...and I’m off again!

Nothing ever seems to be predictable where I'm concerned. My life seems to have a way of getting turned upside down every now and then with the unexpected always just around the corner...I'm not complaining, far from it. I'm so glad my life is the way it is, I love it, but it does make it hard to keep up sometimes. (For the record, you should be careful what you pray for...a few years ago I asked God to let me travel the world and see places and things I've never seen before...and he's well and truly answering that prayer...)


Right now, I’m sat in bed, with my bags packed (apart from my toothbrush), my boarding pass printed from the online check in, a sense that it’s not all real yet and a party over the road providing a soundtrack for the evening. The reason being that I’m back off to Zambia...tomorrow!

Over the last couple of weeks as I’ve been telling people I’m going back to Zambia, the standard response has been “Oh, I didn’t know you were going again”...well, the truth is, I didn’t know I was going again either! It’s all come about pretty quickly...

Dignity has had a trip during the second half of September in its diary for a while now and it had been on my mind that I could possibly go. I hadn’t committed to it though as I had booked 2 weeks off work in August to help out at a CPAS Cyfa camp. I figured I wouldn’t be able to get more time off work so soon after and hadn’t really asked about it. But I prayed about it and said I’d be willing to go if that was where God wanted me to be and left it at that.

Little did I know one of those unpredictable turns in life was just around the corner. In July I found out I was going to be made redundant from my job as an architect...all of a sudden I found myself with plenty of time on my hands...but a whole lot less money! I started thinking maybe I could go now I had the time available but had my doubts about spending what money I do have on an air fare when there's no definite work lined up on my return - wouldn’t that be stupidity? Amazingly, just a couple of days after finding out I'd soon be redundant, an old employer contacted me to ask whether I'd be interested in possibly coming back to work there...but this was far from definite and whilst it was a possibility, it wasn't a surety. I would have to trust that if I was to go, spending what money I do have on a ticket, God would provide the work or the money for me to live on my return.

Once again, I prayed about it and asked God to make it abundantly clear to me whether it was the right thing for me to go or not...I would take that step of faith if it was right, but wanted to be 100% sure and not just rush into something stupid. Two days after I had prayed about it I was talking to a friend over lunch. Out of the blue, he and his wife offered to pay for my ticket to Zambia...I couldn’t believe it! God had freed up my time...and was now providing the money I needed as well...all I had to do, was go! It’s a rare occurrence, but I was quite literally lost for words. Such generosity can be hard to receive, both from a friend and from God. It’s quite humbling when someone just gives you all you need to enable something to happen. Being quite fiercely independent by nature I find it hard to accept such generosity knowing that I cannot do anything to repay it...all I can do is say thank you and use the gift given wisely. (Oddly, I am quite happy to be the one who gives things to others, I just find it really hard to be the recipient.) I think it’s the same as when we think about how much Jesus has done for us, laying down his life for each one of us so that we can have life in all it’s fullness...and there is nothing we can do to repay it. It can be hard to accept that gift because of our determination to do it all ourself...

Throughout the last two months where everything in my life has been uncertain and totally up and down I have felt nothing but peace, a deep sense of calm resting on my heart. There has been the odd flutter of fear about finding work and having enough money to live but these have been so short lived and soon overcome by this great sense of peace. Time and again, God’s timing in bringing things together has been perfect, from the overall plan to the little details. I feel like it says it Philippians 4 v 7... “Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” This has been an even greater gift that I’ve been given. Without this peace, I think I’d be a wreck by now!

So, once again and for the fourth time, I'm off to Zambia, but only for a short visit this time...just two weeks! I'm really excited to be getting the chance to go back and get stuck in again. Whilst I've carried on being involved with Dignity here in Manchester (doing lots of behind the scenes stuff necessary to help keep things ticking over) it's not quite the same as actually going to visit the people I spend time praying for and seeking to help. So, yey...I'm excited!

In the two weeks I'm there I'll be helping out at two Life! conferences, in different areas, run by Dignity. At these conferences we will meet with between 30 and 40 people who want to start a Life! group in their village. Life! groups are simply groups of people that meet together in a village from different church backgrounds and the wider community. In rural Zambian communities there can be a legacy of division and competition, rooted in the deep desire to survive that we all have. We seek to challenge that, starting at the roots...

Each Life! group has two aims; firstly to learn more about how to serve God individually and together and secondly to find ways of practically living that out by helping people in the community: faith and action growing hand in hand.

