Between Two Homes: Reflections of a Returning Mission Partner
by Graham Kings
Date added: 08/09/2023
CMS Newsletter (Occasional Paper) No 489 July/August 1989
A man entered a committee room where people had been smoking for three hours and said, “It’s very smoky in here”. The reply came, “How do you know? You’ve only just come in.”
The reactions of someone coming into a country can be enlightening; they may be balanced by further reflections, for a Kikuyu proverb notes:
The home is only well understood by the person who sleeps there, not by the early morning visitor.
Alison and I, and our three daughters, left our home in rural Kenya, where we have lived and slept for three years, to return home to live and sleep in Britain for six months’ leave (or “missionary tour”), and next week (January 1989) we return to Kenya for another three years. How have we changed – in the Olympic Games we found ourselves cheering both Kenyan and British runners – and how has Britain changed? The answers to the former affect our perceptions of the latter.
Impressions of How We Have Changed
Our home is in the fertile foothills of Mount Kenya, where I teach theology at St Andrew’s Institute, Kabare. This is the theological and development college set up by Bishop David Gitari for the Diocese of Mount Kenya East. It trains ordinands, community health workers, evangelists, and secretaries. The following are some of the aspects of Kenyan life and culture that have challenged and changed us.
Holistic Mission
Our context of an integrated training institute has put flesh on the concept of holistic mission, because theological students learn about community health and typing and secretarial students learn about biblical studies and evangelism. In the arid and semi-arid areas of northern Kenya, pioneer evangelism and development go hand in hand and have led to phenomenal growth: communion tables become development desks after confirmation services, and wind-pumped boreholes provide living water next to new churches. In society the excuse, “you can’t change the world, that’s just the way it is” becomes the crucial question, “Is it just, the way it is?” and leads to episcopal action.
Presence of God
The permeating presence of God in all spheres of life, without any sacred/secular divide, is reflected in people’s ease in praying and in talking about God and heaven.
Respect for Tradition
This is seen in the cherishing of old age as compared to the western craving for youth, and in the value of African Traditional Religion as a preparation for the Gospel where there is a continuity of the concept of God as well as transformation (Ngai is the Kikuyu name for God and is used in the Bible and liturgies).
Similarities with Biblical Culture
Several aspects of the Bible have come alive for us, such as seeds growing secretly, lighted lamps, difficulties in travel, the importance of genealogies, greetings, and the sacredness of land, of visitors, and of corporate life together (“I am because we are”). The exciting reflections on the Bible of African theologians, rooted in their traditions and similar culture, have much to contribute to theology in the modern world.
Underside of the British Empire
Relearning history from another perspective is challenging. In one of our link churches I preached on Remembrance Sunday and after mentioning Britain’s battles against being ruled by another country, I felt I had to go on to say, “next month my friends in Kenya will be celebrating 25 years of independence from our rule over them!”
Recognition of Culture Shock
Culture shock is fascinating and can be seen in other contexts. Why, in Britain, is Raymond Briggs’ story of The Snowman so popular in cartoon, cassettes, and video form? Perhaps part of it is the intriguing culture shock experienced by the Snowman, as he learns about life and gadgets in the boy’s home, and by the boy, as he flies and joins the Snowman’s party at the North Pole.
Impressions of British Society
During these six months our home has been in Chigwell, Essex, just outside London, the village where I grew up. This is part of what David Sheppard has called, “comfortable Britain”, but in travelling round to preach in our 10 link churches, four of which are in the north-west, we have also seen urban priority areas.
Pace of Life
Last April I was at a conference, in Nairobi, of East African theologians, which included some Europeans. When some of the latter complained that the sessions were starting late, the Ugandan chairman quoted the old proverb, “Europeans have the watches and Africans have the time”. In Britain, new technology has increased the pace of life in our instant, disposable, credit-based culture: fax machines and car telephones save time and increase people’s availability – but they are not for everyone. Perhaps a key social distinction today is between those who spend time to save money and those who spend money to save time? Being pressed for time seems to display moral worth for the time-harried rich, but waiting is part of the lifestyle of the poor – waiting in DHSS and NHS and council queues.
Profitability Rules OK?
Or does it? This can be dangerous if it becomes the only rule or yardstick in society. There certainly seems to be more money around than three years ago, and unemployment has continued to fall nationally, though in some regions, such as Liverpool, there are still enormous percentages of people unemployed. However, the gap between ‘comfortable’ and ‘poor’ Britain seems to be widening and, with talk of benefit scroungers on the one hand and insider trading in the City on the other hand, we need to heed a Kikuyu proverb:
The well fed call the ravenous greedy
and Oscar Wilde’s description:
A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.
