Global Perspectives: Central Africa

Bill Hendricks: 

Well, welcome to The Table Podcast where we discuss issues of God and culture. My name is Bill Hendricks. I'm the executive Director for Christian Leadership at the Hendricks Center. From time to time, we like to visit with Christians around the world in order to find out what God is doing in different nations, in different cities, in different locations, and in different cultures globally. 

And today we're going to visit the central region of Africa. And because of the nature of both the work and the location and the circumstances under which our guest is operating, I'm going to just call him Matthew, not his real name. Matthew is a DTS grad and he is a church planter, but with a very unique, I would say, calling to the people group and the situation in which he's, and his wife are attempting to plant churches. So Matthew, welcome to The Table podcast. Thank you for being with us today. 

Matthew: 

Thank you, Bill. It's good to talk with you. 

Bill Hendricks: 

Yeah. I'm very excited about this. It's a part of the world that, I mean, for most of us, certainly here in the West, probably gets very, very little thought, very, very little attention in that sense. It's sort of an out of the way corner of the globe. 

But as I understand it, you're working with nomadic people groups, which means folks that have livestock that their whole living, their whole lifestyle is to, I don't want to say wander around, but travel around to find suitable grazing, suitable water, suitable conditions for their livestock. Is that general? Do I have that generally correct? 

Matthew: 

Yes, that's right. So in this region of Africa, there's just a lot of land which can't really be used for agriculture, for farming. And it's actually quite useful for migratory grazing. So it's seasonal, it's periodic, which means that again, they can't graze their animals in the same fields all year long. 

And so the people group is adapted to travel throughout the year on traditional migration routes with their herds. They have cattle or camels, sheep and goats, and they're seasonally looking for the fresh grass, available water supply. And they're moving North, South, East, West throughout the year in order to find that good land for their animals. 

Bill Hendricks: 

Wow. What a very, very different context from the urban life that so many of us, certainly here in the United States and the West in the developed world, live in. I'd certainly want to come back to this people group and hear much more about their lives and their conditions and so forth and your work. 

But I must ask, how did you get into this line of work? Did you grow up in an agrarian family or what was it that attracted you to pursue taking the gospel to this particular people group? 

Matthew: 

Well, that's an interesting question, Bill, because ironically, my training is as an electrical engineer. 

Bill Hendricks: 

Wow. 

Matthew: 

And there's no correlation between the work I was doing as an electrical engineer and working among a nomadic people group. But it was early on that the Lord really impressed upon my heart the need to take the gospel to the remaining people groups in the world who have no access to the gospel, there's no Christian witness among them. 

And among those remaining unreached people groups, the nomadic peoples are just least likely to have gospel workers sent to them, mainly because they're in remote locations, it's difficult to live where these nomadic people are living. 

And I was just thinking primarily about, Lord, who would you send? If it's not me, who else would be willing to go to these places? And I really wanted to surrender my life for the greatest leverage in the kingdom and being able to go someplace that may be a significant obstacle to many people who want to plant churches, but this specific location might be an obstacle to them, I wanted to fill the gap. 

And so that's really the beginning of my calling to nomadic people group. And the Lord began to grow that vision in my wife as well as we got married and began to seek the Lord about where he would have us. And so yeah, it's not about training, it's not about skills or qualifications, really. It was the Lord really pressing on my heart to stand in the gap where there was a clear need for someone to take the gospel. 

Bill Hendricks: 

Yes. And you and your wife have kids as well, and I'm fortunate enough to know your wife. And I know she's adventurous, which helps. So how is that, to be literally raising your family in the midst of doing this work? Is that… 

Matthew: 

Yeah. 

Bill Hendricks: 

I guess, that creates its own challenges or I don't know, maybe your kids are excited to be on this adventure with you. 

Matthew: 

Well, Bill, we do live in a very rural, undeveloped area of the world. And so there's just a lot of challenges that go along with setting up a home and a life. And as parents, one of the biggest challenges, especially when you have young kids, is thinking about healthcare, thinking about if my kid gets sick or there's an accident, are we going to be able to take care of them? 

So these are significant considerations where we are. But on the other hand, our kids who are now nine, seven, and three years old, they love it. They feel the sense of adventure, of exploration. And I would have to say that the characteristics of the nomadic community are being adapted by my kids. They love the autonomy, they love the mobility, the constant change in location and schedules. And so it's just now becoming a part of their development and their experience. 

Bill Hendricks: 

That's great. I guess too, they get exposed to a lot of animals. 

Matthew: 

They do. And they learn some valuable lessons that way too. 

