Among the Malagasy People of Madagascar
Go ... and make disciples of all nations
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Among the Malagasy People of Madagascar Go ... and make disciples of all nations |
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| Volume 20, Number 7 | July 2005 |
| The Barry Rosie family have worked on the mission field in Africa for more than 19 years under the oversight of the: |
Church of Christ c/o Phillip Young 140 C.R. 170 Corinth, MS 38834 |
Eugene Holland - 662-287-1721 Jerry Bates - 662-287-3351 |
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We left the paved road and began our trek over ten kilometers of dirt road. I knew I would catch up to Barry. He has to go much slower with a full car and with all those people riding in the metal trailer with no seats. Much to my surprise, though, Barry’s trailer was empty this week. Now, I was really beginning to wonder where everyone was. It’s that time of year when weather is cold, damp, and windy here and lots of people get sick. It’s going to be a small group for worship this week was my immediate thought. We usually have more than one hundred for worship. Today, I figured, we would be well under the hundred mark. When we pulled up to the orphanage building (our usual worship site) I thought for a moment I was in the wrong place, or I thought, someone must have died here or something. There were so many people! My heart was racing wildly as I warily stepped out of the car. Barry had pulled up right behind me and his face was a puzzle too. I shook a few hands and greeted with a shaky voice those who greeted me, but they all seemed just fine. It was as if this was normal routine. I gathered up the Bible class supplies, helped Rivo’s grandma out of the car, locked the car doors, and walked just as warily into the building looking for Rivo and expecting an explanation. Rivo didn’t have an explanation, just a huge smile. There was a scramble for chairs, and a rearranging of seating for the children in order to provide enough chairs for adults. There was the usual chatter of folks greeting each other and children being sent to their Bible classes. There was the usual settling in of adults in their Bible classes. I didn’t even attempt to herd the women into their customary Bible class, men and women sat in one class today. Eventually, everyone (150% of the usual number) quieted down and classes began. I could tell that Rivo was not teaching his planned lesson, but other than that, both and classes and worship went off apparently without a hitch except for my and Barry’s surprise and confusion. After worship we questioned both Rivo and Tiana. They hold a Wednesday afternoon Bible and singing practice class in that area, and we thought maybe they had been working extra hard on those Bible lessons and had drummed up this unusual amount of interest. They, however, didn’t have a clue about all these strange and new faces. Barry and I saw it as almost a mass exodus from the two other churches in the local village and we rather expected an unkind sort of backlash or repercussion from this day. It’s been like this for three Sundays now. The church suddenly has a rather large number of spectators. A month ago, Barry and Rivo were beginning to feed those who have come faithfully for the last year or more the “meat of the Word” in carefully measured out doses. Now, we are back to sharing the “milk of the Word” to a rather large number of new faces. It’s exciting but humbling at the same time. Last Sunday, a woman who has been attending regularly but who has not yet obeyed the Word came to Tefy’s mom with three teenage girls in tow. She had a question that Tefy’s mom couldn’t answer so she brought the woman and three girls to me. I couldn’t answer her question either, so I took her to Barry and Rivo. She was inquiring about having the three girls baptized. She wasn’t inquiring about her own need. She just wanted to have the three girls baptized. I pray for Barry, Rivo, and the men of the congregation as they deal with questions like these and with mass spectators as we now have. I pray for them as they share the “milk of the Word” and as they grapple with meeting the real spiritual needs of this new group of people within a congregation that grew as a result of personal contact and study of God’s Word with each member along the way, healing and nurturing hearts, and helping those new in Christ to experience truly changed lives. Can we possibly accomplish the same with such a sudden large number of apparent spectators? Just today, we received an article from Gailyn Van Rheenan, a former co-worker for Christ in Kenya and one of our missionary mentors. Gailyn writes about the church in America, I have found that many church leaders assume that the first step in church planting is purchasing a piece of property and constructing a church building. A church defined as “a place where things happen” (Guder 1998, 79) necessitates property and place. A second assumption is that church is a public “service” organized by a staff for the giving of information or for celebration. Church becomes, to some degree, a spectator engagement. church planting becomes “getting the largest number of people to a service in the shortest period of time.” Within the North American cultural environment where “success” is defined by numerical growth, church planting is frequently the reapportioning of the Christian population. My devotional life and understanding of church has been enriched by Philip Kenneson’s Life On The Vine: Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit in Christian Community. Kenneson is convicted that the church in the United States is seriously ill and aims to accurately and honestly provide both a diagnosis and remedy. He believes that “it is quite possible for the church to be both growing and yet not bearing the fruit of the Spirit. What is happening in many cases is that the church is simply cultivating at the center of its life the seeds that the dominant culture has sown in its midst . . . . The church that is being cultivated in the United States looks suspiciously like the dominant culture rather than being an alternative to it” (1999, 11-12). The question is not simply “Is it bearing fruit?” but “Is the fruit that the church is bearing the fruit of the Spirit?” (1999, 15) They are like ancient Judah who partially followed God but also served the gods of the nations around them. These problems are not peculiar to the church in America.
