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Reconciliation and Commitment to Wholehearted Worship:

Africa Pastors' Conference

The delegation of pastors from Rwanda and Burundi sat at the back of the room at the conference center in Nairobi where they could hear the translator without disrupting others. When they were introduced, they rose as a group. Dancing, singing and clapping, they made their way down the aisles to the front of the auditorium to greet their Kenyan brothers and sisters in Christ.

The joyous, emotional intensity of these Quaker pastors who have endured such suffering in the killing fields of central Africa, "turned the tide" of the conference according to Rich Davis. What might have been just a good conference with practical information became a time when ministries-and perhaps the life of the Friends church in East Africa-were transformed. One of the Rwanda pastors who spoke to the conference wept quietly at the podium before speaking. "Don't feel bad for me because I am crying," he explained. "This is just part of our grief and our healing."

He had been in a party that had sought refuge in a church during the killings. They had been divided into four groups, each of which was taken out to be slain. He could hear what sounded like chopping of trees; in reality, it was the sound of axes on bodies. Miraculously, he escaped the massacre. The most painful experience came when, on the road, he approached someone from another tribe to ask for aid. This was someone he had known well from before as a fellow Christian, but he was turned away.

 Now he was speaking on the importance of reconciliation and of a church which can transcend such divisions. Another pastor told how seven or eight family members were killed. He last saw his wife passing over the hill, waving her Bible in the sky as a farewell to him.

 This Friend told how, in bitterness of heart, he had abandoned his faith and determined to join the army to "get even." But God got hold of his heart, and he was restored to faith. Now he was leading a workshop at the Pastors' Conference on conflict resolution. The message came through clearly to pastors and clerks from the churches in Kenya which have been in conflict: If we can forgive those who killed our family members, surely you can forgive your petty disputes within the church.

And the message from Kenyan Friends came back equally strongly: we are all Friends together, and committed to do the Lord's work. Delegates from Nandi Yearly Meeting (Kenya) initiated a special collection for Friends in Burundi and Rwanda. They had brought a bundle of goods to give to the pastors to assist their refugees.

 Friends from all over the auditorium came to the front to add their contributions to the satchel; one brought a shirt, another a pair of trousers. Some came forward with nothing tangible but with empty hands they made the gesture of giving that testified to the love in their hearts.

Three hundred thirty-two pastors, lay pastors, evangelists, yearly meeting superintendents, and presiding clerks from Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Pemba and Kenya came together at the Kenya Science Teachers College in Nairobi from April 11-16, 1997.

They were pastors from very rural meetings, like John Moru from Turkana, and from inner-city ministries, like John Wafula from Nairobi. They were refugees, like David Nyonzima from Burundi, but forced to live in Nairobi, and cross cultural missionaries, like Kenyans Wilson Khaoya serving in Pemba and Isaiah Bikokwa serving among the Samburu.

 David Phillips, pastor of Wabash Friends Church in Indiana, was the keynote speaker throughout the conference. He said it was surprising how many pastors came up to him during the course of the conference and told him, "I was just about ready to quit and leave Friends." Many of the pastors have been frustrated over the years. Many have had little or no training. Many receive little or no pay. In many meetings, the presiding clerks conduct the Sunday morning service and there has been little or no time for worship in the midst of the church business being transacted.

 This conference represented the first time for African pastors to gather together for fellowship and worship. It was also a key time of training. Many pastors were grateful for the practical ministry ideas presented.

For instance, John Moru, a pastor from the Turkana region whose church meets under a tree in the desert sand (see cover photographs) said that David's messages and modeling of how to be a pastor gave him new ideas for his own ministry. One evening David abandoned his prepared text and devoted his talk to answering the many questions pastors had approached him with about how one conducts a worship service. Other times, he modeled how it was possible to provide object lessons without fancy or hard-to-obtain equipment.

Taking two stones, and grinding them together, he asked, "Does your church fellowship feel like this?" An elderly pastor sitting in the front row waved his hands in horror at the grating sound. With stones you can be ground down, or you can fit the stones together to build up the body.

On the last evening, Phillips preached about how Jesus died on the cross to break down the barriers that separate us from God and one another. During the closing prayer, everyone stood side-by-side with arms stretched out, like Jesus' on the cross. Standing so close, the arms reached across the back of one Friend to touch the shoulder of the next.

A pastor came over to Sandy Davis after the prayer and thanked her for that touch. "It was very humbling," she said. After the last meeting, all the participants formed a big circle around the auditorium. A group that had once been fragmented, had been spiritually united "under one roof."

Will the conference have long-term consequences? The seeds of reconciliation sown, and the practical training in management and pastoral skills taught at the conference will bear their own fruit throughout the region. For Friends in Kenya, resolutions adopted on the last day of the conference are already having an impact.

 Following the pastors' conference, representatives of fifteen yearly meetings associated with Friends United Meeting met in Kakamega. Among the resolutions adopted were these: "...Starting today, 19th April, 1997, Quakers have agreed to work in unity and harmony under FUM Africa. "The disagreement between the East Africa Yearly Meeting of Friends, North and Elgon Religious Society of Friends was addressed and noted to have narrowed down.

The Yearly Meetings present agreed jointly to continue addressing the issue...." "Concerning pastoral leadership and that of presiding clerks it was resolved: "...That the pastor shall conduct all matters pertaining to Sunday Worship, Marriages (weddings), Funerals, Catechism classes and such other matters that shall need the services of the pastor.

 "That business meetings shall be presided over by the Presiding Clerk and the meeting shall be held on other days than Sundays so as to cause no interference with Sunday Worship. "That the Pastor shall be a salaried employee of the Meeting and his/her salary shall be based on academic and professional qualifications and experience." The theme of the Pastors' Conference was "Friends, Rise Up and Stand." A newly equipped and empowered spiritual leadership is doing just that.

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