• Directories
    • Business Directory
    • Church Directory
    • Organization Directory
  • Advertise
  • Donate
  • Help
  • Log In
MENUMENU
  • Learning
        • Leader’s Edge
          • Author Interviews
          • Book Summaries
        • Book Reviews
          • Book Look
          • EMQ Book Reviews
        • Publications
          • Anthology
          • Evangelical Missions Quarterly (EMQ)
          • Missiographics
        • Podcasts
          • The Mission MattersNew
          • Missio Nexus
          • People First HR
          • Members Only Feed
        • Blogs
          • Global Issues Updates
          • Member Highlights
          • Mission Advisors
        • Topics
          • COVID-19 ResourcesNew
          • Diaspora Missions
          • Mobilization
          • Muslim Missions
          • Support Raising
        • Media Library
          • Conferences
          • Global Issue Updates
          • On Mission
          • Thought Leader Briefings
          • Webinars
          • Workshop
          • View All
  • Programs
    • Accreditation
    • Alliance for Benefits
    • Bible CertificateNew
    • Church Missions Coaching
    • Cohorts
    • Cybersecurity
    • ImproveNew
    • Mission Jobs
    • RightNow Media
    • The Mission App
    • Women’s Development
  • Events
          • Calendar
          • In-Person Events
          • Virtual Events
          • Event Recordings
          • Awards
        • Upcoming Events

          • Webinar: Through the Wall
            Thu Jan 28 2021, 02:00pm EST
          • Your Best Kingdom Workers Are Hidden in Plain Sight
            Thu Feb 11 2021, 09:00am EST
          • Three Easy Ways to Drive Innovation
            Thu Feb 11 2021, 02:00pm EST
        • View All Events
  • Research
          • Missiographics
          • Mission Handbook
          • Research Reports
        • Popular Research
          • Compensation Reports
          • COVID-19 ResourcesNew
          • Field Attrition Report
          • View All Reports
        • Contribute
          • Current Research Projects
          • Submit Data for Mission Handbook
          • Volunteer
  • About Us
        • Who We Are
          • Our Contribution
          • Meet the Team
          • Board Members
          • History (1917–present)
        • Our Beliefs
          • Statement of Faith
          • Community Standards
        • Awards
        • Partner with Us
          • Advertise
          • Donate
          • Sponsorships
          • Volunteer
        • Help
          • Contact Us
          • Advertising Specs
          • Branding Guidelines
  • Join
        • Learn
        • Learn what you cannot learn anywhere else.

        • Meet
        • Meet people you otherwise won’t meet.

        • Engage
        • Engage in a community like none other.

          • Benefits
          • Benefits for Churches
          • Pricing

Sponsored Content

Upcoming Events

  • Webinar: Through the Wall
    Thu Jan 28 2021, 02:00pm EST
  • Your Best Kingdom Workers Are Hidden in Plain Sight
    Thu Feb 11 2021, 09:00am EST
  • Three Easy Ways to Drive Innovation
    Thu Feb 11 2021, 02:00pm EST
  • Three Steps to Kickstart Your Fund Development Program
    Tue Feb 16 2021, 03:00pm EST
  • Webinar: Innovating Theological Education: How BibleMesh can Prepare your Staff for Ministry
    Thu Feb 25 2021, 02:00pm EST

View all events »

Topics

author interview Canada CEO Church Church Missions Church Mission Team Church Planting Coaching Conference Proceedings COVID-19 Cross Cultural Skills Diaspora Evangelism Focus Future Globally Engaged Churches Islam Justin Long Leadership Management Missiology Missionaries Mission Finance and Administration MLC2019 MLC2020 Mobilization muslim Muslim Diaspora Networks Partnership Personal Productivity Podcast Presenter Research Security Short-Term Missions Spirituality support raising Training Trends Unengaged Unreached unreached people groups Weekly Roundup Women

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

The Ministry of Presence—Just Show Up!

Posted on October 1, 2007 by October 1, 2007

by Edward Simiyu

We are an oral culture in Africa. This calls for face-to-face contact.

Recently, I heard an American pastor lament that his African pastor friend had not replied to his emails for a long time. He asked, “Why can’t he just check the browser to make sure his inbox is working properly?” You can bet this happens mainly in Western countries. Most of Africa’s population hardly knows what a browser is! They do not read or write regularly and know just one way of communication—talking. As simple as this may sound, this is very true and very important. The cellular telecommunication industry is now the most profitable and fastest growing business in Africa because it is giving Africa a treat to what she does best—talk. However, talking among the oral cultured people now carries more than mere words.

