This was spoken by a pastor from the Assemblies of God, Burkina Faso, at the end of the first day of training on the theology of work. He lamented the church's lost time in reaching more people by equipping every member to be the church every day of the week.
I have felt that lament myself, many times. While the message seems to be spreading rapidly in some parts of the world, so much time has been lost. And in a few countries where we work, things seem to move very slowly. You wish you could shake things up, scream and shout to get the attention of those so busy and distracted by so many things, yet missing this opportunity which could help them achieve their own objectives.
On the last day of training this past week, the same man stood up again to speak. He said, "I must repeat what I said the first day. Why has this message come so late to Burkina Faso? I don't understand."
This time, others responded. While they agreed with the lament, they also urged the group of leaders, who had gathered from the fourteen Assembly of God centers from across Burkina Faso, to not look back but rather look forward.
"For whatever reason, it has come late; the key is that we don't let the message get lost again." And so began the planning time for rolling out this message across this denomination.
The Assemblies of God Burkina Faso has created an entrepreneurship department that is assigned to teach a theology of work, Biblical wealth creation, and stewardly wealth management throughout the denomination. Each leader from the fourteen centers is to select three people from each of the districts that are part of these centers. There are approximately 70 districts, so that means over 200 trainers will be released to bring this message to the churches in their district.
The leader of this department is Dr. Noufou Ganamé, who has a degree in entrepreneurship from Montreal, Quebec. He is also a pastor and is leading the church he planted. The other leaders of this team are equally distinguished. One works in the government and is a business owner. Another is the principal of a school that teaches theology and agriculture. Another works for the government in IT. So, this team covers the main systems we address: church, business, government, and education. (Pictured here: Dr. Ganamé (left) and Dr. Levi, at the School of Bible Formation and Agriculture.)
[Sidenote: Burkina Faso is a country of 64% Muslim, 26% Christian. I'm told that 80% of government employees are Christian and 90% of business owners are Muslims. Christian parents do not encourage their children to go into business, as it is seen as a place of corruption.]
For the first half of this week, I will visit some businesses and farms in the area and then spend two days meeting with this executive team for training and strategizing.
Then, I will leave the Assemblies of God and switch to the Christian Missionary Alliance of Burkina Faso. They have scheduled a concurrent youth entrepreneurship conference and a pastors' conference for April 12th to 16th.
Please pray for the country of Burkina Faso, which continues to have extensive challenges of terrorism, having the highest number of deaths due to terrorism than any other country. Please also pray for the Church in Burkina Faso for revival, growth, wisdom, and discernment!
This powerful line was spoken during our prayer call the other week, and I immediately noted it.
It's a beautiful prayer that takes me back to the understanding that we are "blessed to be a blessing." In life systems, continual ripples go out, and if things work as God intended, there should be no end. It should just keep going.
May the things you do, do things.
Let me share an example:
Last year, a woman from Grand Rapids whom I had met in Liberia many years ago, connected me to a ministry in Pakistan (see where I'm going with this?).
After several online meetings and presentations with this ministry, they decided to add DML to the discipleship ministries in which they were already involved. We did online training sessions for trainers and, thanks to the financial partnership of many of you, began to have the materials translated into Urdu.
A few facts about Pakistan: It is the fifth most populated country in the world, with the second highest population of Muslims. 1.37% of the population is Christian, or just over three million people, and the number of Christians is growing rapidly.
Our partner in Pakistan is planning to reach a number of cities across the country in 2025, and I received their first report this past week. I would like to share with you two testimonies included in that report:
Greetings in the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am Pastor Arshad from Victory Church. This was
my first time hearing such a profound teaching on work theology, business,
evangelism, and the workplace. The session was deeply encouraging, and I want
to highlight an important takeaway. As pastors, we must equip our congregations
not just to come to church to receive but to be prepared to "go" into
the field and fulfill their calling.
The
illustration of the cruise ship versus the warship was particularly impactful
in helping us understand our role and purpose. Another powerful point was that
God has called us to work—He did not create chairs and tables, but rather, He
created us with the ability to work and build. This session made our purpose
abundantly clear.
I
am grateful to Lord’s Home and DML for helping us better understand God’s perspective on our work and business.
