, and life to the full.” What does that mean? That means that God cares about all aspects of our lives – our eternal souls, certainly, but also our bodies, relationships, work, and minds. If one part of our lives is unhealthy – such as a conflict with a family member, that will have an impact on the other parts of our lives. So how can we improve and promote health in all areas of life?

My colleague Elijah passed around a weaving that was in process. He asked the women to tell what they thought it was, or what they noticed. Several women suggested that it was a basket, or would become a woven bag for carrying things. Some said that they knew how to do this type of weaving. When something is at the beginning, there are many possibilities. Something looks small and insignificant at the beginning, but with slow progress can become something big, beautiful, and of great use. With that perspective we asked the women what some of their dreams are for their group. What impact could they have? Some of their top dreams included:

• Adult education (many of them had not gone very far in school, or could not read/write)
• Employment for women (perhaps through a store for selling handcrafts, or a farm)
• Strengthen them spiritually (including prayer, Bible study
• Trauma healing training
• Health awareness (e.g. about diseases, including cancer)

We then looked at each of these top goals or hopes they had for projects. What would be required in material or human resources for each? What resources did they have available? And finally we asked them to vote for which of these should be tackled first. Voting was a challenge, because all of these projects had value and felt like a priority to the women. But finally they decided that creating employment would be a task to tackle first, especially through trying to open a shop or have a cooperative that could sell some of the beautiful bead-work that the Anyuak tribe is known for.

They thought about some ways that they could save to get some capital for opening a shop. We talked about the planning and training that might be needed before they opened. The women, most of whom live in the neighborhood and do not have consistent work, are eager to collaborate. We talked about the need to continue to meet, to learn and plan together. Please pray for God’s wisdom and provision for these women in Lologo. And now that Coronavirus has made meetings risky, pray for wisdom in how we proceed!

The Thief Workshop

Each group presented their list of what they felt had been lost. I knew that each item on the list was significant, representing pain and suffering that was currently being experienced. We discussed which losses were common across all the groups. Some of the top items were human lives, truth, faith, respect, properties/land, peace, culture, and dignity. As he explained why ‘lives’ had been included on his group’s list of losses, one young man said with feeling, “all my brothers have been killed. I alone remain.” A woman reflected that one of the impacts of all the people killed is that people fear humans now more than animals.

The lists from each group of the things they have lost

This particular session of the Healing Hearts Transforming Nations workshop we call “the Thief workshop”, because we discuss the material or intangible things that have been lost or stolen from our communities. The first part of John 10:10 “The thief comes only to kill, steal, and destroy” shows us Satan’s active attempts to destroy the peace and life that God created and intended for us. Recognizing our losses and hearing the losses of others helps us to see that all of us have suffered and have a common enemy. Too often, we choose not to hear the pain of another group, preferring the illusion that I or my group has suffered the most.

At this workshop in Rumbek, I heard about the impact of the war and attacks by Arabs in the 80’s. Killings and attacks between different villages continue to happen, partly because of the very strong culture of revenge. I heard about children growing up in the cattle camp because their parents could not send them to school, who later join in cattle-raiding and attacks on communities. I talked to fathers who feel it is unsafe for them to stay at home with their families because people will come hunting for them. While Rumbek has been a center for education in its region and has produced some of the top leaders in South Sudan, the area continues to struggle with inter-communal attacks and insecurity.

Groups discussing what their communities had lost

During this session of the workshop, I could feel the somber mood and the weight of the words as people shared the impact of these losses in their communities. I got goose bumps, realizing that this was sacred space of being able to share openly the struggles that they saw or experienced. We discussed how these losses can lead to believing lies about ourselves, others, and God. We grieved together over the brokenness of families and communities.

We end the session by discussing the second part of John 10:10, “But I have come that you might have life, and have it to the full.” Jesus came, suffered, was killed, and rose again. Jesus, victorious over death, sin, and Satan, came to show us His Kingdom, marked by sacrificial love rather than greed and pursuit of power. Our victorious God, who loves us and sees us, is our hope for healing and restoration from what has been lost. After this session, a few women came up to me, clasped my hand and appeared to be expressing their thanks for this somber but meaningful discussion. I couldn’t understand their words in Dinka, but I know that God does, and that we can connect and lament together even across the language gap.

Matthew 25

And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’ (Matthew 25: 40)

As a denomination, the Presbyterian Church (USA), we are currently embracing the Matthew 25 vision, caring for members of Jesus’ family – the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick and those in prison. In the milieu of the United States, this call has been translated into dismantling structural racism, ending systemic poverty, and building congregational vitality. It is a wonderful initiative spearheaded by Rev. Dr. Dianne Moffett, Executive Director and President of the Presbyterian Mission Agency, the umbrella agency of Presbyterian World Mission with whom we serve. Congregations across the land are heeding this significant call to cross socio-economic and cultural barriers to behold and become the sweet aroma of Jesus Christ (3 minute invitation video here).

A couple of weeks ago I preached from Matthew 25 at our chapel service at Nile Theological College here in South Sudan. After the scripture was read, I asked the students to tell us what they heard and what they felt. Most of the responses were somewhat typical. Students felt compelled to action; they had a choice. They sensed that God wanted them to see the marginalized and needy as members of His family. One student, Linda, had an interesting insight. She described how African cultures tend to prioritize the needs of the ancestors, the “living dead.” She described how Africans must remember the ancestors, pay respect to them, and even provide food and sacrifices to them, otherwise they may feel the wrath of the ancestors. But here in Matthew 25, Jesus is not talking about the ‘living dead’, He is talking about the living. As I gave us a moment to reflect on Linda’s insight, it felt like a light-bulb had switched on in the minds and hearts of students. While not neglecting those who have gone before us, our priority, says Jesus, is always for those who are still with us, those who are suffering and needy…these are the ones to whom we must give attention and priority.

Last week, on our way home from visiting friends, Kristi and I stopped by Suk Malakia, the small market across from our building to buy some fruit and vegetables. As we faced Alima who was handing Kristi a bunch of carrots, I felt a gentle tap on my shoulder. I turned and there he was. I was tongue tied. I could not remember his name. I felt awful. He stood tall, self-possessed, silent like a sentinel, missing one leg from the snake bite incurred near his village. Of course, it was Grovener! I fumbled with a series of greetings in Arabic, somehow feeling “small” in relation to Grovener’s stature, his innocence, his meekness, his obvious need, being homeless like so many other children here in Juba. As always, Grovener was gracious towards me, greeting me with a gentle smile, expressing kindness. Standing before me was a child of God, a son of the King, a brother to Jesus. The manner in which we receive the "Groveners of our world" says everything about who we are and the fate “the king” will one day pronounce over the two groups of people, the sheep and the goats.

Jesus’ message from Matthew 25 is stark. It is final. It is the point of no return. As one my students said to all of us at chapel, “Yes, but we still have time.” Yes, we still have time to choose rightly, to be sheep and not goats, to heed the call of Jesus, to welcome the marginalized and poor with outstretched arms and open, loving hearts.