I'd like to say that it's because of age or being forgetful. I'm only forty-six years old but it can happen. I'd like to say that it's because I'm stressed, which I am. Or maybe because I'm busy, which I always am. But the truth is that I think I just didn't care. I think that I'm getting hardened, weathered, or calloused, and I just didn't notice.
But the uncomfortable part is getting caught. Realizing that you are naked. That you are exposed. Vulnerable. Unprepared. That awkward moment when you look in the other person's eyes and see them seeing you naked. That is very uncomfortable and embarrassing. And shameful.
Okay, Renita - what are you talking about?
I'm talking about Colossians 3:12 which says, "Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience." Unfortunately, when we give our lives to Christ, these characteristics do not become part of our skin. They do not become part of us. We are told to clothe ourselves - that means intentionally putting it on.
That also means that these clothes can get dirty and stained - either by us spilling on ourselves, in our human ways, or by others spilling on us, in their human ways. That means the clothes need to be cleaned. It also means that these clothes can get holes, can wear out in certain areas, and/or suffer rips and tears. They need to be sewn, patched, or even replaced. They need to be checked.
Sometimes it's not that I forget to put them on, but if there's a certain portion of this type of clothing that receives a lot of friction, it can wear out before I've even realized it - and I am exposed, revealed, and embarrassed.
I think I used to be a kinder, gentler, patient, and compassionate person. I think years of ministry have hardened me in some ways, and I have lost portions of these items of clothing. I have become cynical and judgmental in some ways. I want to be clothed again. I don't want to stay naked. Not just because of my own embarrassment, but because if I am dead and my life is now with Christ, in God, then I need to represent Him well.
And so I try to remember to put these clothes on daily. And I try to check for holes.
Next week I leave for Egypt, Kenya, and Ghana. I'm excited to meet the people from the Middle East Leadership Training Initiative in Egypt and see what God has been doing in and through them. I look forward to being back in Kenya with the Discipling Marketplace Leaders Kenya team and spend a week in meetings and trainings. And then I get to go to Ghana and be with old and dear friends, with ICM Ghana and Hopeline Institute. Please pray that the time in Egypt and Ghana may find people and places that are ready to receive this new concept of Church-based Business as Mission.
I love this quote: G. K. Chesterton
observed, "We are perishing for want of wonder, not for want of
wonders."
Since starting my MBA in Sustainable Development two years ago, I have run across the essay called, "I, Pencil" a number of times and have grown to appreciate it more and more. It is the story of the family tree of a Pencil and points to the creativity and complexity of a simple pencil. Have you ever wondered about a pencil? Have you ever seen it as a complex thing? If you are like me, probably not. Yet, this pencil claims that not a single person on this earth is able to make it. If you are lacking wonder today, I encourage you to watch the brief video or read the essay, both of which can be found below. What is exciting to me is that it points to God - and the essayist, Leonard Read (who wrote this in 1958) also saw that. He says, "Since
only God can make a tree, I insist that only God could make me (referring to the pencil). Man
can no more direct these millions of know-hows to bring me into being
than he can put molecules together to create a tree."
This is one of the reasons that I love doing what I do. I get to see the creativity of man across nations using the resources that God has give to create goods and services that allow individuals and communities to flourish! And it is an amazing thing.
I, Pencil
My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. Read
R
I am a lead pencil—the ordinary wooden pencil familiar to all boys and girls and adults who can read and write. Writing is both my vocation and my avocation; that's all I do. You may wonder why I should write a genealogy. Well, to begin with, my story is interesting. And, next, I am a mystery - more so that a tree or a sunset or even a flash of lightning. But, sadly, I am taken for granted by those who use me, as if I were a mere incident and without background. This supercilious attitude relegates me to the level of the commonplace. This is a species of the grievous error in which mankind cannot too long persist without peril. For the wise G.K. Chesterton observed, "We are perishing for want of wonder, not for want of wonders." I, Pencil, simple though I appear to be, merit your wonder and awe, a claim I shall attempt to prove. In fact, if you can understand me - no, that's too much to ask of anyone - if you can become aware of the miraculousness which I symbolize, you can help save the freedom mankind is so unhappily losing. I have a profound lesson to teach. And I can teach this lesson better than can an automobile or an airplane or a mechanical dishwasher because - well, because I am seemingly so simple.