Bill Hendricks: 

Yeah, no kidding. Well, so these nomadic people groups, if I understand correctly, this is a way of life that literally goes back, I guess, millennia. In other words, this is in that part of the world, this way of taking your animals to find pasture and so forth has been kind of uninterrupted for just time out of mind. Do I understand that correctly? 

Matthew: 

Yeah. That's right, Bill. The way of life that they currently practice has not changed for hundreds of years. And they have traditional routes that they follow. They have tribal wells that they return to every year. And the resources that they have available to them are really unchanged. 

And we feel like as we are working among them, that we could almost imagine ourselves living alongside the Patriarchs, alongside Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. Apart from the occasional cell phone in someone's hand, there's almost nothing that gives away that we're in the 21st century. 

Bill Hendricks: 

Wow. 

Matthew: 

And it's just really incredible. 

Bill Hendricks: 

I'm curious what the effect of climate change, and perhaps even, I don't know, I know urbanization in some areas has encroached upon natural resources and particularly water usage and so forth. But are the nomads affected by any changes in the weather and the climate and so forth that have seemed to take place in the last a hundred years? 

Matthew: 

Yeah. As their way of life, they value the mobility and flexibility. And so as grazing lands change with the climate, when there's a significant drought or a flood, they are able to adapt and they are affected. But because of their constant adaptive nature, it seems like their way of life and their livelihood is able to persist even through bad years. 

Even through significant disruption they're able to spring back. Now they're experiencing longer dry seasons and during the rains more flooding. And so it does affect their travel routes and it affects where they can take their animals. But one of the most significant things that's facing them is as a growing population, the surrounding and integrated tribes in their land are wanting to farm more land. 

And of course, as more people prepare the raw land for farming and plant crops, there's less room for the nomads to graze their animals. And so there's, I would say a constantly increasing friction between the farmers and the nomadic herders. And that sometimes results in violence and it's a constant source of frustration on the nomads part that the farmlands are, it seems like they're increasing every year, and that's just a result of population growth. 

Bill Hendricks: 

Well, I guess I would point out that we certainly had the similar, not identical, but certainly a similar situation in North America as the settlers continued to move Western into the first the plain states and then ultimately toward the West. And meanwhile, you have the native peoples who are living off of buffalo and antelope and somewhat nomadic, some of those tribes. And of course we know the friction that happened there. 

So I guess, we can to some extent relate to that. So how do you, first of all, as a westerner, as an American or as Americans, and also as people, I mean, you live in a village, but at least it is a village, even if it's rural, how do you even approach, how do you go about approaching nomads and even building some rapport, some trust, some relational capital to at some point begin to introduce spiritual conversations and ultimately the gospel? Walk us through that, sounds like a real challenge. 

Matthew: 

Yeah, it is significant for a number of reasons. They are a very isolated group, and that's by choice. They are suspicious of any outsiders, anyone who is not nomadic and not part of their clan. And so gaining access to them is a slow process. And this is true with nomads around the world. In general, they would prefer to keep to themselves and are suspicious of outsiders. 

So building that relationship takes time. We started out asking, we did just kind of a general surveys, we went out to where they were gathering and said, "We would love to help you. We feel God wants us here to be a blessing to you. What would you say your top five needs are? If you could wave a magic wand to change your life, what things would you change?" And so they talked about healthcare, education, they talked about access to water. 

They talked about their migration routes being protected, and they talked about the health of their animals. And so we looked at those five things and we began to pray and we said, "God, show us how we can make an impact in one or more of these things." 

And the people that God brought to us were just the right people to be able to begin healthcare trainings, to provide medical care, to provide birth and delivery care for women, and to provide some water development using locally resourced technology. And so it's beginning in those service ways to meet their needs that they began to welcome us and begin to accept us. And that slowly was the avenue for building relationships. 

Bill Hendricks: 

That's such a fascinating list that you just gave Matthew, because I look my way down through that. These are human beings that have concerns and needs so identical to what I think any of us anywhere in the world would want, health education, certainly for our children. 

You mentioned water, but obviously the broader context of that are material needs are met, protection. You said, of the routes, but the whole don't cut off our means of livelihood, economic needs, which leads into the animals, which is their property. I mean, for these folks, their bank account is in those animals. 

Matthew: 

Yes. 

Bill Hendricks: 

And so as they protect the animals, they're literally protecting their assets. And these are the kinds of things humans globally I think would care about. And it's a wonderful thing to see these folks as, yes, a very different lifestyle, but fundamentally so much in common with anyone anywhere. Now when you say you took this survey, did you have to work through translators or have you learned their language or both or? 