The conferences I'll be involved with will help these groups get off the ground and to be organised within the areas we’re working, so right from the beginning, the groups will be owned by the local people. Dignity will continue to support them but will also be encouraging local leaders to step up and take the work forward.

As people have grown in faith and understanding, the changes we have seen in villages where Life! groups have taken places are amazing...unity has grown in previously divided communities, husbands have stopped beating their wives, people have broken free of alcoholism, crime rates have dropped and eldery people and orphans have been cared for as people and churches have begun to work together!

I’m so excited to be going back and getting involved again...it really is a privilege and a joy. Saying that though, I’ve just had a reminder of some of the less fun sides of it as a giant (well, giant by English standards) spider legged it across my bedroom floor at high speed. I had to prevent the reactionary girly scream that nearly escaped me, man-up a bit, catch it and chuck it out of the window!! I can’t be letting a puny English spider scare me if I’m going to cope camping out in the bushlands of Zambia again!!

And on that note...I’m going to call it a day and get some sleep...if I can...I’m rather excited about tomorrow’s adventure!!

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Just a couple of other things...

If you’re the praying type:

Thank God for, his perfect timing and provision, the way he can weave together all the different things in each of our lives, all to his glory...and for so many answers to prayer along the way.

Please do pray for safe journeys, both for me and for those joining us at the two conferences - they may not have as far to travel, but they will each be coming a substantial distance by foot or bike. Pray for God to be at work in each of our hearts as we gather together at the conferences and also for God to be preparing the ground in the villages where Life! groups will soon be starting.

And one last thing...

I would really love to raise enough money to cover the costs of one of the two conferences I’m helping at...for just £300 we can feed all the people who come along to one conference and also provide them with the "Rooted in Jesus" books to help them start a discipleship group in their village. (If I managed to raise enough for both conferences that would be AMAZING!!) In my mind, equipping people to bring hope and change to their own villages really is money well spent! If you want to help cover the costs of one of these conferences please visit www.justgiving.com/jogoestoafrica - any money you give here will go directly to Dignity and the work they are doing in rural Zambia, along with any Gift Aid that can be claimed on your donation.

where did the last six months go?

Well, it’s been a while. I’ve been meaning to sit down and write the next stage of my blog for ages...about six months in fact! I’ve been intending to let you know that I got home safe and sound, found a job (miraculously I think, in a time of very little work for us architecty folks) and generally settled back in to life in Manchester. I think it’s a sign of how easy it is to get swept up in the every day busy-ness of life that it’s taken me six months to get round to it! So apologies for the delayed update on my return.

A number of friends have been asking me when I’m going back to Zambia again...not “if”, just “when”! Which makes me laugh - I’m glad people expect it of me now! I guess it shows that people think I stick at something when I start it. Sadly, I’m not planning a three month expedition this year, which in all honesty, I’m quite gutted about. I could do with some sunshine (although it’s beautiful in Manchester today) and a change of pace, but I’ve always said I don’t just want to go for the sake of going. I only want to go if it’s the right thing to do. This year I don’t think it is the right thing to do...there’s something else that I believe I’m supposed to be doing...here’s why...

The work in Zambia is growing and growing. We first started the whole idea of “Life!” groups in 2008...and now just 3 years later we have launched about 80 groups across 14 areas. A Life! group is a simple idea...it’s much like your cell group or home group. A group of people meeting together to study the bible and try to learn what it means in our day to day life. It really isn’t rocket science, but in a place where lots of people don’t have bibles, many people can’t read, training and teaching isn’t readily available and just feeding your family every day can be a real struggle there are lots of obstacles to something this simple being established and keeping going.

As part of a way of getting to know people in a new area, we regularly show the Jesus film as the sun is setting. (I can almost recite it in the local language Bemba now...) It’s an amazing atmosphere - anything between 50 and 200 people gathering in the dusk to watch a film projected on the wall of a mud hut! It constantly amazes me that people will come and say “I’ve been going to church all my life, but I had no idea that that is what Jesus did”. It is a real indicator of the level of teaching that some people are getting at church. There are just some huge gaps...

Another problem facing the church in Zambia is that of division. In so many of the villages we visit there are already a number of churches, but sadly they are not on good terms with each other. Members of different churches will often refuse to greet each other, which in Zambian culture is a big thing. If different churches are fighting each other, how can they possibly stand strong together?

So, by establishing Life! groups we are seeking to create environments where people can ask questions, people can learn together and grow together. We try to break down historic divisions between churches to help create strong christian communities in villages.