Simple? Yet, not a single person on the face of this earth knows how to make me. This sounds fantastic, doesn't it? Especially when it is realized that there are about one and one-half billion of my kind produced in the USA each year.
Pick me up and look me over. What do you see? Not much meets the eye - there's some wood, lacquer, the printed labeling, graphite lead, a bit of metal, and an eraser.
Innumerable Antecedents
Just as you cannot trace your family tree back very far, so is it
impossible for me to name and explain all my antecedents. But I would
like to suggest enough of them to impress upon you the richness and
complexity of my background. My family tree begins with what in fact is a tree, a cedar of straight
grain that grows in Northern California and Oregon. Now contemplate all
the saws and trucks and rope and the countless other gear used in
harvesting and carting the cedar logs to the railroad siding. Think of
all the persons and the numberless skills that went into their
fabrication: the mining of ore, the making of steel and its refinement
into saws, axes, motors; the growing of hemp and bringing it through all
the stages to heavy and strong rope; the logging camps with their beds
and mess halls, the cookery and the raising of all the foods. Why,
untold thousands of persons had a hand in every cup of coffee the
loggers drink! The logs are shipped to a mill in San Leandro, California. Can you
imagine the individuals who make flat cars and rails and railroad
engines and who construct and install the communication systems
incidental thereto? These legions are among my antecedents.
Consider the millwork in San Leandro. The cedar logs are cut into small,
pencil-length slats less than one-fourth of an inch in thickness. These
are kiln dried and then tinted for the same reason women put rouge on
their faces. People prefer that I look pretty, not a pallid white. The
slats are waxed and kiln dried again. How many skills went into the
making of the tint and the kilns, into supplying the heat, the light and
power, the belts, motors, and all the other things a mill requires?
Sweepers in the mill among my ancestors? Yes, and included are the men
who poured the concrete for the dam of a Pacific Gas & Electric
Company hydroplant which supplies the mill's power! Don't overlook the ancestors present and distant who have a hand in transporting sixty carloads of slats across the nation.
Once in the pencil factory—$4,000,000 in machinery and building, all
capital accumulated by thrifty and saving parents of mine—each slat is
given eight grooves by a complex machine, after which another machine
lays leads in every other slat, applies glue, and places another slat
atop—a lead sandwich, so to speak. Seven brothers and I are
mechanically carved from this "wood-clinched" sandwich.
My "lead" itself—it contains no lead at all—is complex. The graphite is
mined in Ceylon. Consider these miners and those who make their many
tools and the makers of the paper sacks in which the graphite is shipped
and those who make the string that ties the sacks and those who put
them aboard ships and those who make the ships. Even the lighthouse
keepers along the way assisted in my birth—and the harbor pilots. The graphite is mixed with clay from Mississippi in which ammonium
hydroxide is used in the refining process. Then wetting agents are added
such as sulfonated tallow—animal fats chemically reacted with sulfuric
acid. After passing through numerous machines, the mixture finally
appears as endless extrusions—as from a sausage grinder-cut to size,
dried, and baked for several hours at 1,850 degrees Fahrenheit. To
increase their strength and smoothness the leads are then treated with a
hot mixture which includes candelilla wax from Mexico, paraffin wax,
and hydrogenated natural fats.
My cedar receives six coats of lacquer. Do you know all the ingredients
of lacquer? Who would think that the growers of castor beans and the
refiners of castor oil are a part of it? They are. Why, even the
processes by which the lacquer is made a beautiful yellow involve the
skills of more persons than one can enumerate. Observe the labeling. That's a film formed by applying heat to carbon
black mixed with resins. How do you make resins and what, pray, is
carbon black?
My bit of metal—the ferrule—is brass. Think of all the persons who mine
zinc and copper and those who have the skills to make shiny sheet brass
from these products of nature. Those black rings on my ferrule are black
nickel. What is black nickel and how is it applied? The complete story
of why the center of my ferrule has no black nickel on it would take
pages to explain.