We are an oral culture in Africa. This calls for face-to-face contact. Less than two percent of people over the age of sixty can read or write. Our generation received teachings, stories and moral lessons from our parents and grandparents. With excitement, we would look forward to our grandparents visiting because we knew they would tell us stories. I sense the same craving in my nine-year-old daughter when she pleads with me to tell her stories at bedtime. The values of our culture and society were passed on that way. Our formative years were not so much shaped by what we read or acquired in libraries filled with journals, books and magazines; instead, they were shaped by what we heard from our elders. That is why we say in Africa that when an elder dies, a whole library is buried with him. We passed on—and still pass on—things from one generation to another by word-of-mouth. Understandably, physical presence in order to communicate face to face has quickly taken on a new dimension. For example, it was not long before we all understood that attending a funeral, without even saying a word, signalled a show of condolence, sympathy and solidarity with the bereaved family. This spread to all spheres of the African social and spiritual life. Today, presence has acquired such a great value that when one does not show up to gatherings like weddings, funerals and Sunday services, people get very worried or even offended.

It is in answer to the call for presence that makes Africans travel to far lands such as America and Europe to attend their sons’ and daughters’ graduations, weddings or even funerals—even while most of these same Africans live on less than one dollar a day! Presence is in fact also making Africa discover how different she is from some Western nations. For example, here is a dialogue I had with my American host regarding my first cup of tea in America:

Host: Would you like a drink?

Me: Yes.

Host: Would you like a cold or a hot drink?

Me: I would love a hot drink.

Host: Would you like coffee, tea or hot chocolate?

Me: Tea.

Host: With or without milk?

Me: With milk please!

Host: What kind of milk?

Me: What do you mean?

Host: Whole milk, evaporated milk, low-fat milk or cream?

Me: Just give me tea with milk
please. I don’t care whether it comes with low-fat, high-fat or no-fat. Just milk!

Obviously, I could not hide my impatience. I wondered what these people did to the poor cow for it to give all sorts of milk. Where I came from, milk was simply milk—straight from the cow! Of course, if we use the browser the American pastor referred to above, we find that a Google search tells us that all kinds of milk exist; however, that is as far as it goes. The magical split-second Google wonder sadly does not put those different kinds of milk on our tables back in Africa…but the cow does. People in Africa rarely have the opportunity to make choices such as which kind of milk to drink. Some people blame it on politicians; however, I wonder what portion to blame on presence. When politicians visit, they are surrounded by a mob of people who are very excited to hear them speak. They leave with no written manifesto or commitment to which we can hold them accountable. What happens when they come back again? The same thing happens. We get excited and are left with no tangible commitment. Why does this happen over and over again? Because we enjoy their presence as they do what we love to do most—talk!

The Church around the world would benefit immensely if she realized that while it is good and important to send the much needed gifts and donations to support brothers and sisters in Africa, that is only one side of the story. Their physical presence through visits will minister even more powerfully. The visits do not have to be large mass crusades. All that is required is to show up and just “hang out” on low-key visits. You may comment that this is a pretty expensive thing to do. To that, I would reply, “Well, that is what I call the ministry of presence!”

—–

Edward Simiyu is pastor of City Harvest Church in Kenya. He also conducts pastors training events and lectures part-time at the Universite
Espoir d’Afrique in Burundi.

Copyright © 2007 Evangelism and Missions Information Service (EMIS). All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced or copied in any form without written permission from EMIS.

GoToOlder PostNewer PostAll PostsEMQPerspectives: EMQ Guest EditorialSectionVolume 43 - Issue 4

Comments are closed.

Subscribe to Our Mailing List

Keep up to date with our community.

Menu

  • Join
  • Directories
  • Events
  • Donate

About

  • Who We Are
  • Statement of Faith
  • Awards
  • Resources

Help

  • Contact Us
  • Terms
  • Cookies Policy

Connect

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Google+

PO Box 398
Wheaton, IL 60187-0398

Phone: 770.457.6677
678.392.4577

© Missio Nexus.
All Rights Reserved.

Membership website powered by MembershipWorks