Not Business as Usual

A week ago I thought that the internship was starting to become clearer and more organized, but on Friday, everything changed.

The first few weeks in January, everyone was focused on the political situation and the violence that had taken place. Churches were trying to help those who had suffered from violence and were speaking out publicly for peace. As things quietened down, people tried to return to their normal lives, expecting the situation to be resolved soon. Now it has been more than a month, and the situation has not really gotten better, even though here in Nairobi one can live one's life almost as if nothing had happened. While the mediation talks are going on, there is still violence and the number of internally displaced persons (IDP) is increasing. I have heard stories where the message was passed around a town or neighbourhood, warning the members of a certain tribe to get out before the end of the next day unless they wanted to be killed. The people concerned do not wait to find out whether the threat is true but leave their homes behind and seek refuge in a police station or church. This ethnically motivated violence has continued and will not be stopped through the resolution of the political situation. On the other hand I have heard reports of an area close to Nairobi where the pastors in the area reacted to the threats of ethnic cleansing by going out and speaking to people one-on-one and in groups, convincing them that this was not the right path to pursue. In that way, violence in that neighbourhood could be avoided.

Last week, the pastors of my church, Nairobi Chapel, decided that they could not continue business as usual. It is not business as usual for those people living in camps fearing that their attackers will come to attack their camp, neither should it be business as usual for us. The situation is not resolved yet and we believe the church should be part of the process towards peace and reconciliation. Therefore the church has decided to release a part of the pastors and staff to work in the following areas: opening the church ground up to displaced people (especially since the Jamhuri camp close to Nairobi Chapel is closing down and sending people back home - not all of them can return home), being a media presence to tell stories of hope instead of violence and destruction, setting up a "caravan of hope" (500 pastors who will visit the affected areas), and networking with community leaders in Kibera and Dagoretti (the area around the church) to convince them to use their influence among the populuation for peace.

It is exciting to see the church making this kind of a decision, but it also means that a part of our internship program is put on hold for now. A third of the staff will keep the Sunday services running while the others are busy on new projects. As I am on the pastoral care team, we are still more or less working on the same things, but we have also taken on service planning in addition to our regular tasks. The other tasks that I have been given is to set up a canteen (a cafeteria) after church on Sundays to raise money for the interns and to come up with a four-week baptismal class which will be starting in two weeks!

The canteen was successfully started last Sunday, and we made a good profit, though we have to get more efficient on setting up and cleaning up. We hope to sell even more as people get used to the idea of having a snack (samosas, donuts or hamburgers) or a soda after the service.

I do hope, however, that we will be able to continue our readings and discussions which I found very interesting and stimulating. We have been reading two books on leadership and church growth/church management ("Courageous Leadership" by Bill Hybels and "The 7 Practices of Effective Ministry" by A. Stanley, L. Jones and R. Joiner).