Last week Jana and I both did Facebook Lives discussing our
upcoming move to Bismarck, North Dakota.
We’ve had lots of views and conversations. Yet, sometimes it’s also good to write. Some prefer to read instead of watch and
listen. I wanted to blog about our upcoming
move also. For many I still imagine
that this idea of an African missionary moving to North Dakota just seems out
of place. How did this come about?
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| Myself with cousins and a pony my uncle Alan bought |
I grew up in Minnesota.
I fear winter storms, but enjoy shoveling snow, winter moonlight, ice
fishing, tubing, venison chili, hot chocolate, and reading a good book by a fire. While growing up my dad and uncle Alan
would occasionally take me with them as they worked in the Dakotas. My dad worked in the road construction
business. My uncle Alan was a cattle
buyer. I always loved time in the
Dakotas. Since, I’ve been a kid I’ve
always wanted to live there. I loved the wide-open spaces, and potential to
hunt and fish. I liked the distance between
towns and the solitude on the roads.
This was such a wild dream that I deeply packed it down. I didn’t ever tell Jana. I thought what would be the odds that I’d
ever have an opportunity to live in the Dakotas? I’d better not give it much thought.
The first response most have when they find out that I’ve
always wanted to live in the Dakotas is to bring up the winter cold. My first memory of Bismarck is flying into
to her airport in January in the 1970’s as my dad went to bid on a construction
job. My dad remembers how cold it was. I remember who bright the snow was and remember
getting really bored as he had meetings at the North Dakota Department of
Transportation. We passed through
Bismarck a multiple of times. The last
time I was in Bismarck was in March 1988.
I was delivering a bucket for a backhoe for a construction crew in
Williston that needed a special bucket to cut through the frost. I ran into a ditch and broke down on the trip. I never told my dad about those hiccups. The beauty of the solitude was what impacted
me. I asked God to bring me back, and then
forgot my prayer.
Jana and I did 19 years in Africa, and now have done 7 years
in Chicago. We sensed in our return to
the USA that we should have 3 priorities.
The first was to nurture our kids, and they’ve done well. We only have 1 still at home. The second was to serve East African
Diaspora. Chicago has been a great place
to connect with large Diaspora communities and help. The third was to nurture local churches. With this one we’ve struggled. We just have never found a combination that
has been workable. Much of that we think
goes back to our being too old to be a starter in systems and that our perspectives
just doesn’t fit well with most of the local churches in Chicago land. As time has gone on, we’ve increasingly
sensed that God had given us some exceptional experiences and expertise that we
needed to find a venue to share with local churches.
In the back of my mind over the last 7 years I’ve also
thought we would eventually see African Diaspora people in the USA shifting to
the heartland in greater numbers. Most
settle as refugees, students, or green card lottery winners into America’s global
cities as there is immigration settlement infrastructure and universities in
those cities. Yet, most Africans are
rural people of Christian faith, and culturally more like the values and
rhythms of rural America than urban. I’ve
kept asking around if anyone was seeing African immigrant migration to the heartland
and heard a few stories, but never saw anything of substance documented.
Then in January I saw
an article on race, birthrates, and local states in the Wall Street Journal (
https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-fertility-rates-vary-around-the-country-11547096460.)
What caught my attention was seeing large
black families from Kansas north to the Canadian border.
Those areas typically don’t have large
African American population.
My gut told
me that was African immigration as I’d heard some stories of movement but didn’t
know the extent.
I traded correspondence
with the author.
Her research didn’t
include immigration status, but it was likely we were seeing African
immigration affect the demographics in the heartland.
I started asking questions and doing
research online.
It appeared that the
Dakotas particularly were having a surge of African immigration.
Some report in the last 10 years that the
population of African immigrants in the Dakotas has increased by five fold.
At the same time Jana and I kept trying to connect with
local churches and Christian organizations in Illinois. I’ve applied for so many jobs but keep
running into very similar dynamics repeatedly.
The church networks that are open to immigration have room for us to
attend their seminars, but don’t have room for us to provide leadership. The church networks that will open their
doors for us in some type of leadership role generally will only keep that door
open if we don’t discuss issues that are part of the African immigration
experience. Our expertise is used on
occasion but not frequent enough that we can make a living or gain
traction.
Many write that missionaries throughout history generally
live and serve on a society’s margins. Occasionally,
missionaries are at the crossroads of influence in a culture, but that’s generally
an exception to the overall missionary narrative. We had seasons in Africa where we served at
points of great influence. Yet, our
season in America has been on the margins.
We see that as the hand of God as we’ve lived like most African immigrants
do their first years in America. As much
as is possible with white skin and American citizenship we’ve learned firsthand
about immigration, race, poverty, and disability in America. We’ve pondered if our journey into the
margins was not complete. It seems to us
that in the American Christian experience the points of influence are
megachurches and para-church ministries in large urban centers. It seems to us that the margins in American
Christianity are in rural America. We’ve
pondered if God would also take us to rural America in our service to African
immigrants and the nurture of our kids.
Our only child who is still at home is our son,
Timothy. The last few years have been a
painful discovery of the complexity of his disability. He’s done well with Paralympics and we’ve
developed a network of good parental advisors.
Public school has been unworkable and we’re homeschooling. He’s struggled with respiratory infections
and we notice those are more likely to happen when we notice air quality
warnings for Chicago. He struggles with
anxiety related to the brain injury that caused his cerebral palsy. Counselors have suggested more time outdoors
for him.
All these factors have made us wonder if God desired for us
to move. I had been looking for part-time
or interim ministry positions near Chicago.
