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This week I (Stephanie) had one
eye on the Weather Channel online
watching Hurricane Sandy smash into the mid-Atlantic and drop snow on the
Appalachians, but outside my office window in Nairobi it was a series of warm
spring days. I grew up thinking of spring as the time when winter-bare deciduous
trees finally pop out in green leaves. Doesn’t quite work like that here in the
tropics. But I know it’s the Nairobi version of spring time when the tall
elegant jacaranda trees all over the city, with their slender trunks and
branches, suddenly erupt in purple blossoms. It’s my favorite time of the
Kenyan year. I look forward to this couple of weeks when I walk to work over a
carpet of purple flowers that have drifted from the treetops to the ground.
Things have been a bit like that for much of this year in terms of
my own ministry: bare branches as I’ve drawn back to contemplate what directions
the Lord has for me next, waiting to see what might emerge. You may think that
being a missionary in Africa is one extended wild ride (and sometimes it is – particularly
in Nairobi traffic!), but it’s just as easy for me to be lulled into an
unexamined comfort zone as it might be where you are. I absolutely love living
in Kenya and teaching biblical studies at the Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology (NEGST). But every
so often I have to pull back and ask… Is it OK if I keep doing this? Am I just
doing the same old thing because it’s convenient and familiar? What’s the Lord
trying to say to me at this point in my life and ministry?
Months and months of not much happening in terms of answering
those questions, and then recently I’ve had my own ‘jacaranda moment’, with new possibilities popping out in a flurry.
In addition to Bill joining The Antioch
Partners earlier this year and his new position teaching theology and
church history at St Paul’s University
which we’ve told you about in our last few letters, here’s what’s suddenly new
in my own ministry zone…
First, believe it or not I’ve just been
accepted to do an
online part-time MA in Teaching English
for Academic Purposes (EAP) at the University of Nottingham in the UK. That
move came just as much out of the blue for me as it might seem to you. I’ve
been wanting to do further research on cross-cultural variations in academic
writing (‘intercultural rhetoric’ they call it) to help our AIU PhD students
explore what an African academic writing
voice might be like and how their African voices can find a place in
international scholarship. On the other hand I’ve also been thinking that someday
(age 60+?) I’d love to be able to spend some part of each year in the US closer
to family, but I don’t have a marketable professional qualification that would
make that possible. (I can imagine you’re wondering why, when I already have a
PhD, but the sad truth is that after spending our whole career in Africa, and
higher education employment statistics being as bleak as they are, Bill and I
are not very likely to find university positions in the US.) I was having lunch
with friends and explaining these two – separate, I thought – big issues in my
life, when we suddenly realized there was one answer to both questions. The online
MA will give me the academic context and support I need to do the research on intercultural
rhetoric for the benefit of our students here. The EAP part of it is likely
to open all sorts
of doors in terms of part-time employment if and when we need it down the road –
a meaningful re-entry and retirement strategy for career missionaries. And in
the meantime the SIM Kenya leadership believe both the intercultural and EAP
aspects have a huge range of possibilities for applications in various mission
contexts, so I’ve been given permission to raise the funding for the MA through
my SIM account. It’s a win-win-win!
The second development is that the Accrediting Council for Theological Education in Africa (ACTEA) is
moving forward with some long anticipated organizational restructuring, and a
couple of weeks ago they asked if I’d consider returning to the position
overseeing accreditation for theological schools all over Africa that I stepped
down from at the end of 2011. I love the accreditation work and believe deeply
in its value, so I’ve told them that assuming the hoped-for new Director is in
place by then, I’ll rejoin ACTEA in September 2013. That means I’ll split my
time between NEGST and ACTEA just as I’ve done before. So now let’s all hold
our breath and pray that changes happen as planned for ACTEA.
And… I’ve been invited to spend March-April 2013 in Addis Ababa,
teaching at the Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology (EGST) for the
first time since we left in 2008. I hadn’t been to Ethiopia in 3 ½ years when I
went for a few days in August to do a small project for ACTEA. I was there just
long enough to realize that it’s time to go back, reconnect with people, and
reacquaint myself with the place I lived longer than any other in my life. (I
was a Navy kid, so 7 ½ years in Ethiopia holds the record!)
And… for several years I’ve been dreaming of organizing a conference for women in evangelical
theological education in Africa, under ACTEA’s auspices. Travelling
around Africa I’ve discovered that many theological schools have one or two
women on the faculty. But because they’re rarely the principal or academic
dean, they don’t get to attend the few pan-African events for theological
educators, and they end up quite isolated in their own ministry contexts. Can
you imagine how energizing it could be to get a hundred of these women together
for a week and see what sorts of connections and momentum come out of it?! It’s
a great idea, but I’ve been stalled from taking it further because I haven’t
known how to pull together the right team. Long story short, just recently two
dynamic women theological educators, one from Angola and one from Kenya, looked
at me and said, “What are you waiting for? We’re in. Let’s do it!” So now I’m
about to be launched into all the planning, grant writing, and logistical
arrangements such an event requires – but with a great team around me. We’re
hoping to hold the conference in 2014. Watch this space…
The remaining question is how the Lord is going to make all this
happen. The fiscal year that just ended in September is the first time in
all our years in Africa that Bill and I have finished the year underfunded.
Just a bit under – no worries, we’re not going hungry yet – but it was a
welcome reminder that as God stirs up new ministry directions we also have the
privilege of meeting the new partners he’s bringing onto the team. Many of you already
share with us the great feeling of being involved in this Kingdom work. Thank
you for everything you do! There's a list
of opportunities on the bar to the left for those of you who in tough economic times might
enjoy the ‘affordable luxury’ of having a direct impact in the lives of the
next generation of African Christian leaders. We’re so pleased to have you join
us in this adventure!
What’s
happening in Nairobi…
Me
(Stephanie) doing what I do. Here’s my Gospel of Luke class at NEGST yesterday morning.
Such a great group of students!
I
spent one weekend in October playing hostess to four ninth-grade SIM missionary
kids on mid-term break from Rift Valley Academy. It’s been a long time since I
had to figure out how to entertain 14 year olds!
 |
| Breanna and Sarah from Malawi, Matthew from Ethiopia |
Should
I have been surprised that what they were most interested in was food?!
…including
a taste of home – Ethiopian food for Matthew
Kissing
giraffes was a big hit, too
But
the favorite event was climbing to the helipad on top of the Kenyatta
International Conference Centre where we could see all of Nairobi – with ‘Mrs.
Black’ yelling “Stay away from that edge!!!”
Lest
you think Nairobi is all high-rise glass and steel like the central business
district above, here are some shots I took through the car window driving
through one of the poorer sections of the city. Real people, real life.
And
here’s one quick photo of Caroline (22), taken before the cool weather arrived
in Charlottesville