Greetings in the Lord’s name. My name
is Nida Shaheen, and I am a banker at HBL Bank. This vision-casting meeting was
truly deep and thought-provoking. I strongly encourage such theological
teaching at every level within the Pakistani church.
Through
both the Old and New Testaments, I learned that God's perspective on work and
business is not new—it has been present since the very beginning of
the Bible. The way God has progressively revealed His design for work and
business was truly enlightening.
As
someone working among Muslims, this session has encouraged me to approach my
work with greater dedication, seeking to inspire my colleagues through my
devotion and integrity. Another key takeaway for me was understanding that work
is not a punishment but a divine calling for which God has created and
appointed us.
I
am deeply grateful to Lord’s Home and DML for providing this valuable learning
opportunity. I look forward to applying today’s teaching in my workplace.
Do you hear how the things we do are going to do things? Years later, a woman I met in Liberia followed up with me regarding a connection in Pakistan. We followed up. The ministry engaged. Now, churches and banks have the potential to see change, and the ripples go on.
Sometimes, we see the ripples immediately. Other times, we don't. Some of our partners see doors swinging open while others struggle to get a foot in the door. But our labor is not in vain, and our prayer is that the things we do, do things.
The DML team has been enjoying a song called "Your Labor is not in Vain," which I've included here. It's a song that reminds us that our work has impact and outcomes, no matter how big or small we feel our work is! Read the lyrics below and be encouraged this week. Be careful—it can get stuck in your head, especially the reminder from God that "I am with you."
May the things you do this week, do things, in Jesus' name!
VERSE 1: Your labor is not in vain though the ground underneath you is cursed and stained Your planting and reaping are never the same But your labor is not in vain.
REFRAIN: For I am with you, I am with you. I am with you, I am with you For I have called you, called you by name Your labor is not in vain.
VERSE 2: Your labor is not unknown though the rocks they cry out and the sea it may groan. The place of your toil may not seem like a home but your labor is not unknown. (refrain)
VERSE 3: The vineyards you plant will bear fruit the fields will sing out and rejoice with the truth, for all that is old will at last be made new: the vineyards you plant will bear fruit. (refrain)
VERSE 4: The houses you labored to build will finally with laughter and joy be filled. The serpent that hurts and destroys shall be killed and all that is broken be healed. (refrain)
I leave for Africa at the end of this week and will spend the month of April in Burkina Faso, Benin, and Egypt. The first half of my trip will be in French-speaking countries, and the last half will be in an Arabic-speaking country. While I can understand and speak some French (thanks to my Canadian upbringing), I will be hopelessly lost in Egypt.
Most people I meet in Africa can speak a minimum of three languages: usually their tribal language, the trade language, and English. They ask me how many I can speak, and I (shamefully) admit, "One." I then joke that if you speak three languages, you are tri-lingual; if you speak two languages, you are bi-lingual; and if you speak one language, you are American. What a luxury to travel around the world and, more often than not, find someone who can speak English. Even if English is not the official language in airports worldwide, the signs are in English. For most people in the world, that is a luxury they do not experience.
Thankfully, we don't need to learn another language to communicate with God. St. John of the Cross says, "Silence is God's first language." And we can all speak silence.
Or can we?
If you know other languages, your first language comes naturally, almost without thinking. It is comfortable and familiar. You often think in that language. You hardly struggle over words in that language. You usually don't even know that language's formal "rules" because you learned it as a child, simply by listening.
Silence is God's first language. God's language transcends words and can be expressed and experienced best in silence.
Yet too often, even in prayer, which is supposed to be a conversation or a dialogue, we fill up the space with words. When there is a pause or a silence in a group prayer, we often feel uncomfortable and seek to fill the gap.
How difficult it is to be silent! How often does God wish we would be quiet so that He could get a word edgewise?
The Quaker spiritual writer Richard Foster said that the tools of the devil are muchness, manyness, noise, crowds, and hurry. This is too true.
We live in a world of constant notifications that prevent us from being silent. There are many demands, which are difficult to tune out, even if our phones are off.
Some of us live in the past, others in the future, and not many in the present.
We "know" it in our heads, but we don't "know" it (i.e., do it) daily.
