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A special report from Nairobi! The past year ranks as one of the most
difficult of my life. My decision to become Orthodox was a long-simmering
matter of the heart, and ultimately a matter of discipleship and call, and I (Bill)
made it knowing that my turn to the East would be costly. It’s one thing to
chart a list of pros and cons, but another entirely to experience them. After
parallel processes that saw leaders in our mission and our place of ministry
move from ‘We don’t think your change will cause any concerns’ to the
equivalent of ‘Houston, we’ve got a problem’, I received communications from
both institutions within a few days of each other, just before Stephanie and I
were to return to Kenya last August, informing me that I had been ’released’
from my position as lecturer at the Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of
Theology (NEGST) and that SIM was asking that I resign by the end of 2011. NEGST
and SIM’s decisions were not surprising, as both felt I had moved beyond their
own theological traditions. But for me, this was not good news. (I must say
with gratitude that many people in both organizations have since treated me
with great kindness.) And though I immediately began the process of trying to discover
the ‘what next’ for me, I found the going really hard.
I made applications for teaching
positions at various colleges and universities, including a number in the US.
As the rejection letters marched in I began to realize that nobody has a
category for “over-50 white male with PhD in early modern British history and
11 years of teaching experience in under-resourced African colleges”. Then
fortunately one school took an interest in me, the oldest Christian college in
Kenya, St. Paul’s University in Limuru (www.spu.ac.ke). They asked me to teach several courses for
them in an adjunct capacity in November last year. Having heard nothing from
anyone up till then, I said ‘Thank you!’ And promptly discovered that of the
two courses they wanted me to teach, one of them I had never taught before, and both of them were supposed to have
started two days beforehand. Somehow I and my two classes of four students
each survived. I was given more classes in January and April. And then I was
encouraged to apply for a full-time position.
By this time I realized that to be
considered for a full-time position at St. Paul’s, I would need to be a member
of a mission organization through whom I could raise the funds to support my
teaching ministry. But this required the impossibility (to me of little faith)
of me an Orthodox Christian being accepted as a missionary by a Protestant
mission. A long story short, I found such a mission – The
Antioch Partners in alliance with Presbyterian Frontier Fellowship and The
Outreach Foundation. After long conversations with their staff and their board,
they accepted me as a full partner member in early June. You can find out more
about TAP by visiting www.theantiochpartners.org.
In the meantime, the application
process for a position at St. Paul’s was moving glacially, if at all, until I
had a ‘chance’ meeting with the Vice Chancellor over tea during a break in my
class. He called me to his office where we had an extended conversation across
the whole gamut of who I was and how I could help them in their Masters of
Theology program. From there things happened quickly. I submitted my
application. I was called for a formal interview. And then last week, the VC
informed me that I’ve been appointed Senior Lecturer in the Masters of
Theology program, with teaching responsibilities in theology and history! Thanks be to God! There is also interest
in beginning a new PhD program in Theology and another in Church History, and I
am already being approached to help with these.
There is irony here. While I was at
NEGST, as a Presbyterian minister I was teaching students coming mainly from
independent evangelical and Pentecostal churches at a school started by mainly
North American evangelicals and fundamentalists. Having become Orthodox I
now find myself at a school started by Anglicans and now cooperatively owned by
the Anglicans, Presbyterians and several other groups. The past nine months
in my adjunct capacity, I have found myself teaching Anglican priests and
Presbyterian pastors. Since you our supporters are primarily Presbyterian, with
some Cambridge Anglicans added to the mix, you can perhaps appreciate why I am
rather amused at this development.
Some have asked me the sensible
question as to why I didn’t go with an Orthodox mission board. There is, in
fact, an excellent Orthodox sending board, the Orthodox Christian Mission
Center in St. Augustine, FL. I have visited them and had good conversations
with them. They, however, have a policy that requires their missionaries to
have been Orthodox for at least three years. And with the SIM reduction in our
support level looming next summer, I needed to find something that would work
for us now. I am for that reason so very grateful for TAP! And St. Paul’s!
Many of you have known what a struggle
this past year has been. Thank you for praying. I don’t think all of my issues
are resolved, but finding a new mission board to belong to and finding a new
ministry with which to engage are both huge steps in a good direction. So thank
God with me for providing for me and for us in this way.
Stephanie and I are now once more set
up to do what you first sent us to Africa to do back in 2000. The changes in my
status with SIM will mean changes in how we do our support. But for right now, nothing changes yet. All of our current support-raising mechanisms
with SIM stay the same for another year until summer 2013. Nothing changes in where our supporters’ money goes or how we are
supported for another year. In
one year (August of 2013) SIM will begin treating Stephanie as a single
missionary unit, which means she will be able to raise only so much and be
supported only so much (I don’t have those figures yet). Likewise next summer,
I will be affiliated with TAP and will have a ministry and salary budget with TAP and will need to raise support
to meet it. Our goal is to between us maintain essentially the same amount with
TAP and SIM as we raised as a couple/family with SIM. On paper at least, if the
majority of our partners stay with SIM to maintain Stephanie’s support and the
rest move over to TAP to cover my support, we will achieve this parity. Of
course, I anticipate that I will need to raise additional support and find
additional partners to make up for any shortfall. But this is the ordinary way
God uses to get a wider circle of His people personally involved in what he is
doing in places like Kenya. And since this will be a season of transition for
us, we want to walk through it during our next home assignment in the States,
in May-July 2013. That way, we can talk to you in person, as well as allowing
us to connect with new partners who might want to come on board.
Thank you, again, for your support and
your encouragement over these challenging months. Pray for us that God would continue to help us
and use us for his glory in our lives together and in our ministries. Those of
you who support us financially – thank you! And those of you who are thinking
of making a special gift, now would
be a good time. We are at less than 100% of our support level with two months
left in the budgeting year.
Meanwhile, Stephanie was in Israel…
…having way too much fun. A few more photos to follow up from our
last post—I spent the month of June accompanying seven NEGST/AIU PhD students
on a study programme affiliated with Hebrew University.
We had lectures by Christian and Jewish scholars (and a little shofar practice on the side)…
…along with plenty of mornings when we ate a quick breakfast and
packed our lunches for a day of exploring with our guides.
Last time I showed you Masada and the Dea Sea. Here’s a bit more of
our travels:
Trying out a Bedouin camel
In the Negev – not sure I would have survived for 40 years…
Midianite temple site (think Moses’ father-in-law)
I would like to point out that because it was outrageously hot and
we were IN THE DESERT, my favorite spot was way back there in the shade
The other end of Israel’s geographical spectrum: beautiful
Caesarea
The students on the spot where Paul declared “I appeal to Caesar”
Me basking in the cool breeze off the Mediterranean
Quick stop at a roadside tomb for an impromptu Sunday School
pageant
A drink from Gideon’s spring. Will he ‘lap’ it, or will he use his
hand?!
…and helped crush the (imaginary) grapes for next year’s wine. Evidently you’re meant to dance on them!
Spotted in Bethlehem. If I were a magi, I would definitely stop
here.
A good – and educational – time was had by all. Happy (and hot and
tired) biblical studies teacher!
