"I know that I were sent to the community and that God called me here" one wise pastor explained. "The people belong to the church for a long time, but because of the remoteness, never had a permanent pastor. The pastors that visited here, were here for a few days on the most and could not build relationships with the community. I started here permanently 2 months ago and discovered that the members got used to some traditional ceremonies that do not fit with faith in Christ. People for example love to have a ceremony three days after a funeral where they give sacrifices to the forefathers. These ceremonies are deeply rooted in the culture and goes with deep emotions. In the culture you are not allowed to change anything. The one that brings about changes is disrupting the relationships and because of that is causing pain and suffering, like fighting, drought, accidents and death. This will cause that person to be expelled from the community and that is one biggest punishment anyone can get. It is better to die than being expelled. Explaining the consequences of the gospel any way may sometimes make you an enemy of the community.
To work in an community you have to became part of the life of the community and trust one another. The gospel of Christ will bring radical changes and God uses the life of His messengers. The message brings conflict into the culture when it changes customs. The messenger is part of that conflict and it can destroy the relationship. My strategy is to Biblical training and handle relationship with care. For the rest I have to trust the work of the Holy Spirit."
He continued: "Before I arrived an elder with his wife were in charge of the community. They were seen as the owners of the community and had built strong relationships with the community by also using traditional customs. I am now entering as a leader and is disrupting this fixed community. They as leaders are hurting and are sometimes already reacting negatively. This can make it impossible for me to work in Lugela. I need to interact wisely and out of Christ's love. Some things need to change, but the important thing is the way it happens. Pray with me."
A pastor also shared: "The relationship between me as a pastor and the elders are very important, because the Lord use this relationship. This relationship can make or destroy a congregation. I work in a area of up to 100km from side to side. It sometimes takes 3 days of walking to reach some of the prayer houses, because many times other transport is not possible. You have to sleep along the road, sometimes with people you know and sometimes you just have to find a place for the night."
This pastor told us how he walked three days to a meeting and found nobody there. He waited a few days and then walked back. He then walked around all the prayerhouses and arranged another training. They promised to pay his taxi fees for a certain date. He borrowed money and when arriving there, there were again no one. He had to walk back and find ways to pay back the money where he borrowed it. This is a challenge to continue and to try again. He sort of lost hope, but the visit from people from South-Africa gave him courage to go and talk again and find new strategies.
Another pastor shared the relationship with the community. He serves the community when they are ill, carry some on his motorbike to the hospital, pray for them and explain God's goodness when they are afraid. I cry with them who are confronted with death and other pain. He have to give more attention to the once that are expelled from the community or from their families. Associating with the outcast, sometimes is risking yourself to be an outcast. To be expelled from the group is culturally the worst thing that can happen to you. An outcast is dead and there is a big fear for that. He explains that they as pastors are also struggling with this fear. He said: "We also get ill and we also need the community to survive." Their families are mostly out of reach. They are dependent on the community to give them food and money to life by. The fact that they have friends in South-Africa complicates it even more, because most people still think that the South-Africans are very rich and because they are friends, the pastor will share it. Therefore it is not necessary to give him anything. A pastor said:"I have maize from my own harvest, but do not have money to take it to the mill." Some families even have to stay days without food. One pastor told me that he can not give his children food before they leave for school and when they return they are very weak. This is the extreme cases, but relationships in this cultural setup is sometimes very complicated and you need a lot of wisdom to handle them as a christian leader.
The wifes of the pastors are living in very difficult. They stay in another culture and language group. The physical situation is not easy, with water that needs to be fetched from wells, sometimes no medical support, have to walk to serve in the congregation. To stay in another culture create very high stress levels. There were even attempts for suicide.
In spite of all these, I am regularly encouraged by the amazing endurance that the Lord is giving his servants.
We can pray, we can visit. It is not our words or even gifts that encourage the most, but to be there in the name of the Lord. You hear them say: "Through your visit we know that the Lord did not forget about us."
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