Then there's my crowning glory, inelegantly referred to in the trade as
"the plug," the part man uses to erase the errors he makes with me. An
ingredient called "factice" is what does the erasing. It is a
rubber-like product made by reacting rape-seed oil from the Dutch East
Indies with sulfur chloride. Rubber, contrary to the common notion, is
only for binding purposes. Then, too, there are numerous vulcanizing
and accelerating agents. The pumice comes from Italy; and the pigment
which gives "the plug" its color is cadmium sulfide.
No-One Knows
Does anyone wish to challenge my earlier assertion that no single person on the face of this earth knows how to make me?
Actually, millions of human beings have had a hand in my creation, no
one of whom even knows more than a very few of the others. Now, you may
say that I go too far in relating the picker of a coffee berry in far
off Brazil and food growers elsewhere to my creation; that this is an
extreme position. I shall stand by my claim. There isn't a single
person in all these millions, including the president of the pencil
company, who contributes more than a tiny, infinitesimal bit of
know-how. From the standpoint of know-how the only difference between
the miner of graphite in Ceylon and the logger in Oregon is in the type
of know-how. Neither the miner nor the logger can be dispensed with,
any more than can the chemist at the factory or the worker in the oil
field—paraffin being a by-product of petroleum.
Here is an astounding fact: Neither the worker in the oil field nor the
chemist nor the digger of graphite or clay nor any who mans or makes the
ships or trains or trucks nor the one who runs the machine that does
the knurling on my bit of metal nor the president of the company
performs his singular task because he wants me. Each one wants me less,
perhaps, than does a child in the first grade. Indeed, there are some
among this vast multitude who never saw a pencil nor would they know how
to use one. Their motivation is other than me. Perhaps it is
something like this: Each of these millions sees that he can thus
exchange his tiny know-how for the goods and services he needs or wants.
I may or may not be among these items.
No Master Mind
There is a fact still more astounding: the absence of a master mind, of
anyone dictating or forcibly directing these countless actions which
bring me into being. No trace of such a person can be found. Instead,
we find the Invisible Hand at work. This is the mystery to which I
earlier referred. It has been said that "only God can make a tree." Why do we agree with
this? Isn't it because we realize that we ourselves could not make one?
Indeed, can we even describe a tree? We cannot, except in superficial
terms. We can say, for instance, that a certain molecular configuration
manifests itself as a tree. But what mind is there among men that
could even record, let alone direct, the constant changes in molecules
that transpire in the life span of a tree? Such a feat is utterly
unthinkable!
I, Pencil, am a complex combination of miracles: a tree, zinc, copper,
graphite, and so on. But to these miracles which manifest themselves in
Nature an even more extraordinary miracle has been added: the
configuration of creative human energies—millions of tiny know-hows
configurating naturally and spontaneously in response to human necessity
and desire and in the absence of any human master-minding! Since
only God can make a tree, I insist that only God could make me. Man
can no more direct these millions of know-hows to bring me into being
than he can put molecules together to create a tree.
The above is what I meant when writing, "If you can become aware of the
miraculousness which I symbolize, you can help save the freedom mankind
is so unhappily losing." For, if one is aware that these know-hows will
naturally, yes, automatically, arrange themselves into creative and
productive patterns in response to human necessity and demand—that is,
in the absence of governmental or any other coercive masterminding—then
one will possess an absolutely essential ingredient for freedom: a faith in free people. Freedom is impossible without this faith.
Once government has had a monopoly of a creative activity such, for
instance, as the delivery of the mails, most individuals will believe
that the mails could not be efficiently delivered by men acting freely.
And here is the reason: Each one acknowledges that he himself doesn't
know how to do all the things incident to mail delivery. He also
recognizes that no other individual could do it. These assumptions are
correct. No individual possesses enough know-how to perform a nation's
mail delivery any more than any individual possesses enough know-how to
make a pencil. Now, in the absence of faith in free people—in the
unawareness that millions of tiny know-hows would naturally and
miraculously form and cooperate to satisfy this necessity—the individual
cannot help but reach the erroneous conclusion that mail can be
delivered only by governmental "master-minding."