Father Thomas Keating talks about three levels of awareness, captured in this picture. We spend 95% of our time in "ordinary awareness" as we think and plan. But we have opportunities to spend time in "spiritual awareness," where we become aware of something bigger than ourselves, something that moves us, like a birth, a sunset, a rainbow, and participating in church communion. But we can go even further into a "divine awareness," where we become aware that God dwells within us, and we can have an intimate relationship with Him. We must "turn off" our ordinary awareness to reach spiritual or divine awareness. And that takes effort and practice.
During my recent silent retreat, I spent time with Ephesians 3:16-19, which says, "I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God" (emphasis added).
May God help us have the courage to turn off ordinary awareness and tap into our spiritual and divine awareness, a fantastic gift from the Father to His children!
Last week, I wrote about DML's emphasis on agriculture this year, and how many programs teaching people how to farm have been cut due to the elimination of USAID. Of course, it is not just agriculture; thousands of other programs that have helped the alien, widow, the orphan, and the poor have been cut across the board.
Many Christians say it's time we stop relying on the government and that the church must step up. Unfortunately, that might not be easy. Richard Stearns of World Vision recently wrote, "Christians in the US give about one-tenth of one percent (0.001) of their incomes to help people in other countries. To replace the $40 billion dollars that was spent on humanitarian aid through USAID, Christians would have to quadruple their giving." Other sources state that 90% of the money that is received by the local church stays in the local church. Stearns went on to say that "governments can do things at a scale that individuals and churches simply can't...it's naive to think that private giving can replace what is lost." (From his post on LinkedIn.)
Regardless of how you feel about the cuts, a gap now exists.
Proverbs 31:8-9 says, “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.”
This is a theme throughout Scripture. We are to care for the poor and needy, to defend their rights, especially those with power. But it's difficult to know how to do so in these changing times. I want to join many others who say that one step in action is to give generously.
Knowing where to send support is also a challenge if God is calling you to respond in this way. While some of USAID's activities related to relief efforts (e.g., responding to a crisis), a significant amount also went to development.
The book, When Helping Hurts, says this:
“We…believe that individuals and churches that have been blessed with financial resources…should dramatically increase their financial giving to churches and ministries that pursue gospel-focused, asset-based, participatory development. The churches and ministries that are engaged in development work have a very difficult time raising the funds needed to pay for this highly relational, time-intensive approach.” — When Helping Hurts
Gospel-focused, asset-based, participatory development. I think those are key words to think about as we consider where to send financial support:
Gospel-focused - the whole Gospel, fulfilling all of the parts of the Great Commission, which includes "teaching them to observe all that I have commanded." This takes time and intentionality and is at the heart of making disciples, who can then make disciples, who can then make disciples.
Asset-based - looking at communities from an asset perspective rather than need-based. What is God already doing in this place? Who are the people who live here who are already leaders? God is sovereign, and there is no place that we need to bring Him. But we must ask how we can join Him in whatever He is already doing.
Participatory development - So much development has failed due to a needs-based approach, as people have "parachuted" into doing something that made them feel good, but it didn't meet the needs of the people who live in that place. Without local ownership, the initiative will die almost as soon as you leave. Having local participation in the work is critical.
While we can lament the loss of assistance that many are experiencing worldwide, we can consider how God might call us to respond now.
If you received our annual report, you will have
seen that we declared this year the Year of Youth Entrepreneurship and
Agriculture (YEA 2025!).
Why has DML decided to focus on farmers in 2025? I’m glad
you asked!
Farmers are the majority of those served through DML, even for those who are formally employed by the government, education, or business. Many are subsistence farms, growing enough to
feed a family for a portion of the year.
However, too many farmers cannot produce enough for their families. Many have told me they do farming as a hobby, which keeps them busy (no food for
lazy man, they say) because there is no profit.
They are lucky if they break even.
Often, they don’t. So they get
capital injections from family members now and then to get their seed and
fertilizer; or they take a loan and have a tough time paying it back.
Hungry farmers. It
should be an oxymoron. How can the food
providers be hungry? Yet it is true. Smallholder farmers are often the hungriest people on earth.
