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June 18, 2009
World Horizons
Si tu veux construire un bateau, ne rassemble pas des hommes pour aller chercher du bois, préparer des outils, répartir les tâches, alléger le travail – mais enseigne aux gens la nostalgie de l’infini de la mer.
"The way to build a ship is not to bring people together to look for wood, prepare tools, assign tasks and make schedules – but rather, to inspire people to long for the infinite immensity of the sea."
Leadership is not generally something I covet; I much prefer to bumble along in the background. But when I was recently asked to assume leadership of our World Horizons teams in West Africa I felt a quiet confidence about it and said yes pretty much straight away. I start in September, even though I will be based in the UK for the first year.
The work will involve pastoral care of our teams in Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali and Chad. It will involve lots of Skype and a bit of travel. It will mainly involve longing. There's a worship song called How long which asks God: 'How long before you drench the barren land?' That's my prayer for the Sahel regions of those four countries. How long, o God, before life and love and forgiveness and integrity inundate this region? And how can we translate our longing into sensible prayer and action?
Having raised my eyes from the confines of Djibo town to the immensity of the Sahara, I am beginning to understand just how dizzyingly varied is the work of World Horizons in West Africa: schools, churches, children's clubs, tree-planting, craft groups, football camps, radio ministry and humanitarian relief. I will be blogging about some of it in the weeks and months to come. In the meantime, please pray that God gives me wisdom to lead well and not make a mess of everything.
Please pray for Charlie as well. She's in England at the moment and her pregnancy is progressing smoothly.
Alla hokku jam.
Posted by sahelsteve at June 18, 2009 02:53 PM