Testimony Galore
If I, Pencil, were the only item that could offer testimony on what men
and women can accomplish when free to try, then those with little faith
would have a fair case. However, there is testimony galore; it's all
about us and on every hand. Mail delivery is exceedingly simple when
compared, for instance, to the making of an automobile or a calculating
machine or a grain combine or a milling machine or to tens of thousands
of other things. Delivery? Why, in this area where men have been left
free to try, they deliver the human voice around the world in less than
one second; they deliver an event visually and in motion to any person's
home when it is happening; they deliver 150 passengers from Seattle to
Baltimore in less than four hours; they deliver gas from Texas to one's
range or furnace in New York at unbelievably low rates and without
subsidy; they deliver each four pounds of oil from the Persian Gulf to
our Eastern Seaboard—halfway around the world—for less money than the
government charges for delivering a one-ounce letter across the street!
The lesson I have to teach is this: Leave all creative energies uninhibited.
Merely organize society to act in harmony with this lesson. Let
society's legal apparatus remove all obstacles the best it can. Permit
these creative know-hows freely to flow. Have faith that free men and
women will respond to the Invisible Hand. This faith will be confirmed.
I, Pencil, seemingly simple though I am, offer the miracle of my
creation as testimony that this is a practical faith, as practical as
the sun, the rain, a cedar tree, the good earth.
Leonard E. Read (1898-1983) founded FEE in 1946 and served as its president until his death.
"I, Pencil," his most famous essay, was first published in the December 1958 issue of The Freeman. Although
a few of the manufacturing details and place names have changed over
the past forty years, the principles are unchanged.
[I have two more classes left in my MBA in Sustainable Development, then my thesis. I won't be done by June as I had hoped but I continue to make progress!]
I am writing to you from Bakersfield, CA where the office of the International Christian Ministries (ICM) USA is located. This is my third time in this city since joining ICM two years ago. I'm writing to let you know that I was asked to take the position of Executive Director of ICM, and after a period of prayer and consideration with wise brothers and sisters in Christ, I have decided to accept that appointment.
So what does that mean? Good question.
But let me first share about what it does NOT mean:
For those with whom I've shared with information, the first response has been, "So that means you won't be working in Africa as much."No, it does NOT mean that. This position does not affect anything in terms of my current work. I will continue the work of Discipling Marketplace Leaders (DML) as I ave been doing. It does not affect the launching of DML in Egypt and in Ghana in June. It does not affect the work on the book that I am doing. I will still be traveling as much as I have been and probably more, both domestically and internationally.
The second response that I have received is, "So this means you don't need to raise your own support."No, it does NOT mean that either. It does not change anything regarding my funding needs. All staff of ICM USA have to raise 100% of their support, including executive staff. So I do not need less funding with this appointment - I actually will need more, as I now need to fly to Bakersfield CA on a quarterly basis to spend time in the office, with the Board of Directors,the staff, and to meet with people in this area of the US.
That is what it does not mean. Here is a bit of what it DOES mean:
The negative way to look at it would be to say, "Hmmmm...This sounds like there will be more work and responsibility, when your plate is already full. Additionally there is no more money or increase in salary - you actually have to raise more when you are already struggling...so, what is the point? Glad you asked.
First, I will be able to use the gifts and talents that God has given me to work with this organization at a critical time. ICM USA is thirty years old and is undergoing some transitions. They seem to think I can assist in this. I happen to be a firm believer not only in the work of ICM, but also the way in which it is done. I have become the Executive Director of ICM USA. I am not the Executive Director of all the countries where ICM works . That is because ICM is independently run in each country. ICM is composed of an International Council, of which ICM USA holds only two seats, just like every other ICM participant country (Members of the International Council are Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, DR Congo, and Canada; strategic partners include Egypt, Liberia, and South Africa). That is crucial for true development to occur with partner countries, partnering shoulder to shoulder. I love that about ICM! ICM is also about building the Global Church. ICM looks at this work holistically, which includes Discipling Marketplace Leaders. I believe two years ago that God called me to help building His Church by renewing its mission to the marketplace. If I can contribute to that through this position, than I am honored and humbled.
Second, once the book and my masters are completed, which will hopefully be this year, I will have more time freed up Stateside to do this work. The job of Executive Director can be done remotely, from Grand Rapids or Kenya or Egypt or Ghana. Fortunately the central office is quite efficient and supportive, which makes this possible. Dr. Phil Walker is a visionary leader, and he remains President of ICM giving me the opportunity to work closely alongside him.
