| Not the Mzungus |
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“Mzungu! Mzungu!” squeels a giggling six-year-old before ducking behind his mother. “Mzungu!” (White person!) grunts a frowning shoe-shiner moments later.
Byron and Geofrey
“We receive is the general attitude,” says Byron. Byron capped off his campus ministry by leading a two-week trip to Uganda’s Ssese islands. Six of his disciples (two Tanzanians, four Congolese) raised support, reaching Lake Victoria’s remote fishing communities in early July. “I found Africans much more capable and free to do evangelism,” he says. “They’re bolder, more accustomed to preaching at random…A lot of people received Christ.” Byron recalls an islander who approached Geofrey, one of his Tanzanian team-members, during a day of Ssese Islands Quick Facts -Long ago these jungles were considered sacred; a home of the gods. Today spirit-worship remains a pillar of island lifestyle. -HIV/AIDS has a stronghold on the islands, in some villages gripping up to 90 per cent of the population. evangelism: “He confessed that he and his entire family were involved in witchcraft. He felt guilty about it, but would be shunned by them if he quit. Geofrey told him God was bigger…and the guy trashed all his [sorcery] equipment.” “I didn’t find locals opening up that way to me.” *** John Brown, Canadian Director of Africa Inland Mission, agrees that foreign -led evangelism isn't the ultimate goal . “Our task is not accomplished until the mission church truly becomes the sending church,” he says. “Right now it’s just small whispers,” concludes Byron. “But this is something God is doing. Us as North Americans, our job is to find out what our role is exactly. “The future of East-African missions lies in the hands of the nationals. Not the Mzungus.” Bookmark             |