Matthew: 

Yeah, at the time that we started the surveys, I had already spent two years learning the language. And… 

Bill Hendricks: 

How was that? Was that difficult? 

Matthew: 

Yes, it is difficult. There's very few resources in terms of written material to use. And so it's a, we call it a learner directed approach, which means that myself as the learner, I go out into the community, find speakers of the language, and I engage them in certain activities which slowly build up my vocabulary and my understanding of how to communicate. 

And so yeah, it's a process. It took about two years to get to just a kind of conversational level. By no means a professional level, but a conversational level. And that's where we are able to begin actually interacting with the nomads face to face. 

Bill Hendricks: 

Did these folks, did they get a kick out of you trying to learn their language? Was that somewhat humorous to them or maybe they were just amazed that anybody would want to come learn their language? 

Matthew: 

Yeah, they're actually very welcoming and I think were very proud of the fact that they were able to teach me something about themselves, about their culture, part of who they are. And the fact that I was really interested and eager to be able to learn it and to learn it well, the fact that I would say, "No, I don't think I'm saying it right. 

Please help me pronounce this better." They could tell that this was more than, for me, more than just a practical exercise. I really wanted to honor who they were, honor their culture, and be able to interact with them in a respectful way. 

Bill Hendricks: 

Now you mentioned that there were not hardly any written resources to help you in learning the language. And I'm assuming that this is in part because this particular language and these folks, this is not a written language to begin with, that this is an orality culture. Is that correct? 

Matthew: 

Yeah, so generally speaking, this is a dialect, a specific dialect of a broader language group. And so it is well known across the region, but the local dialect is very unique. And at the time that my wife and I started working with them, there was ongoing language development work, but the resources hadn't been completed yet. There weren't language schools or programs like that. At the time, they were still actually working on translation for the New Testament in the language. 

Bill Hendricks: 

Okay. 

Matthew: 

And so it wasn't until a couple years in that we even had a published book, the New Testament, that we could use to begin building our vocabulary and begin actually sharing from scripture with people. 

Bill Hendricks: 

But do these folks read? I mean, are they literate? 

Matthew: 

So they aren't, and in fact most of them have never been to any schooling. And that's why education is a priority for them. They see that the people around them that live in villages and towns are advancing, and they are, the gap between them and the people around them is growing. And so they see that education is a necessary park to keep up with the development. And it's difficult because schools are in a building which is stuck to a specific location. 

Bill Hendricks: 

That's got to be scary. 

Matthew: 

And their family has to continue moving throughout the year, covering sometimes 300 miles. And so it's not very practical for them to stay close to a school where their children can receive an education. And so most of them have never learned to read and write. Most of them can't even recognize their own name if it is written out. 

And so yeah, we were able to begin very basic things like introduction to writing, introduction to letters, and recognizing their own name when they see it written down. And so that just gave them a boost of confidence for specifically for the adults that, "Yeah, we can learn this and it will help us." And then of course, they were very eager to have their children begin learning how to read as well. 

Bill Hendricks: 

Are the adults concerned that, "Gee, if we and our children and our grandchildren all start to get educated, that's going to substantially change our life?" And yeah, the old ways, as it were. 

Matthew: 

I don't get a sense that education is in opposition to their way of life. It is true that sometimes when the young people receive further education, they see more opportunity in a different way of life. So they might discover that they can get employment and make more money or be able to travel or buy nice things that they wouldn't have had if they continue the nomadic lifestyle of taking care of their animals. 

Bill Hendricks: 

Right. 

Matthew: 

And it's true that a lot of nomadic tribes around the world have been slowly declining or integrating into more settled cultures. But I think this is actually a problem. From my personal opinion, is that we need to seek to honor their culture and not apply pressure to them to change their culture unless that's something that they're desiring, that's coming from within their own culture to… 

Bill Hendricks: 

Right. 

Matthew: 

To change their way of life. And so coming in, we've been very intentional about respecting their culture, about, I want to say affirming their way of life to them, to say, God has created you for this place and this time. He has put you here as it says in Acts, that God has put you in this place to live in this way, and it reflects his glory. 

You can do this in a way that is pleasing to God. And so we wanted to be very careful not to say that they needed to become either like the tribes around them who were farming or like us as westerners who were totally different, but to say that we believe God wants to bless you in the way that you're living now, in this lifestyle. 