One Sunday morning in April I decided to look at job postings in the
states the Wall Street Journal noted were having a surge of African
immigration. I had seen a part-time
teaching pastor job with Revive Christian Church in Bismarck, North
Dakota. I thought the position had probably
been filled, but I decided to drop them a note in the off chance that it was
still open. They wrote back that the
position was still open. We’ve had a
long dialogue.
Last month, we were
in Bismarck to explore. I preached at
Revive and interviewed for the job. We met
with African immigrants and visited one African church in Dickinson. We met parents of children who have similar disabilities
as Timothy. Revive offered us the
job. The African community seems vibrant
and desires our presence. Bismarck
seems very workable for Timothy’s health and development. We’ve decided to move to Bismarck. We hope to be there early in November.
The move makes sense for the following reasons:
1. North Dakota is booming economically.
It’s one of the few places in the United
States where the middle class is growing.
2. Bismarck seems to be more stable in her growth
than the North Dakota oil boom cities.
She is a base for the rest of the state with the service industries that
supply the boom.
She also has education
institutions and health care facilities.
3.
The Bismarck area has a growing African
population.
Some of that is that
Lutheran Social
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| At Adonai Evangelical Church, Dickinson, North Dakota |
Services and the Catholic Church have settled many
refugees.
Yet, the movement is bigger
than refugees. In Bismarck we heard a term used to describe African immigration
as primarily “secondary migration.”
In a
nutshell it’s mostly those who started in America’s global cities and then
moved to better economic opportunities and a better cultural fit.
You
can find low to moderate skilled African immigrants driving trucks, in
agriculture, and serving in home health care for North Dakota’s elderly.
When I talk to those people most find that
they can find more stable better paying jobs with a lower cost of living than
in the cities they initially settled.
There are also skilled professionals in Bismarck.
Some teach at the local universities.
Some are doctors at the local
hospitals.
When I look at photos of
high school and college soccer teams within 90 miles of Bismarck most have 1 to
4 players of African descent.
There
seem to be at least 100 Kenyans in Bismarck.
The Rwandan embassy visits North Dakota yearly, and there are 3 Rwandan
led churches in the area.
4.
All indications are that Bismarck would be
healthy for Timothy.
There are doctors
who advertise that they serve children with cerebral palsy.
There is a Paralympic team.
There are also other organizations serving
the disabled such as hunting, fishing, and horseback riding groups.
The air seems clean.
There are wide open spaces and a smaller
population so it seems his anxiety would be less.
5.
I’m just hungry to get back to a more rural part
of the upper Midwest.
I’d really like to
be
outdoors more.
I’d really like
opportunities to hunt and fish.
I’d
really like to have more of a role with churches and Christian organizations
than I currently do.
I’d like enough
snow on the ground to enjoy winter sports.
Beyond how appealing North Dakota is Revive Christian has
captured our hearts. I find myself
checking in on them over social media and thinking and praying for them
frequently. Here’s some things that
captivate me about Revive:
1. Revive defines themselves as a “Front Porch
Church,” that is very involved in their community and particularly with meals,
concerts, and service in area parks.
Hospitality is one of Jana’s and my spiritual gifts.
2.
Revive is a young church plant that has been
going for 7 years.
There is still room
to formulate and grow.
3.
Revive has been refined.
Their attendance was near 90 over a year ago
when their lead church planter left.
They now are in the range of 65 to 75.
I feel confident in making a move with a church healthy enough to
survive a tough transition.
4.
Revive is made up of largely young families with
young children.
God’s helped us raise
our own kids well.
I think Jana and I
could well nurture this church.
We
simply really enjoyed our time with their families and children.
5.
Revive has 3 elders and full-time worship /
administrative pastor.
We don’t want to
lead alone.
Having others with whom to
share leadership is very appealing.
6.
Revive is currently meeting in a community
center near a college and has some presence of university students.
Jana and I have thrived on college campuses
before.
We found two friends of friends
who teach at the college nearby, and sense we could develop relationships in
those networks.
7.
Revive leaders sense their biggest needs are
someone to deepen the level of Biblical teaching and that is an area of Jana’s
and my expertise.
When I sit still, I find myself moved to tears. God heard my prayers 31 years ago on a
solitary drive through North Dakota. He
saw my struggle in a ditch and with an overheating pickup in a winter storm and
kept me safe. He’s bringing me back to a
place that feels like home. I seem to
culturally fit with North Dakota. In
that process I don’t have to leave Africa.
Diaspora people are nearby, and they could also use our presence and counsel. Who would have thought they variables would
come to fruition?
What will this look like as a missionary?
The average household income in Bismarck is in the range of
$60,000 and we anticipate we’d need those type of resources to minimally be
financially viable in Bismarck. The salary
that Revive will provide as their part-time teaching pastor is $20,000 per
year. Currently, we bring in about $20,000 per year
that we count as our missionary salary so if we made this move, we’d need to
find another source of income that could generate at least $20,000 per
year.
It appears that what we’d financially do with this potential
move is to trade our houseparent role at Jubilee Village for the teaching
pastor role at Revive Christian Church.
Jubilee Village is technically considered, “volunteer” and we don’t get
a w-2 or 1099. What we do get is the use
of a 3-bedroom apartment with our water, trash, and gas bill paid. If we can get into an affordable apartment in
Bismarck, we’d pick up a small amount more in real income.
Basically, if we make this move to Bismarck we’d be moving
as missionaries. We’d be following our
African relationship web. We’d be
trying to find a location that is healthier for our son, Timothy. We’d also be trying to strengthen and build
a local church. The income we’d have
wouldn’t meet our family’s financial needs, so we’d still be needing your
contribution and we’d be looking for more income sources.
Thank you for your support and prayers through the years.
Mungu akubariki (May God Bless You,)
Dave
