Time to Move Over

A couple of weeks ago I reported about the 10-year anniversary of the ‘Havre de Refuge’ in a staunchly Muslim African country. Last week we got a new article detailing the history of that work, and of course that interested me. I’m one of those guys who used to stand for hours in museums while the rest of the family was hoping I’ll soon be done so they can go eat! 

But this educational center is no museum. in fact, it’s a place that school kids love to go to, and for many, it means the only access they have to any kind of educational material.

But here’s the best part of that whole article: The married couple (we’ll call them ‘Michael & Sherry’) who helped start it all, were ReachAcross workers who left that work to return to Europe some years ago. Now Michael was invited into a local school the day after the anniversary celebrations at ‘Havre’.  The school principal (who used to teach one of Michael and Sherry’s daughters) introduced them to the kids. He asked them if they know Michael’s name, but no one comes up with it, so he tries to help:

‘You know Monsieur Michael from the Havre, right?’

Finally one boy stands up and says, ‘we don’t know this Monsieur Michael, we only know the Havre de Refuge, and Adel, the librarian!’

‘A dream come true’, writes Michael. ‘Havre is no longer a foreigner’s project, but a local library run by a local librarian.’ God’s work among this unreached people group continues, with school children reading Bibles and Bible story books alongside of other educational material available to them. There are not enough local believers to meet together yet—or are there? We dream of a church among this semi-nomadic Muslim people group, and it may be happening before our eyes.

My mind went back to the day my wife and I left to return to our home in the US several years ago. We left the way we had come 28 years before that, picked up by a local staff member for the journey to the airport. No fanfare; our job was done. Not long ago we visited our former places of service again, and a lot of people didn’t know who we were. A national believer and capable young leader was in charge of one of them where we had served for seventeen years. It continues to flourish under God’s direction—it probably would not have done so, had we stayed around longer than our time.

Christian workers too easily take ownership of their ministries, and sometimes it’s because we need them for the sake of our own identity. ‘He who is righteous by faith in Jesus will live’, writes the Apostle Paul (Rom. 1: 16). ‘Yeah, and he who is righteous by faith in his own ministry will die’—to paraphrase a sentence out of one of Pastor Tim Keller’s sermons.

‘. . .  my cup is running over. This is the assigned moment for him [Jesus] to move into the center, while I slip off to the sidelines.(John 3:30, The Message).’

It’s a good thing to remember—move over, let Jesus have center stage. Maybe that’s what He is saying through life’s circumstances to you and me today.

U.S. Director