Third, and most importantly, the callings of God on my life have NEVER made mathematical sense from a human perspective. They have never been logical from a "this is good for me and my financial future" perspective. Moving to the inner city, Bob losing his job at Calvin so Hannah and Noah could go to the neighborhood school instead of a Christian school, moving to Africa, leaving Partners Worldwide, and so on - almost every life or calling related decision has been questioned by people asking "how sane is it?" In fact, such questioning has almost become the standard for me to know that I am on the right track. [Just kidding.] One of Bob's and my favorite verses comes from 1 Corinthians 15:19 which reads: "If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied." We are to be pitied because we made decisions that were contrary to what the world would say is good or wise or prudent because we believe in Christ and his resurrection. I remember Bob preaching a message on whether or not we are living pitiable lives. I believe, and have seen, that God will provide for His children when they seek to do His will and serve Him with their lives. So I am going forward with confidence in that thought.
Will you join me in prayer for these new responsibilities? I am naturally nervous about this - both in terms of my being up for the task, as well as having the time and energy necessary to rise to the challenge.
I continue to value and appreciate the body of Christ as it works together to fulfill the calling of the Church. Thank you for joining me.
Michael and my son, Noah, like the series called The Walking Dead. If you haven't heard of it or watched it, it's about a disease that causes everyone who dies to come back from death, within minutes, as a zombie. These zombies have only one thing on their minds: to eat other living things. The only thing that can kill a zombie is an injury to the head; if you shoot them in the heart, they won't die; if you chop off a leg, they won't die. Only an injury to the head will finally kill a zombie. Michael says he likes the show because it reveals the struggle of morality in man, when government and the rule of law are removed; when survival of the fittest becomes the order of the day; and when people have to decide for themselves between right and wrong. He introduced me to my first show about a month ago and we have had several discussions about how we would have behaved if we were in the same circumstances.
I just returned from a silent retreat, where I focused on Colossians 3, especially verse three which says, "For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ, in God." As I reflected on this verse, I understood at a deep level what it meant for me. Renita died in 1995 when Christ came alive to me. My life changed course dramatically at that time, and it has not been at all what I anticipated, planned, or could have worked out on my own. In fact, my life was no longer my own. It was hidden in God, with Christ, as I sought to do His will and His work. The Heidelberg Catechism says, "I am not my own, but belong body and soul, in life and in death to my faithful savior, Jesus Christ." As I look back on the last twenty years, I can see how that transpired in many ways.
But unfortunately, just as in The Walking Dead, I don't remain dead. The earlier verse in Colossians 3 says, "Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things" (verse 2). In this verse, I realized that sometimes, I (Renita) come back to life, and as much as I hate to admit it, I can behave like a zombie. When I take my mind off things above, I begin to behave like a savage, devouring what is in my path: impatient, self-sufficient, driven, self-important.
Verse 5-8 tells us what we need to do about that: "Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry...rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice slander, and filthy language from your lips." Most of these things that need to be put to death take place in our heads - at least, that is where they start. Usually before we actually sin, there are probably twenty or thirty or forty steps that we mentally take to make it to that point; at any of those steps we could change course. So, for example, I could cut off my hand if it causes me to sin through stealing - but the real problem of stealing starts in my head, through coveting or greed. Same with a zombie. It's in the head.
Getting our minds set on things above is not a one-time thing. This is not something you do at the point of conversion and not have to worry about again. We have to continually choose to do it. We have to be on guard. We have to be alert. We have to be prepared. We have to be willing to fight. The verse says, "put to death." Those are fighting words.
I certainly don't want to think that I resemble those gory, disgusting zombies. (And by the way, I am not in any way recommending this show - just using it in the analogy to Colossians 3:3.) But the truth is that sometimes I do. I don't employ my mind. I let myself drift. Renita comes back to life for periods of time before I even realize it.
Thankfully we are given the tools to do this, through the Holy Spirit. Thankfully, there is forgiveness when we do lose our way. But I can't rest in that. Paul says that being forgiven is not license to sin. I need to be intentional. And we need each other. So, if you see me acting as a zombie, feel free to do something about it to help me out!