Bill Hendricks: 

So let me shift gears a little bit. As you talk to them about God and his purposes for them, what is the existing perception of God and the spiritual condition, I guess I would ask, and the belief system for most of these folks? 

Matthew: 

Well, across this region of Africa, Islam is the dominant religion. The form of Islam that's practiced in this area is highly syncretistic. It's what has often been referred to as folk-Islam. It incorporates a lot of traditional animistic and spiritual beliefs kind of under a layer of this religious framework. 

And so for them, they're often not as concerned with the theological framework or doctrinal statements of formal religion. They are mostly concerned with how is this religion, how is this way of practicing a faith in God going to help me in my daily life? And so they want to know how their religion can keep them healthy, how it can be a blessing to their family and their animals, how it can secure their future and how it can protect them. 

And so a lot of traditional practices have been incorporated with, I would say an Islamic flavor or yeah, an approach that uses the tenets of Islam to have power and control over their daily lives, including over spirits, curses, and to acquire blessing, things like the birth of a baby. And so these are ways that they interact through their faith. 

Bill Hendricks: 

So something tells me that Genesis 13 through 50 factors heavily in the material from biblical texts that you're able to incorporate in your work with them. 

Matthew: 

Absolutely. The stories from Genesis are scenarios that these nomadic people experience on a regular basis now. And so when we read about Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, almost everybody that we speak to can relate. 

Bill Hendricks: 

Yeah. 

Matthew: 

To them. 

Bill Hendricks: 

Right. 

Matthew: 

In exactly the same ways, even in terms of looking for a bride for their son and having disputes over a well that was dug and traveling from one land to another and having to stay either at a distance from the settled people that are in that land. And there's so many things that they can relate to in those stories. 

Bill Hendricks: 

Yeah. And what a wonderful thing, I would guess to be able to read that magnificent passage where God tells Abraham, not only are you going to have a seed and a inheritance, but through you all the nations of the earth will be blessed. And to say that includes you, that God has done something through Abraham that is a blessing to you. Would you like to know more about that? 

Matthew: 

Yeah, absolutely. And again, I love to point out to them because they are conditioned to think that every outsider views nomadic people as backwards, as just unable to integrate with society and develop. 

And I like to point out to them, look, God often worked through and spoke to nomadic people. God honors and loves nomadic people. Scripture is full of nomadic people, and so there's no reason to feel like second class citizens and there's no reason that you should be marginalized because of your lifestyle. 

Bill Hendricks: 

That's fantastic. And having said that, again, I sort of think of the degree of difficulty of establishing the gospel and planting churches among nomadic people. And you've heard me say this before, but to me it feels like trying to plant a church in Grand Central Station. 

You've got people coming and going on a regular basis, and just about the time you think you're making a beach head of impact and starting to get some things going. I mean, then you wake up the next morning and they're leaving. And so tell me what you've learned about that whole challenge and what you're trying to do about it. 

Matthew: 

Yeah. And that's one of the misunderstandings I think that people have is that they view nomads as moving haphazardly or… 

Bill Hendricks: 

Randomly. 

Matthew: 

Random. 

Bill Hendricks: 

Yeah. 

Matthew: 

And actually the nomads travel in a very established patterns, routes, and seasons. And so they travel as families, as family groups, and they continue to camp at the same locations or graze their animals the same locations year after year, generation after generation. 

Bill Hendricks: 

Wow. 

Matthew: 

And so we are able to, you say it's like Grand Central Station, but there's people who go through there very regularly, two times every day. And if you're there at the right times… 

Bill Hendricks: 

At the same time, day after day. Yeah. 

Matthew: 

Yeah. If you're there at the right time, you can talk to them in the morning and talk to them in the evening. And that's how it is with nomads as well. If we position ourselves at the right places and we're ready, we can have repeated interactions with them at various places throughout the year. And that's how we can begin to sow the seeds of the gospel and begin to spread truth. 

Now as far as how is a church going to take root, this is another really important thing. Because they can't really embrace an idea that is going to remain foreign in its sedentary nature. And so it has to become nomadic with them. And so as we thought about this, as strategized about this, we were very careful of making sure that any approach with the gospel would be able to be nomadic in both the method we were using and in the product in whatever form took place. 

We did not want to have buildings, we didn't want to have outside resources that they didn't have access to because then it would always be a foreign concept. Even if it was considered to be nice, it would always be held just at arm's length or at one location. We wanted it to be transportable. And so we are praying for and envisioning a church forming in a nomad camp in the way that the whole camp gathers to read scripture, to apply it to their lives. And as they move, the church is moving. 

Bill Hendricks: 

Right. 

