Not your average email from Africa

You ever got one of those emails from Africa--

Dear so-n-so in Christ,

My name is Blessed Sister Cousin Twice Removed from the Pope Angelina Mary-Margret Hope Faith and Love (some foreign name that you can't pronounce)

I have money for you! Send me all you vital information so I can steal all of your money from your bank account while you are waiting for me to send you half of the Bank of England.

Hurry (for Christ's sake)!

OK, maybe a I am being a little sarcastic here, but how many of these have you deleted? I'd say 700 for me in the last year. Yup. That's two a day. Don't even look at them.

Why bring this up? Well, one of the things that comes up whenever people make trips overseas is the money factor. Fact is, Americans have a great deal of personal wealth, and the rest of the world doesn't. So, when you become friends with Christians or others overseas, they are not afraid to ask for you to share your personal wealth. This is always a challenge, because as Christians, we go to share the Gospel, not gold or silver. (Acts 3:6) And we also are trying to avoid tipping the balance of power in a particular village or mission context by creating power through money where it once did not exist. It is so easy to make the mistake of giving power through wealth and influence rather than living in the Spirit. So, what do you do? Can you export the Gospel without exporting Western materialism? It is very difficult.

So, it was interesting to me to have already received a request from a local pastor in Kenya BEFORE I have even arrived. The request was very simple: Can you purchase a small digital camera for our church? To be fair, the pastor of the church is also the vice-principle of the Wayland Campus and is well known at WBU. He is well respected, and they must often ask for such techno things to be delivered when visiting professors come to town.

Now, digital cameras grow on trees which are harvested by local techno-geek stores. So, this is really no big deal. You go down to the store after a local harvest, pick up the camera, and go on your merry way. And what is the big deal about a camera? They will use it to post images of their church for those with computers and such in Nairobi. I am sure there will also be much personal use of the camera as well. So, I am not afraid to ask my church to help with this endeavor--it seems worthwhile to me--a small gift to a host church. And I trust the leadership there based on the WBU connection.

However, in the past I have been flooded with various requests from real people who wanted money to go to school in America, or to have medical treatment, etc. Many do not have a concept of our personal wealth, or the fact the we spend so much of it on a daily basis. Matter of fact, I am not sure I am aware of how much I waste on a daily basis.

This trip is going to an eye-opener, for sure--in many ways.

Pray that the spiritual work that is done will far exceed any other gift that our church or this pastor could bring. Acts 3:6