Yesterday Michael and I had the opportunity to listen to the president of the Evangelical Theological Seminary of Cairo who spoke at the Calvin Theological Seminary. This is the seminary that I hope to meet and partner with starting in June. It was good to hear his perspective on the challenges and opportunities for the Church in Egypt.
He reported on a number of things, one of which is the continued drop of the number of Christians in the Middle East:
In 1950, sixty percent of Lebanon was Christian. Now it is 30%.
In Palestine, 30% of the population was Christian. Now it is less than 1%.
In Iraq, 12% was Christian. Now it is 2%.
In Syria, 12% was Christian. Now it is 2%.
However, in Egypt, the number of Christians continues to remain at between 12-15%. While many Christians are fleeing the area due to growing persecution, the Egyptian Christians seem to be standing firm.
Since the Arab Spring (revolutions that have taken place since 2011), there have been increased challenges for Christians, including greater restrictions on religious freedom, increased discrimination against women, increased attacks on the Christian faith in the media, greater intensive teaching of Islam in schools, burning and destroying of Christian churches, and the attacking of wealthy Christians and eviction of poor Christians. [Interesting to note that when Islam arrived in Egypt in 600 AD, the choices given to people were to convert to Islam or to pay high taxes. Consequently, only the wealthy were able to "afford" to be Christian.]
The Arab Spring was hijacked by Islamic Fundamentalists approximately one month after it started and has resulted in the spread of poverty due to the lack of basic supplies; prices have been rising as inflation rises; unemployment is rising as tourism has dropped; and there have been infrastructure issues as electricity is now going off regularly, possibly due to the smuggling out of oil to Gaza. There are approximately 1800 tunnels between Gaza and Egypt, through which food and weapons are smuggled.
There has been great opportunities for the Christian Church in Egypt to revisit the message of the Gospel, looking toward peace and forgiveness, and how to love their Muslim neighbor. He asked that we continue to pray for the Church in Egypt and the Seminary, for peace and opportunities for the message of the whole Gospel to go to the whole people. He specifically said that the seminary is looking at Market Theology, making theological education more practical and less theoretical, which encouraged me. I personally am looking forward to the opportunity to partner with my brothers and sisters in Christ in Egypt through Church-based Business as Mission. I hope to see businesses develop and grow, recognizing the great opportunities for Marketplace Ministers to bear witness to Christ in the Marketplace.
The June launch date of Discipling Marketplace Leaders (DML) in Egypt and Ghana is drawing closer. As the date draws nearer, my nervousness goes up a bit, especially about Egypt. To date, the countries that I have worked in have been primarily English-speaking (except for Cote d'Ivoire, but I was able to make do with my elementary French) and primarily Christian. Egypt will be quite different. Additionally, my budget is already stretched tight in raising funds for the work in Kenya with two new staff and a growing office; adding Egypt and Ghana will increase the budget by an additional $10,000-15,000 USD for travel, translations, and launching meetings. I find myself worried about starting in two new countries, requiring this even more expanded budget. But I am reminded to, "not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and
petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God" (Philippians 4:6).
However that is easier said than done, and so as I worked at not worrying in this past week, I found myself needing to be reminded of the call for this work to move forward in Egypt. In this process, I found some peace again, reminded of the struggle of the Church in Egypt and the need for encouragement for our Egyptian Christian brothers and sisters. On top of that, I found peace in reminding myself that my Father "is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather,
he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else." (Acts 17:25). And so I also want to share with you regarding the current situation in Egypt.
You may recall the recent news of the beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians in February of this year by IS. These were young men who left Egypt in search of jobs and wound up in Libya where they were targeted because of their faith. The story of these young men dying with the name of Jesus on their lips is very moving. This story also tells us that there are serious economic challenges in Egypt and further investigation tells us that persecution of Christians in this area of the world is not unusual - Egypt included. A story from this past weekend was that the Egyptian Christians who received permission to plant a church in the village where these young men were from were attacked by Muslims who declared there would not be a church located there. Cars were set on fire, stones and bricks had been thrown, people had been bloodied. “This is a classic issue in Egypt,” said a Coptic Christian, Abdelmalak. “Even after you
struggle to get permission from the president to build a church, you
still have to face the mob, which rejects the idea of having a church
built in their
neighborhood.”