Matthew: 

Just as the Israelites did, they were intense and they moved and they brought the tabernacle with them wherever they went. That opportunity to walk with God and have him in the middle of the camp is so available and real that we should not get in the way by saying, "Where's the building with four walls and the cross on the door?" 

Bill Hendricks: 

Right. Well, yeah, now you're into the Exodus experience and the journey, the journey toward the Promised Land. It kind of redefines this term, the church on the move. 

Matthew: 

Yeah. 

Bill Hendricks: 

You got to make it transportable. That's beautiful. So I'm just curious, we've talked about the nomadic peoples and your work with them. On a broader regional basis, I mean, I guess the question I'd ask is the church, are there Christians sort of on a broader regional basis, indigenous Christians there in that part of Africa? 

Matthew: 

Yes, there are. And it's a very complicated history, a very complicated social dynamic in that there are many tribes in this region, and the tribes that were historically animistic tribes have been evangelized and have had a gospel presence among them for many years. And the tribes that have been islamized since the Islamic conquest years have not been. 

And so it's created this great rift between the two groups of tribes. And so the church has begun growing among the historically animistic tribal peoples, but it has not been growing or even engaging the tribes that have been Muslims. And so this has been the case for about the last hundred years in this region. 

And some of that actually was due to colonization and a desire to keep the peace. And so it's just now quite literally in the last 25 years that we are seeing a concerted effort both from local churches and Christians as well as from gospel workers from all around the world to bring the gospel message to these other tribes, these tribes that have been Muslims for hundreds of years now. 

Bill Hendricks: 

And is that being met with hostility or on the opposite side with interest and receptivity? 

Matthew: 

It's a mixed bag. They have a long history of actually living side by side without much interaction. And so now to begin changing that dynamic does create some wrinkles. 

Bill Hendricks: 

Yeah. 

Matthew: 

In kind of the community, in the social fabric. And so there's not an open hostility, but at the same time, there are very deep underlying tensions between the differing tribes in the two groups, between the Muslim tribes and the animistic or Christian tribes. 

So that, that is a significant obstacle that the local Christians have to overcome. And it takes perseverance, but most importantly, it really just takes relationship. And it takes people crossing the line of seeing each other as you're from this tribe and I'm from a different tribe and just saying, "You know what? You're actually my neighbor and I live next to you. Can we just talk?" And that's kind of where it all begins, is just getting these people to come face to face and talk as neighbors and not just see the general categories of their tribes. 

Bill Hendricks: 

Yeah. Well, we've got a couple minutes left. Matthew, as we think about, and when I say we, I guess I'm particularly thinking of we who listen to this podcast, which tend to be in the West. So as we think about the church in that part of the world there in the central region of Africa, what could we, what should we as fellow believers be praying for our brothers and sisters in that part of the world? 

Matthew: 

I would love to be praying alongside of you guys for the church to conduct themselves in an honorable, respectful way in every community. And that has been, and I believe will be the door opener to building meaningful interactions and developing trust. It has to break down the stereotypes because there are many. And it takes an established witness in the community of living with integrity and compassion and generosity for people to begin saying, "You know what? This other group is not all bad. 

They're not hypocrites and drunks and into loose living. They're people who really love us and care for our needs." So I would love to just be praying that the church would be that model of Christ's love in the community. And then the second thing is just a love for the diversity that God has created. Being able to see people from different tribes and different languages through the perspective that God sees them, that these are all people made in his image. 

And we have to be willing to set aside our own personal sensibilities and preferences to be able to step across the street and extend a hand of friendship. Before we can even expect to have the gospel effectively received, we have to be able to extend the hand of friendship. And I'm praying that that would be the characterization of the church in these areas. 

Bill Hendricks: 

Wow. Thank you. Thank you so much for giving us that insight, Matthew. And we certainly will also be praying for you and your wife as you continue this work with the nomadic peoples. And thank you for your time today to kind of give us this snapshot of what's going on in that part of the world, again, that we often don't think that much about, but God is at work there. And you've given powerful testimony to what he's doing. So thank you very much for being with us. 

Matthew: 

Thank you, Bill, for inviting me. It's been a joy to be able to chat together today. And yeah. 

Bill Hendricks: 

Great. 

Matthew: 

Just pray that this will be a blessing to many people. 

Bill Hendricks: 

I know it will. And I want to thank you who have listened in to this podcast today on The Table. And invite you to subscribe whatever service that you're on to listen to The Table podcast, and we will look forward to seeing you next time. I'm Bill Hendricks. Have a great day.