8-14-2007
6:30am
This trip has gotten me thinking a lot about servant leadership. Pastor Guidi has done an amazing job of seeing that we, as guests, are served at every hour of the day. What has been troubling though is th way that he seems to have absolute control over everything that happens here. During worship he was like a Sultan, simple gestures and glances sent minions scurrying. There is a very rigid social structure here and the pastor is clearly on top.
As a group we have been feeling rather used. It seems like there is a lot of status to be gained for the people that we go to visit and that Pastor Guidi is using us to advance his own cause. By contrast we would like to spend time and develop relationship with these people. It has been delicate work trying to find an appropriate balance.
12:45
Today has proven to be an interesting day. I spent the first few hour making balloon animals for the children. It was a mad house. It was great to see all the smiles on their faces. They were very excited and kept crowding in. Some of the children were taking the uninflated balloons and trying to inflate them by mouth. This, of course is no easy task. But I really hope that I don't end up getting sick from using those balloons.
I was called away from the children's ministry to meet again with Francis. We spent about 30 minutes chatting, just the two of us. Then the whole group talked with him about the trip to Ghana. Last night, as a group we decided not to go. But our hosts did not like that decision and Francis and Pastor Guidi attempted to persuade us differently.
The group was of a divided mind on the issue. There were good reason to go and good reasons not to go. The debate continued into lunch, so we took time to pray. After some time in prayer six women said that they were feeling called to go. This was significant because some of them had been dead set against going just a few minutes before. They plan to travel with Peter as an interpreter. After some hard bargaining and praying we seem to have come across a workable solution.
The group is still bonded well, but patience with some of the cultural differences that we are encountering is beginning to wear thin.
After lunch I had a chance to do some shopping. I am having a shirt hand tailored from a fabric that I chose. It is going to be about 6,000 CFA which is roughly $11USD.
9:00
Today some people on the team seem to have really hit a breaking point. It seems that the relational dynamic has swung the other way. We have people who are laying out demands and making judgments from a narrow western perspective. We continue to have trouble separating our values from what is going on in the clinic.
One of the things that I discovered today was that this relationship between Peace and Togo was first established by the former Associate Pastor at Peace, Greg. There are a lot of issues surrounding Greg, not the least of which is co-dependency. From a Systems perspective as we have tried to establish boundaries and move from an enmeshed relationship, Pastor Guidi pulls back all the harder, trying to correct the equilibrium.
This afternoon we had a visit from the Deputy US Ambassador to Togo. I did not stay for much of the conversation, but this must have been a big deal. The people who did sit and chat with him were grateful for the time that they spent together and the insights that he was able to offer about Togolesse culture and the relationship between the US and Togo. One of the other things that we found out is that the Deputy Ambassador never travels outside of Lome' after dark because of safety concerns. We blew that one on our first full day in Togo.
This evening we broke into groups to visit the house church satellite locations. This was a very positive experience. I got a chance to see every day life and living in Togo. This is a big part of what I hoped to get out of this trip.
One of the big issues with which the Togoleese church is dealing with is idol worship and demon possession. Francis told me about people, who in the process of being exorcised displayed amazing physical phenemona: a bat flying out of the mouth , writing on the ground like a snake, and the like. The accounts seem fantastic but I don't know of a reason why Francis would not be honest with me.
I also had a conversation tonight with Pastor Evie. He told about how he used to be Roman Catholic. When I asked why he left, he said that he had started to read the Bible and God showed him that what was going on there was not good, that they were worshiping idols. My first thought was that he was speaking of statues of saints or Mary. But apparently the Catholic church has been endorsing some native tribal practices such as offering animal sacrifices to trees and rivers.
No comments:
Post a Comment