Bearing the Burdens of Those Outside the Gate: Another Story of Lent

By David Wesley

“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost – Isaiah 55:1-3

I am ending my time in Africa and will be going home on Monday. So far I have interviewed more than 100 people including ministry leaders of incredible ministries in a very complex context, those who care for sick and dying as well as those who are sick and dying, those who give out of abundance as well as those those who give out of scarcity, those who submit their life in worship to God as well as those who believe that they can control power through magic, those who live in Africa as well as those who live in the U.S. Needless to say, I will be working through all that I have collected for some time. During my data gathering process, I was interesting in a water well focus that has a fascinating long and involved story which I will not explain fully here, but the short version is that much needed, solar panel water pumps are being established in Swaziland through the collective work of an engineer from a U.S. church who came to Swaziland with a volunteer church group, a South African businessman working in Swaziland, a U.S. based grant writer and developer, funding from Coca Cola, and a network of Nazarene schools and clinics. These much needed solar powered water pumps are being installed throughout Swaziland and will undoubtedly make a long term impact on primarily the rural areas of Swaziland. Early in my time here I spent a day visiting several of the sites where the pumps had been installed. At one of the sites I noticed that the pump was connected to a medical clinic and a school. When I spoke to a person at this site, I asked “does this well provide water for the whole communitty?” He said “no, only for the school and clinic. This is our water”. When I got back in the car I asked the person who was with me, who had written the grant for the wells, if there was danger of this well running out of water if the community had access to it. She said, “this well would provide twice over sufficient water for the whole surrounding community. The people who managed this well were functioning out of a mindset of scarcity”. A couple of weeks later, I was at a church in a rural community to see a child development center which the church had developed and which a church in the U.S. was building a partnership with. When I had interviewed the pastor of this church, she told me that the people of her church had been caring for a large number of children in their community whose parents had died of AIDs related illnesses. The number of orphaned children they were caring for was near the same number as people in her congregation. She explained that up to now the people of this rural community would take food from their homes and take some of their own children’s clothes in order to care for these children. During my time at this church I had an interview with three young women who are a part of the church. One woman was the cook for preschool, who cooked meals for the children outdoors in a large cast iron pot over a wood fire. One of the women was a teacher in the preschool for the children and the other was a member of the church who helped with the preschool. We sat on wooden benches with no backs underneath a large shade tree for the interview. They explained to me that the church had a child development center with a pre-school to help children in the area who are very poor and many are orphans. I then asked them about the water well which their new church partner from the U.S had helped install just the day before. I noticed that there were various spickets for water outlet. There were eight are in the garden areas, there are 4-5 throughout the property and one just outside the property. I thought this was interesting after visiting the other location a couple of weeks ago that wanted to keep the water for themselves. One difference was that the one I saw earlier was not connected to a church but to a medical clinic and school. The earlier one said that they would not provide water for their community even though that had plenty to do it. It was a scarcity mentality rationale, so I thought that it was interesting that this church had deliberately placed one outlet outside of their property. I first asked them who decided to put the water spicket out side of the property. Was it the church from the U.S., their pastor, the contractors, or someone else? They said that the church committee made that decision. I asked, “why did you put water access on the outside where everyone from the community could use it instead of putting it on the inside where they could control how much was being used?” The three of them laughed at me like that was a stupid question. They said “we put it outside because we are Christians. We didn’t make the water, God did. If we kept it to ourselves, we would not be Christian. We have to share with those around us”. That same attitude could be seen as they took from their own limited resources to provide food and clothes for an overwhelming number of orphaned children. This is the same spirit that I have seen over and over again. As Christians provide medical care for witchdoctors, as churches provide assistance to those outside. In every case, it isn't a question of whether you are a potential client for my church, but rather, living into an authentic Christian identity. During this season of lent, I am reminded of the same thing that I have seen over and over again here in Swaziland that we are called to bear one another’s burdens, just as Christ bore our burdens. I am reminded that giving sometimes comes out of abundance, but often comes out of our identity in Christ. I am also reminded that the church does not exist just for the needs of those inside the fence, but we are called to be Christian as we provide for those outside the fence as well.