We too must watch out for some of the same pitfalls. Please pray
for the Ambohimarina congregation in Madagascar as we strive to grow in
Christ each and every one of us, and as we strive to teach Christ
and a life changed because of Him. We want our own lives to be
changed and we want to help others to have a changed life. Above
all, we don’t want to merely attract spectators.
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| Did You Know. . .
. . . that President Ravalomanana has not finished paying that electric bill yet? The four hour plus, unannounced, power outages continue daily to everyone’s frustration, and rumor has it that this will go on until September or later. We are getting mighty tired of it. It’s a daily joke in our house about when the absolute most inconvenient time will come that we will be switched off. It’s all a part of being a missionary, all a part of third world living, but not so easy to tolerate even with 20 years of experience. We use bottled gas to cook so are not hampered as far as meals go, and that’s very important in the coldest month of the year where no homes are heated and caloric intake takes on a whole new meaning. We do struggle though daily with only being able to accomplish about half of what we need to on the computer. Perhaps God is using this to force me to rest and relax. I’ve read a few books in the last month, something I haven’t been able to do for almost a whole year, so I can’t exactly complain. We (Madagascar residents, both Malagasy and expats) will all be happy though, when this electricity thing is paid off and worked out. |
| this and that
Report from Kenya Dear Stacy,
** Written by long time friend and missionary Janet Allison. Milk for Malagasy Children
As long as we
can get milk in this country, we continue to supply as many children as
possible with a Bible lesson and a cup of milk. We still have our
regulars who receive milk everyday right at my front door. Our church
kids get milk almost weekly at the end of Sunday morning Bible class and
worship. Barry and I still keep a case in each car and give to as
many street children as possible. I love to see them walking away
with milk in hand. Their step has a bit more bounce and I know they
are smiling. Pictures below show our second attempt at teaching and
passing out milk and worm medicine at a local school. The school
director expressed his appreciation and invited us back. The teachers
and parents we happy, and the kids were happiest of all, and so, Milk for
Malagasy Children goes on.
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What can you do? You can pray!
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Miniature Missionaries One more week and we will be a whole family again, with two miniature missionaries safe at home, although I’m not sure the name “miniature” much fits anymore. One of the miniature missionaries towers over his mom, and the other one is heavier than mom and almost as tall as mom. Nevertheless, I will always think of them as my miniature missionaries. I have no idea how we will find miniature missionary number one. He has stopped writing. It could be that he has a ton of homework to hand in at the last minute and exams are this week. Or, it could be that he’s having too much fun, trying to get in last kicks with school chums before school ends. Then again, it could be that he’s a boy, and boys never like to do much writing. We sure will be glad to see him come Friday night, 5:00 pm., at the airport. Miniature missionary number two has pleased us greatly since school ended. She doesn’t complain about being lonely. She’s taken a small bunch of neighbor children in hand and I’m so pleased at the types of activities she chooses to do with them. She’s organized an ongoing chess tournament and she’s even teaching the littler ones how to play chess. Soccer is big on the activity list even though our yard is so tiny, but they all have fun. I can tell by all the noise they make. And last week, I found Havilah on our front porch with a poster of the flags of the world tacked to our front door. She was teaching the kids to memorize the flags of a dozen different countries. She’s a natural teacher this second miniature missionary of ours. |
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B.P. 7554 Antananarivo 101 Madagascar Tel. 011-261-32-02-081-14
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We welcome you to join us in this work for Him . . .
