School Supplies

Four years ago, we started a benevolent work that has continued every year since 2001.  As students prepare to return to school starting October 10th, we have once again shared some school supplies with them.  We started this several years ago with a dream that everyone in the church would bring some small offering (money or supplies…such as a pencil or a few pieces of chalk).  Well that first year, I was told that no one had any money and that it would be too hard.  I accepted that candid expression, knowing times are always tough on these folks, and we gave ALL the money for ALL the supplies.  Well that tradition continued year after year.  It’s continued to be a fun time each year around the first of October getting to distribute supplies to the students in the churches.  

Now those of you up on your Mission Principles 101….you know the principle of “reproducibility” or some like term.  It basically strongly advocates missionaries to not engage in ministries that cannot be duplicated, reproduced, copied, or sustained by the nationals once the missionary presence is gone.  We try to operate under this guideline as much as possible.  With the school supplies, I realized from the beginning that we were doing something that the locals could not replicate.  But we did it anyway as a way of providing some immediate “relief” to a difficult financial problem each year for students and their parents.  Last year however, the week after the supplies were distributed, what burdened me a lot was the realization that we were only doing something that would bless people for a few short years and it would stop!  This tradition has become so exciting for the students in the churches…even as a witness to the community that we show love to one another in the church.  But as I pondered the remaining years toward phasing out, I was burdened by having started something marvelous that the Aja people couldn’t sustain or continue.

So I shared my burden with my dear friend (and Lael’s birth father), Ega.  Knowing his generous heart (yet nervous because he’s a very poor man), I asked him if he could think about joining me in giving some money toward the school supplies for 2005.  He immediately jumped at the chance and agreed to it!  Granted I was thrilled, but honestly, it would have to be one of those “I’ll believe it when I see it” kind of things.  A lot of people in this world can make promises about giving money.  I then asked Ega if he thought I should invite our mutual friend, Sossa, into this effort.  Being in the same extended family, Ega insisted Sossa participate.  Well, while he was a little more reluctant at first, Sossa did contribute each month.  So did Ega.  Even during the month that his wife died, Ega came to my house with his offering.

All total, including what I contributed, we spent $200 on the school supplies for all 5 churches (120 students altogether).  I’m so excited to tell you that Sossa’s and Ega’s combined portion was about $48!  Now we’re a little far from this being 100% Aja money (it will have to be, once we phase out in a few years), but I’m so thrilled that we’re up almost 25% from last year!  As we distributed the supplies this year, I didn’t shy away from giving some recognition to my dear Aja friends, Ega and Sossa.  You should have seen the looks on the faces of their peers when it was announced!  Those of you who have been here and met Ega, it’s not hard for you to imagine that Ega would take the floor after my “speech” and he rallied everyone together and began asking for names of people who would join Sossa and him in contributing to next year’s school supplies.  I told Ega, “I would love to have 50% of this offering funded next year by Aja people.”  He said, “No, how about 60%!”  We’ve already had a few folks “express” intentions to participate.

Ega did some research before we bought the supplies this year, determining what each student needed according to his/her classification.  I know we didn’t provide everything they needed, but we got some blissful feedback when the students opened their sacks filled with pens, pencils, rulers, chalk, erasers, and notebooks.  We called the students from each congregation to come a different day last week to our house.  Ega and Sossa joined me to distribute the sacks, pray and give exhortation.  In the previous years, this has been a 100% funded-by-the-missionary project…this year, it was a great joy to share this with some of my dearest Aja brothers.  I love thinking about this specific benevolent work continuing long after we are gone.  And now Ega, Sossa and other Aja people are getting the idea that they CAN be just as generous long after the rich white missionary is gone.  We live in an impoverished region of the world and one of the greatest hurdles is having the new Christians trust God in relation to finances, especially giving.  One of the statements that brings me fear and sadness is “once you are gone, we don’t know how the church will continue to grow and be exciting for everyone” (I don’t hear it all the time, but more than I wish).

This offering of school supplies is a tangible project that benefits their young people and I know they have told me it is a great witnessing tool in their communities.  And it’s not just a missionary project anymore.  May the Lord receive ALL the glory as we join with our Aja Christian friends in living out the generous heart of God among the people here.

Live an exemplary life among the natives so that your actions will refute their prejudices.
Then they'll be won over to God's side and be there to join in the celebration when he arrives.  (1P.2.12, from THE MESSAGE)