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Friends United Meeting |
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January/February 2006
Leadership Training: The Goal to Effective Performance
By John Muhanji
A Kenyan leader once said, “If you think knowledge is expensive, try ignorance.” Today the heart of God is an open wound of love. He aches over our distance and preoccupation. He mourns that we do not draw near to him. He grieves that we have forgotten him. He weeps over our obsession with muchness and manyness. He longs for our presence. And he is inviting you—and me—to come home, to come home to where we belong, to come home to that for which we were created.
His arms are stretched out wide to receive us. His heart is enlarged to take us in. For too long we have been in a far country: a country of noise and hurry and crowds, a country of climb and push and shove, a country of frustration and fear and intimidation. God welcomes us home: home to serenity, peace and joy, home to friendship, fellowship and openness, home to intimacy, acceptance and affirmation. He invites us into the living room of his heart, where we can put on old slippers and share freely. He invites us into the kitchen of his friendship, where chatter and batter mix in good fun. He invites us into the dining room of his strength, where we can feast to our heart’s delight. He invites us into the study of his wisdom, where we can learn and grow and stretch and ask all the questions we want. He invites us into the workshop of his creativity, where we can be co-labourers with him, working together to determine the outcomes of events.
The presiding Clerks and General Secretaries of the Kenyan and Ugandan yearly meetings responded to this invitation to the study of God’s wisdom and workshop of his creativity when they all gathered on Kajulu Hills on the outskirt of Kisumu towards Western Kenya. The Kajulu Hills was a place where many revelations were discovered during the workshop. Kajulu Hills performed the healing that has been in the hearts of many leaders since the break-away for the last 15 years. The Kajulu Hills workshop gave birth to a new breath among the yearly meetings which have always been coming together in committees, but not on the invitation of Jesus Christ as described above.
This was an historical workshop among the yearly meetings where they listened to the teachings through the power of the Holy Spirit. One of the older leaders, John Kitui of Elgon East Yearly Meeting, said, “I have never attended any seminar on church leadership since I became the presiding clerk of the yearly meeting; and I have never sat down listening to teachings for such a long time like I have done here on this hill. God is doing something new in our church.”
Why Train Leaders?
FUM Africa Ministries was established to work together with yearly meetings
in Africa and to coordinate programmes through the current priorities
of Evangelism, Leadership Training, Global Partnership and Communication.
For more than 100 years since FUM came to Kenya, African yearly meetings
have never participated in the programme of financial assistance for the
support of the mission work FUM is involved in. African leaders had only
known that they were there to receive from FUM and not to give to FUM.
It is still a mentality that runs in the minds of Africa yearly meeting
leaders to date. How can you convince an Africa yearly meeting leader
that he needs to contribute to the running of FUM activities? I think
the African Yearly meeting leaders are not to blame, because they have
been made to understand that the North American yearly meetings do everything.
This is true to some extent when you measure the poverty level of Africans
and westerners. But this does not warrant the meetings running away from
their responsibilities, nor the need to work collaboratively with one
another.
Our leadership will always be most natural, most effective and most influential when we lead from our gifts and strengths. Then it won’t be forced, feel awkward, seem artificial or copy someone else. Effective leadership occurs when we lead from our own identity.
Leadership Workshop
Leaders enjoyed a four-day workshop in Kisumu on Kajulu Hills at Hillside
Village. This was the most intensive workshop the Presiding Clerks and
General Secretaries have had in their lives as church leaders. This October
2005 seminar will remain a mark in their lives as they lead the church
effectively. The programme ran from morning after breakfast to evening
after dinner every day. Nobody left the venue to visit Kisumu when others
were learning and nobody complained about the programme; what came out
was that they would Quaker Life January/February 2006 11 have wished
the learning could have continued for the next three days if funds were
available. I was surprised by these remarks because I thought the people
would complain they had not been given any breathing time. There was a
high level of concentration among the participants.
I wholeheartedly believe that everything rises and falls on leadership. By that I mean that more than anything else, the leadership of any group or organization will determine its success or failure. You can see the impact of leadership in the Bible. In ancient Israel, when God’s people had a good king, all was well with the nation. When they had a bad king, things went poorly for everyone. Scripture teaches that without a vision people perish. (Proverbs 29:18)
What a moment it was to see the very old and the middle- age leaders sit together under one roof listening to teachings of effective management of our yearly meetings. During the workshop, one of the church leaders said, “We today yearn for prayer and hide from prayer. We are attracted to it and repelled by it. We believe prayer is something we should do, even sometimes we want to do, but it seems like a chasm stands between us and actually praying. We experience the agony of prayerlessness.”
Experiences During the Workshop
More spiritual discernments were felt while on the hill. Many leaders
felt the power of the Holy Spirit moving in the meeting and prayers of
repentance were heard from the leaders as they prayed for God’s mercy
in their leadership roles. Members felt the need to forgive one another
and repent the spirit of rebellion when they broke away from the main
East Africa Yearly Meeting with fights and accusing each other of mistrust.
God’s presence was felt in our midst day after day until the time the
workshop ended.
I saw a Mighty River of the Spirit of God bursting forth from the hearts of women and men, boys and girls of the Friends Church in Africa. It is a deep river of divine intimacy, a powerful river of Holy living, a dancing river of jubilation in the Spirit, and a broad river of unconditional love for all peoples. As Jesus says, “Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.” (John 7:38)
In the past we have seen the Quaker Church in Africa experiencing various streams of life—good streams, important streams—being cut off from the rest of the Christian community, depriving us all of a balanced vision of life and faith. But today as we left the Kajulu Hills in Kisumu, our sovereign God is drawing many streams together that heretofore have been separated from one another. It is a little like the Nile River, which gains strength and volume from Lake Victoria and Lake Kyoga as it moves through the dry desert of Sudan and Egypt without drying off. So among the African Quakers under FUM, today God is bringing together a mighty “Nile of the Spirit.” The workshop developed and increased the power of momentum in the flow of change.
Where Is the Flowing River Heading?
The Kenyan yearly meetings are now committed to send a number of evangelists
to Uganda November 23–27, 2005 for a revival mission to strengthen the
Uganda Yearly Meeting and help it come out of its sleeping bag to join
the flowing river. The Nile River gains its momentum and volume from Kenyan
rivers that flow to Lake Victoria through Uganda and onward to the Red
Sea. Likewise, the Kenyan Quakers will move in the direction of the rivers
as the Spirit of God leads. The Uganda mission will be to evangelize,
help put up a church that has fallen down and help roof at least two or
three classrooms with iron sheets in the Quaker school. The leaders sounded
committed to the programme.
I believe God has called for a purpose in leading these Quakers in Africa. We have plans to encourage yearly meetings to organize effective leadership training to all their meetings, including village meetings and pastors. The Quaker church in Africa is facing a challenge whether to accept the changes in the 21st century or remain as they were since they received their teachings from the missionaries. The gap between the older generation and the young is widening. Many young people are leaving the Friends church to other new denominations. Training leaders to accept the reality of change is essential to save the church from becoming a monument to the community.
In order for the church in Africa to participate in mission work, it must undergo serious training and an awareness process. Investing in leadership training is essential for the church to cope with the changing climate of the 21st century.
John Muhanji is FUM’s Africa Ministries Representative in Kisumu, Kenya. He and his wife, Rose Afanda are members of Nairobi Yearly Meeting.