Recap of Our Trip to Africa

Judy and I said goodbye to the team in Nairobi on Sunday. They left for England, Switzerland, Dallas, TX; Chicago, and California. Yesterday, we arrived in Kampala for a short stay with our friends, the Homeyers, and then we meet up with the next mission team from Houston.

I contracted a stomach infection on the day everyone left town. Sunday night and Monday morning were the worst. We moved to a new hotel on Monday and I was too weak to make it from the lobby of the hotel to my room. I needed a wheelchair! Crazy. I am better now, but still not 100%. Everything is big in Africa, including the microbes.

We learned so much on this trip. God is moving in powerful ways in Africa. The prayer “receive the Father’s love” is just as powerful in Africa as it is at home. So many of us have been starved of the father’s love. So many have been emotionally or physically abused or ignored by our fathers. This is particularly true in Africa. This makes it hard for many to believe that their Heavenly Father is kind, good, and loving. Somehow, to pray “receive the Father’s love”, which makes a claim and has an action, begins to break through that barrier of pain and woundedness.

Many need to be set free. Isaiah 61 — “I have come to set people free ‘ — is really true. The name and blood of Jesus  have power. As strange as it seems to some, Christians need to be set free as much as anyone else. By free, I mean from the grip of the enemy (which is a less scary way of saying free from demons).

I saw the power of the Body of Christ in action. Not just in how Dr. Dennis ministered, but in the way the members of the team ministered and prayed over people. The gifts of discernment, healing, and prophecy are for the body, not just one person. It is exciting to see how the darkness is pushed back as you and I step into our gifts and exercise them. The devil is shaking as we plunder his kingdom. For many of us, this is an alien idea. But it is one of the things the Church was created to do. With some training and confidence we can rock the world of the enemy.

Judy and I were both stretched on this trip. First, it is Africa. A much more challenging place to minister. Judy became Mama Judy to some of the girls on the trip. All looked to her for her strength and grace. She was unfailingly calm and cheerful. And when she prayed for young women, they wept. The father’s love is important. So is the mother’s love. After Judy prayed with one young woman, she told Judy that “you have confirmed 10 prophecies that were prayed over me.” Although she still does not feel equipped (which, I am convinced, is one of the lies of the enemy), she has experienced amazing spiritual growth.

My role, overall, was supportive. I was fine with that, but there were some moments when God was testing my patience. “What is this trip about, John? Me, or you”.  I wanted to say “both” and too often God said No, it is about Me”.

When I sat on the panel, someone asked all of us “tell me your purpose”. I read some Scripture from Philippians 2 but in the back of my mind was this: my purpose is to ‘follow the Master’. I think that is a good answer. Not ‘follow a master’, but ‘follow the Master’, especially when He says “John, you do it”. (After reading this paragraph and reflecting on it a bit more, I think it is true that we are called to ‘follow’ the Master, at other times we are called to walk alongside the Master. Jesus keeps calling us deeper into intimacy and friendship with Him.)

I appreciate the emphasis in my church on knowledge, especially knowledge of Scripture. But that is not all that Christ died to give us. He gave us access to the Father’s power. The same power He had. If we don’t claim that power, learn how to use it, and push back the darkness wherever we find it, we are not fulfilling part of our purpose. We spend a lot of time talking about the love of Jesus, but little time talking about the power of Jesus. He has given us both and they go together. To focus on one without the other is to get out of balance. In Africa, we saw the power of God at work in people’s lives to heal and deliver them. Freedom is a big word here.

I think our reluctance to talk about power is that power in Scripture was about miracles. Most Christians in the West have bought into secularism and physicalism (the only reality is the material) to some extent. Miracles are supernatural and so are outside of the secular paradigm. This makes us uncomfortable, so let’s just talk about love.

It can be a lot of fun to do ministry with people you do not know or don’t know well.  As you get to know people their gifts come into focus and you realize how amazing they are. The two European guys, Robbie and Matthias, are strong men of God and fun to be with. Although Robbie lives in Liverpool he supports Manchester Union. Does that mean anything to you? It did to Africans. They either booed or cheered loudly. Both of these guys started house churches which are thriving. It was a blessing to learn from them. And then we got to know Julie. She came with an assortment of oils which she liberally sprayed or dropped over us each day. We were the best smelling mission team in the history of missions in Africa. And she is a painter (think artist, not house). We fell in love with her work. I can’t wait to introduce her to our friend Anne. But, it can also be hard work doing ministry with people you don’t know. Without constant prayer (by us and from you) the team can be demoralized and destroyed from the inside out. The enemy is crafty; looking to exploit every chink in our armor. What else is new? I didn’t have to go to Africa to figure that out.

God is the same in Africa as He is in America. Our root issues are the same. The intensity is different. There is more need in Africa, at least compared to the circles that I hang out in. If you have cancer in Africa, it is God or nothing for most people. So people turn to God more often for healing; there is no other choice for most other than the witch doctor. Consequently, there are more healings. Poverty and witchcraft are more pervasive here. Dr. Dennis says the the demons in America are the ones who couldn’t make it in Africa. He might be right, although I have been plenty tormented in Houston. The darkness is darker, the light is brighter. Over and over we saw the incredible power of Christ to deliver people from darkness. The power of Jesus to command the natural and spiritual is huge, but more evident in Africa because here they actually believe in that power.

From what we saw, what I would call the prosperity gospel, is strong in Africa. There is so much poverty, abuse, death, and brokenness here. It is hard to take it all in. It is easy to get overwhelmed by such pain. Turning to Jesus to lift people out of this pain can easily morph into Jesus as Savior with Jesus as Lord slipping to second or third place. Really, not much different from America. But there is so much authentic Christianity here that I think African churches will soon be sending missionaries to America.

Africa is a place of contrasts: chaos (traffic in Kampala is really bad, traffic in Nairobi is really, really bad) and great beauty. Most Africans have had malaria and other tropical diseases like parasites. In the parts of Kenya and Uganda that we visited everything is red from the dark red soil. Poverty is a big problem. There are many orphans due to the HIV-Aids crisis, especially in Uganda. Many men are polygamists. Witchcraft is still dominant in both Kenya and Uganda. But Christ is strong in the hearts of many Africans. Change is happening. A strong African middle class is emerging. Churches, like Gaba Community Church and its outreach organizations ARM and ARU in Kampala and the Purpose Centre Church in Nairobi are stepping up to address many of these issues; hearts are being transformed. Medical care and infrastructure are improving, economies are slowly growing, and Africa is rising. A lot more work has to be done, but as the West moves deeper into a culture dominated by self-gratification and selfishness,  entertainment, and godlessness, the best of Africa might emerge to show us the way back.

These are the thoughts and ideas Judy and I came up with. I know we learned a lot more. We’ll try to remember to share them as they pop into our minds.

Thanks to all of you for praying for us. A lot of things that could have gone wrong didn’t because of you. Your prayers connected us together. Your spirits, released through your prayers, were carried into the hearts of the Africans we met by Judy and me through our prayers for them (does that make sense?).