Giving Tuesday 2019

Dear family and friends,

It’s now been almost a month since we arrived as missionaries in North Dakota.  Soon it will be Giving Tuesday.   Could you contribute to our ministry this week?

We’ve so far noticed a tremendous amount of enthusiasm related to our move.   Our social media is busy, and many affirm this move.   We suspect some may not fully understand all that is happening, so we wanted to give some quick explanations.

A few have assumed that we are taking a full-time job with benefits at Revive Christian Church in Bismarck.   We absolutely love our role and the family at Revive.  It’s really very easy to speak well of them.   Yet, it’s a part-time teaching pastor role of a young church made up of young families.  Revive is very generous by nature.   Yet, for us to be financially viable we need resources beyond their salary.  For all practical purposes their pay takes care of our housing. It is about one third of what most families in the Bismarck area live on.  We’ve come to Revive as missionaries.

We know there is a common refrain in some circles that “all Christians are missionaries.”   In a way all followers of Jesus have a responsibility to participate in the Great Commission.   Yet, one of the most insightful teachings we ever experienced was almost 30 years ago listening to Dr. Ed Mathews at Abilene Christian University point out that being a missionary is a specific calling or spiritual gift.   Some are given extra measures of the missionary gifting and carry extra responsibilities.  For those gifted as missionaries the Church must support them, so the enterprise of evangelism is effective.  If all are missionaries than in a certain way none are missionaries.  Resources are poorly utilized.  Locations of both great need and great potential will be underserved as typically the bulk of Christians will drift towards what is easy and understood.  (To read a more extensive discussion see https://misionarytonorthamerica.blogspot.com/2016/11/not-every-christian-is-missionary.html.) 

A second bit of insight related to missionary call we leaned from fellow missionaries in Rwanda.   They pointed out that missionaries live in an economy of trust.  We go to places where local churches don’t have the resources to pay a full salary.   We go trusting, discovering, and creating resources to live.

Practically, as missionaries we usually land in places at the margins of a culture.  In America it’s easy to see that as one assesses matters like poverty and immigration.   Another area that we have come to believe is at the margins is rural America.   In the past we might call urban centers places of influence.  Yet, increasingly as America is Post-Christian and the response is extreme, I’ve grown to feel urban centers can be controlling, manipulative, and demeaning.   We sensed as missionaries God has called us to be in the margins with immigrants, the poor, and with rural populations.  

In going to the margins, we don’t step away from influence.  In fact, we emulate the model of Christ who as the King of All Kings came to earth in poverty and humility, lived in human flesh, suffered, and died horrendously.   The death to self and the sacrifices of His early followers was one of the key impetuses for such rapid growth in the early church.  God has a way of placing His servants in places where over the course of generations the world is literally turned upside down.

What does being a missionary look like in North Dakota?

First, let us share the broad sweeps of good we see in North Dakota.   The landscape is beautiful.   The natural resources are abundant.  All one must do is open one’s eyes to be in wonder at God.   The economy is growing.  If one goes to work, it is likely that opportunities will grow.   The population is growing.  Marriage rates are higher than national averages.  Divorce rates are lower.  Birth rates are higher.   Family and neighborhood connections that provide the glue for the Gospel to move are abundant.

Yet, secondly there are dark sides to North Dakota.   She has some of the highest suicide and alcoholism rates in the nation.   There are unresolved issues in the Native American experience that still eat the soul.   There are many vulnerable children in the foster care system.   There are many areas where the Gospel must be lived out in practical ways.

Third, our presence is helpful.   So far, most Sundays we start at Revive Christian Church in the mornings and in the afternoon are at Adonai Evangelical Church.   Adonai is made up of recent African immigrants.   Most of Adonai’s leaders are Kinyarwanda speakers and we feel at home with them.   Adonai’s worship team is the most talented Kinyarwanda worship teams we’ve experienced since being in the USA.   Both Revive and Adonai utilize us.  Dave teaches over half the Sundays at Revive and many Sunday’s at Adonai.  Jana prays and shares her wisdom with both churches.  With raising 5 kids we have experience to share with the young families at Revive.  With having transitioned from Africa to the USA with children our counsel is helpful to young families at Adonai.   

Fourth, in the margins of rural America we see cultural influence.   The people at Revive are smart, talented, and well educated.   We’re with them influencing those of influence.   The people at Adonai though humble at this point in their American journey keep popping up in Bismarck news.  Their kids make the high school sports better and they are very articulate in explaining their immigration experiences.

Fifth, we stay busy.  Yet, there aren’t resources from the local churches to pay all our bills.   We can’t abandon this call when the resources to pay a salary don’t exist.   We must stay as long as God asks.

Today, can you make a donation to us as we serve as missionaries to North Dakota?

To give you can either send a check to:

East Africa Diaspora Community

P.O. BOX 480

Wheaton, IL 60187

Or make an online donation at https://secure.egsnetwork.com/donate/C0AF312B0E28441

Thank you for thinking of us this Giving Tuesday,

Imana ikurinde (May God bless you)

Dave and Jana