Delight in General British Heritage
This has ranged from revisiting the oldest wooden church in the world at Greensted, Essex (about 845 AD), through the public response to the Armenian earthquake, to appreciating the healthy tradition that public political office is not for the provision of one’s private wealth.
Racism
Unfortunately, racism is also part of our heritage, and the Gospel directly confronts it. During a church service, which was mostly made up visitors, I noticed one black woman on the end of a pew and shook her hand as we processed out. It was an instinctive reaction of someone just out of Africa. Over coffee afterwards, she said: “God must have made you do that for I am returning to Ghana next week after three years here, and in the church I’ve been going to the vicar shares the peace with everyone except me and writes me rude letters.” Race is not just an urban issue, for the presence of a black person in rural or suburban areas brings to the surface what is already there.
Perilous Future of Television
There seems to be increasing political pressure concerning the future of television, and the coming deregulation, and consequent reorganisation of programmes, may well lead to quality and variety reflecting advertising targeting rather than audience preference. For too long we have laughed at the excesses of American television – perhaps this ironic Kikuyu proverb is relevant:
Firewood that is in the store laughs at that which is in the fire.
Hope
Lesslie Newbigin has commented that he has perceived a basic lack of hope in society since he returned to Britain in the 1970s, after years of missionary work in India. We have also noticed this, particularly among those who have to live by filling in benefit forms, but there is less of a fear of nuclear war than there was three years ago, before Mr Gorbachev’s disarming proposals. Travelling into London I noticed, “Why bother?” painted on the back of a semi-detached house facing the Central Line between Leytonstone and Leyton. The people next door had painted, in equally large letters, “Why not?”
Impressions of the Church in Britain
Our link churches, where we have been worshipping and trying to share the joy of the Gospel in Africa, cover a wide range of ecclesiastical traditions. In Kabare there are 700 people at the Sunday morning service and the Institute has four times the number of applicants for ordination training than it can cope with.
Decline in Numbers
A MARC Europe survey has shown that total church membership in the United Kingdom dropped by 20% in the past 15 years and the number of Anglican clergy by the same percentage over the same period. It seems to me that the churches which concentrate on maintenance and ignore mission in their priorities and budgeting will continue to decline.
Some Encouraging Growth in Number and in Depth
Many churches which have developed all-family worship and teaching, home groups, creating shared leadership between clergy and laity, and are outward-looking in evangelism and social transformation, are growing. They are also the ones which are interesting in world mission. We know a young mother in a multi-racial church in north-west London who studied linguistics at university. She works part time for Brent Adult Literacy and Numeracy Scheme. In 1986 they carried out a survey which showed that of the 75% Afro-Caribbean students a significant percentage stated their reasons for having joined the scheme as, “the desire to read the Bible”. With her colleague, she wrote a literacy course based on reading the Bible, which is being funded by the militant Brent Council!
Little Mention of Heaven
Compared with Kenya, the subject of life after death (or living between two homes – earthly and heavenly) has rarely come up in conversation, sermons or theological discussion. Richard Holloway’s television series was the exception, which proves the impression. This reticence is unhealthy and shows that our Anglican faith is still very privatised. The burgeoning growth of the house churches and black independent churches is partly through gossiping the exciting Gospel from an eternal perspective, in a society which is frightened to death by death.
Ecumenism
The newly proposed Council of Churches in Britain and Ireland, which will also include Roman Catholics, is encouraging. Structures are important but unity is equally discovered as churches work together in the task of mission, as later this year, and in their own ways, the Billy Graham Mission ’89 and Desmond Tutu Birmingham Celebration will bear witness.
Urban Priority Areas
The success of the Church Urban Fund is heartwarming, for money is spiritual and can be indicative of missionary concern. However, specific cross-cultural studies need more emphasis in ministerial and in-service training, and three-month placements overseas (such as we have in our diocese) deserve ACCM accreditation. Bishops should consider encouraging and funding linguistically-capable clergy to learn relevant languages eg Urdu or Gujerati. Through the Church Urban Fund, and the consultancy of CMS, churches can fund two-thirds-world mission partners to work in inner city parishes.
So, Alison and I, with our three daughters, return home from home, conscious of the differences between Kenya and Britain, but also of the vital interdependence of God’s worldwide family.
We shall remember these perceptive remarks from the Archbishop of Canterbury’s opening sermon at the Lambeth Conference:
As you enter this cathedral, your eye is caught by its massive pillars. In their strength they seem to stand on their own feet, symbols of strong foundations and sturdy independence: but that strength is an illusion. Look up and see the pillars converting into arches, which are upheld not by independence but through interdependence.