We are seeing something amazing happening. As people meet together and grow in faith together, we are seeing God working in their hearts and then we are seeing the very practical out workings of this. Simple things, like less arguments between neighbours. Slightly bigger things, like a husband stopping drinking so he no longer beats his wife and can afford some food for his family with the money he would previously have spent on local brew. Even bigger things, like a lady taking in two orphans in to her family home...and even bigger things with communities coming together to look after one hundred orphans or the elderly in their village.

It really is amazing to see people who previously thought they couldn’t make a difference...now making a difference! People are discovering skills and talents God has given them and putting them to new uses...and all because they are being set free from the previous mindset that says they are of no use, no value and with no hope. God is giving them his hope and his freedom.

Now it’s not all fun and games all the time. There are plenty of hiccups along the way. Times people hurt each other. Times people disagree. Times people give up. Times the rains comes and people simply can’t get together because the roads are so bad. Times people are so busy planting their crop they don’t have the time and everything grinds to a halt...but that doesn’t mean it’s time to give up. We are seeing group leaders stepping up and encouraging one another, visiting another group who is struggling and helping them keep going. One leader saw a problem in his neighbouring village and so decided he could do something about it and went to support them. How ace is that? Zambians helping Zambians. They are so much better at understanding one another and encouraging one another than I ever will be!

Natural leaders are emerging from different areas and as they keep going, so must we keep going with them. We believe that God trusts them to be his hands, feet and voice in their villages and we trust them too. Our role is to encourage and support those God has placed in each village as they step up in faith. Alongside this, we also continue to reach out to new areas through different people we meet. Strong leadership teams in one area are beginning to help us reach out to new areas. There is a movement growing and becoming stronger that is made up of individuals each seeking out God’s will for them and growing in faith in a way that means their faith is more than going to church, it is a faith with actions.

As a small number of people are emerging as area leaders and giving us more and more of their time we recognise that we must help support them as we would a missionary going oversees - they are simply missionaries to their own people. We need to strike the right balance in this, not drawing people in for money, but when people give their time and efforts we want to help stand with them in this. Along this line, we are beginning to establish Impact Teams, a group of three leaders who give two weeks time to help encourage existing groups and reach out to new areas, and then spend two weeks doing their everyday business. In this way, they maintain their own independence and do not cut all their previous means of survival, but can also give some time to really push forward in their own areas and reach out to others. We are learning on the job here and the exact details are becoming clear as we take one step forward at a time, but loosely speaking, to support one Impact Team of three local leaders will cost about £6000 per year. We hope to have two Impact Teams up and running by the end of this year.

But what has this got to do with me not going to Zambia? It seems like there’s loads going on out there to get stuck into...and there is! There is also loads going on behind the scenes...stuff that needs to go on back here to allow all that is happening in Zambia to carry on. The increase in work means an increase in spending, a greater need for people to get hands on and go to share skills they have and a greater need for prayer.

This year, I think God is calling me to serve him here, to simply get on and do it! I have committed to giving one day a month to spend in the Dignity office helping out with communications, fund raising and helping spread the word about what we do. I’ve also joined the board of the charity so am getting to grips with what this means and how it looks and how we continue to maintain our focus. It’s totally new to me. I’m definitely not an expert, but I am enthusiastic and willing to give it a go! A group of us who all support the work of Dignity have begun meeting every six weeks or to simply to pray and share some food (of course!) and you’d be welcome to join us anytime - just give me a shout if you want to know when we’re next meeting!

So, there you go...that’s what I’m doing. I’m still very involved with the work of Dignity...just in a different way at the moment and from the comfort of my own home...The wonderful thing is, that as I have begun to explore this slightly new adventure, I'm finding that God has already been putting preparations in place, he has been teaching me and getting me ready to do this. He has set things going already and I just have to keep faithfully putting one foot out in front of the other. It's a totally different type of adventure, but no less fulfilling! To me, it's proof that God fills us and equips us with exactly what we need, when we need it...and knows us so very well!

Of course, I still have the wondering bug in me and I’m possibly joining a short two or three week trip to Zambia later this year...let me know if you want to come with us to find out what all this looks like for yourself!

You can get involved in all that's going on and that Dignity has the privilege to be doing in whatever way suits you...you can pray, you can give (be it time, money, expertise...) or you can go!

If you want to know more or get involved, please feel free to email me: jo@dignityonline.org.uk