Gathering for church plant in remembrance of 21 martyrs
The state religion of Egypt is Islam, with 90% of the population (72
million) claiming to be Muslim, of which the majority are Sunni Muslim. Any new
laws in Egypt must agree with Islamic law, and the law allows for
freedom of religion to extend to the three Abrahamic religions (Islam,
Christianity, and Judaism), but only those three. Religion plays a
central role in most Egyptian's lives, with the call to prayer five
times a day regulating the pace. The weekend is Friday and Saturday,
with services occurring on Friday.
Coptic Cross reads "Jesus Christ, the Son of God"
Christianity is a minority religion in Egypt. Egyptian Christians, nearly all adherents of the Coptic Orthodox Church or other Coptic churches, most likely account for about 10%, though sources give between 3-20% of the population.
The Coptic Church was established by Saint Mark, according to tradition, in the middle of the first century (42 AD). Mark, the gospel
writer, preached in Alexandria, Egypt in the first century. During this time,
Alexandria was the cultural center for the world, with its famous Library of
Alexandria. It was home to some of the world’s most renowned philosophers. All
people living in Egypt at the time, lived peacefully together. The Jews, who
lived in Alexandria during that era, translated the Old Testament into Greek.
This was the first ever translation of the Holy Scriptures into any other
language.
As Mark preached
the gospel in Alexandria, he was tortured unto death. His martyrdom led to the
foundation of the Coptic Orthodox Church that kept the faith in Egypt and the
whole of the Middle East for 2000 years and until today. Persecution and
martyrdom since Mark’s death in the first century, has been all too
common.Christians throughout the region
too often pay with their lives for their faith. It has become a pattern through
the ages. The persecution and suffering of the Christians remains a hidden
story.There have been many failed
attempts to document the sufferings and courage, of the millions of Copts (Orthodox
Christians of Egypt) who gave their lives for their faith.
Despite the small proportion of Christians within Egypt, Egypt's
Christian population is the largest in terms of absolute numbers in the
greater region of the Middle East and North Africa. [For those of you who like statistics, the breakdown by denominations for Christians is listed below.]
So what could God want from DML, a Church-based Business as Mission program, in Egypt? That is a great question...one that I believe He will answer in time. But it seems clear to me that DML offers a couple of things: one, business and economic development that will allow Christian business owners to grow their businesses, care for their families, employ more people, and provide goods and services that will allow individuals and communities to flourish; and two, as business people are commissioned as Marketplace Ministers and are trained by their local church (with support of their pastor/priest) to view their work as worship, and their place of work as their parish, the opportunity for evangelism and church growth is immense.
I expect that Egypt will the most challenging work that I have encountered to date. Being nervous is normal, I believe, but staying in a place of nervousness is not appropriate. My life thus far has been a process of moving further and further out of my comfort zone, and while God has not always protected, He has always been there.
And I expect that just as He had prepared the ground in Kenya for this work, He is doing the same in Egypt. But I do covet your prayers. Will you pray with me?
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Table of Churches by Denomination in Egypt:
Denomination
Number of Egyptian
adherents
Coptic Orthodox Church of
Alexandria
7,200,000 (95%)
Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria
350,000 (0.5%) (4,500 are of Greek
descent, the rest are mostly of Syro-Lebanese descent)
Coptic Catholic Church
161,000 (0.3%)
Evangelical
Church of Egypt (Synod of the Nile)
14,000 (out of 27,000 Protestants)
Assemblies of God
7,500 (out of 27,000 Protestants)
Baptist
4.000 (out of 27,000 Protestant)
Free
Methodist
2,000 (out of 27,000 Protestants)
Christian Brethren Church
1,500 (out of 27,000 Protestants)
Anglican Church (Episcopal
Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East)
1,000 - 1,500 (out of 27,000
Protestants)
Melkite Greek Catholic Church
9,000 (0.8%) (Adherents are mostly
of Syro-Lebanese descent)
Armenian Apostolic Church
8,000 (0.1%)
Latin Catholic Church
8,000 (0.1%) (Formerly large
communities of Italians and Maltese
made up the Latin Catholic population)
Okay, Renita - what are you talking about?