According to the book, The Last Hunger Season, by Roger Thurow, the sharing of new farming advances was derailed before it reached farmers in rural areas of Africa, judging that those who had farms less than five acres in size were too poor and remote for attention. While US farmers are heavily supported by the government, producing vast stockpiles of food shipped as aid if needed, smallholder farmers in other parts of the world have lagged behind in terms of technologies, infrastructure, and financial incentives that are common elsewhere. The hybrid seeds that were available in the US as early as the 1930s are only now beginning to spread in the majority world. Only 4% of African farmland is irrigated. And one-third to one-half of its harvest is routinely wasted due to storage challenges (weevils and mold) and market issues. In 2009, President Obama pledged to work alongside these farmers to "make your farms flourish and to let clean waters flow to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds." That effort has now ended but the need is still immense.
For almost twenty years, DML has been joined by subject matter experts to promote certain types of farming – pigs, chickens, goats, corn,
cabbage, and more. We’ve gone through
trainings with Foundations for Farmers or Farming God’s Way but haven’t found
a catalyst to impact our network. But last year, through a connection from the
Global Alliance of Church Multiplication (of which DML is a member), we
connected with an organization called Equipping Farmers International
(EFI). The root connection that we made
is that they too want to work through the church. They too have found the church to be where
discipleship takes place, and farming is at the core of God’s heart!
DML has access to many African denominations, which
have access to thousands of farmers. EFI has information to help the farmers.
We asked, "What if we placed agricultural trainers in denominations, who will have the core
responsibility to teach and educate farmers so that people, productivity,
profit, and the planet can flourish?" As the global population continues to rise, as
trade wars start and stop, providing food internally for a nation is suitable for
everyone.
By God's grace, and the partnership of many, we are starting this year. We are doing pilot projects in Sierra
Leone, Burundi, India, and adjacent partnerships in Burkina Faso and
Nigeria. Teams are being pulled together in each place to undergo EFI’s
training. Then, we will get that training into the denominations and identify
trainers who can carry this work out regionally.
YEA 2025! YEA God! Please pray that the term "hungry farmer" will soon be more of an exception than the rule.
One of the most prolonged running conflicts in the world is in the DRC, on the east side of the country. Fighting has been going on for almost three decades. Neighboring countries like Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi have also been involved.
In January, a group called M-23 took over the capitals of two provinces in the DRC. M-23 is said to be getting support from Rwanda, which is also reported to have 3,000-4,000 of its own troops located there.
It all goes back to 1994, the year of the genocide in Rwanda, when a large number of people fled to the DRC, including some of the extremists who took part in the killings. They were Hutu militia groups, who were anti-Tutsis. They ended up taking part in the overthrow of the government for the DRC and from there, there has been no peace. The M-23 group, a Congolese Tutsi group, emerged in 2012, and has become the strongest of the various militias. It got its name from a peace deal signed on March 23, 2009, but claimed that the Congolese government never fully implemented. It is said that there are about 6,000 soldiers in M-23 but that their backing, support and firepower comes from Rwanda. Rwanda denies this. Countries like the UK, however, have begun to suspend bilateral aid to Rwanda because of the connection.
The big question is what do they want? The first thing that is said is that they want to protect Tutsis who have been discriminated against for many years. They also say they are going after Hutu extremists. But another reason is natural resources. This region is rich in natural resources, especially gold, cobalt, and coltan, essential for electronic devices. However, M-23 says their objective is not to use natural resources but to take the DRC from the current government, which they say is corrupt.
Wherever M-23 goes, it establishes administration and issues new birth certificates, making it look like a long-term occupation. Hundreds of thousands have been killed; many more than one million are displaced for many years. So much trauma, including sexual abuse, in these camps.
Since January, more than 500,000 have been displaced, and recent fighting has caused more than 120,000 refugees to spill into Burundi. 53% of those arriving are children, 51% are women and girls. But the more immense fear is that they will not be safe, even in Burundi. Burundi's security is now at risk.
Peace talks were held this past weekend, led by the former presidents of Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Kenya and representatives from the ICC.
Sometimes these stories can feel "old" especially as new wars take our attention. But imagine thirty years of war with little to no respite.
The work being done by our partner in Burundi is exploding with potential right now, and we pray against any discouragement or disruption in the doors that God seems to be opening for the flourishing of the people there, who have had their own very long civil war that ended not that long ago.
Please pray for peace in this region and that a regional war does not break out.
