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Partnership-Being Part of the Village 
by Mike

Introduction
The the words above, taken from a correspondence written to me by Jerman Disassa, December 2000, changed the way I looked at Partnership.  In the 12 years since the beginning of the PC(USA) sponsored Partnership between the Illubabor Bethel Synod (IBS) of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus, and the Presbytery of the Shenandoah, PC(USA), I have come to understand, by way of Jerman's insightful correspondence, that we, in the Shenandoah Presbytery, have become a 'part of the village' of the Illubabor Bethel Synod.  

This part of the Ethiopian Partnership web site is a work in progress.  I have often been asked, and even asked myself, what I have learned in my 7 years with this Partnership.  This document started as a response to that question.  A response written as much for myself, as for others.  What started out to be a list of 10 or so statements, perhaps short paragraphs has, well it has expanded.  In reading over what has been written below, it is clear that while I have captured some of the answer for my self, maybe for others, in many ways I have only scratched the surface.  

God has blessed me, even changed my life, by placing me in the midst of a people and process called Partnership.  Since 1994, I have learned a great deal, or at least think I have, about myself, about others and about God.  As is so often the case in the learning process, I don't think  I have less questions about myself, others or God but I do have different questions.  Different questions and different understandings, some of them perhaps wrong, but they are, none the less,  my understandings at this moment of my spiritual journey and I wish to share them with whomever may be interested.  The ideas below, while informed by many, are very personal and are my own.  They do not necessarily represent the views of PC(USA) or others in the Partnership.  

Jerman Disassa, Ph.D. and professor at Presbyterian College, S.C.  grew up in Ethiopia, attended the Bess School, a Presbyterian founded and sponsored school in Dembi Dolo, Ethiopia.  He was the speaker at the Ethiopian Partnership Banquet in October, 2000.  He is one of the saints God has sent the Partnership as a friend and counselor.  

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Thoughts on being Part of the Village

1.  This partnership is not an equal partnership(?)  

I recently asked my wife if she felt like we were a partnership.  She agreed to play along and said yes, we are a partnership, we have, after all been married for 25 years, are raising two children, pay the bills together, etc.  Then I asked her if partnership meant that we contributed equally?  First she looked surprised at the question, then bemused, then laughed, then said something (I will paraphrase here) to the effect that I had to be kidding.  Upon further discussion, we came to figure out that we brought different things to our partnership and it was almost impossible to apply a comparative measure.  She bought groceries, cooked dinner and vacuumed, I did the banking, kept up with vehicle maintenance, cut the grass.    

It is in this same way that I have come to understand the "equal partners" part of "Partnership" as applied to the Shenandoah Presbytery and Illubabor Bethel Synod partnership.  Both parties contribute a great deal the Partnership, but what is the measuring stick that says equal?  It is not equal in terms of monetary contribution and it is not equal in terms of spiritual contribution, in my experience.  The key is that each party "shares their own gifts with the other that both may be more richly blessed.  It is clear to me that in this Partnership with Illubabor Bethel Synod, I have received much more than I have contributed.

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2. Material Poverty and Spiritual Poverty need not be related.  
When I first visited Ethiopia in 1994, I heard there was great hunger and need.  My wife I both had some concern that this experience may have a depressive effect on me.  I tried to mentally and spiritually bolster myself before that first trip to be ready "for the worst".  

Immediately and persistently evident to me became a realization that yes these people were material poor - I mean poor.  But their spirits seemed so good!  What was the deal here?  In short, the evidence seems to point to a people with an attitude that focus's on God, on relationships, not on things.   PC(USA) Missionary Connie Hall, made an observation that has stuck with me, "I've heard it said that in Ethiopia people tend to value people and use things, in the United States people tend to use people and value things".   While one can argue about the accuracy of the observation, it does make sense to me as a generalization that is often accurate in my experience with both cultures.

I learned that many of our brothers and sisters in Illubabor, and elsewhere in Ethiopia, are very serious about their faith.  It is on the top of their priority list.  When introduced one might say his or her first name and tell you they were a Christian.  Multiple nights a week  may be given to the work of the church in one form or other.  This is in addition to multiple hours on Sundays.  I am talking about the average parishioner her, not the clergy.  I found that most Ethiopian's I know treasured and read their Bibles.  The average laymen in Illubabor knows the Bible far better than I do.

And then there is the part about contentment with life.   What I recall about the the Ethiopian people is that they seemed to me to smile a lot, they touch, they converse.  As a people, as a generalization that I can not ignore, the Christians of our partnership in Illubabor, Ethiopia, seemed to me to be the happiest, most content, most spiritual group of human beings I have ever met. One Ethiopian man once said to me, "how can you consider yourself rich, in the west, if you have to schedule a meeting to talk to your good friend for a week from now?"  Joy and praise, as observed here, are a theme in their everyday lives.

There is nothing glamorous about poverty and I do not wish to ignore the difficulties, the health and education issues, the deprivation issues.  I have said to some friends and will repeat here, if I had the power to change what the lives of the people I encountered, in Ethiopia, I would give them consistent good nutrition, better medical care and access to better education.  Beyond that I would move very slowly so as not destroy what the people have in terms of spirit and focus on relationships.  I learned quickly to love the homes and the food of certain folks, of modest means,  who we visited and who shared with us what they had.  Some lived in thatch roofed tukels, some in homes made of earth and sticks with tin roofs, some in homes similar to mine.  I love their homes and food, but mostly I loved the their spirit.   I want to have it; I want to share it;  I have a long way to go.

I am not sure how material poverty effects spirituality but I have become convinced, since my experiences in Ethiopia, that wealth can pose a serious distraction to serious spirituality.  Jesus speaks often of wealth, the love of money, and the difficulties they bring.  When I consider the lifestyles of most of the Christian Ethiopians I know and that of most of the Christian Americans I know, including myself, the contrast in observable commitment to the Christian life is impossible to miss.    I've given this much thought.  What I've seen is unmistakable.  Many travelers to Illubabor have reported the same observation.  The difficult question is not whether this high level of spirituality is present in the Mekane Yesus Church of Illubabor Ethiopia but rather, the question that perplexes me is, how do I get it?  How can we  import it?  How do we get it to our churches in this Presbytery?  What are the essential components?  The best I can come up with is more God, less distractions.  I think this is the answer, or least a big part of the answer.  I have worked on this in my own life, that is the good news.  The bad news is that I remain distracted.  I hope I have learned to live more simply and to pray and study the Bible more often.  Actually I know I have.  But my performance to date, when measured against what God has shown me in Illubabor, remains rather lackluster.  My hope and assurance is that God is not through with me yet.  

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3.  God's plan and my plan are not always the same
In 1994, I could not spell Ethiopia.  I got a call at work one day from a Dr. Kyle Allen, Westminster Presbyterian Church in Waynesboro.  Because I was a Lay Pastor I thought that perhaps he needed me to supply some Sunday he'd be away from the church.  When I reached him later that day he told me the church was putting together a group to go to Ethiopia and asked if I would consider participating.  Since that time my life has been filled with Ethiopia, it's people, it's smells, it's poverty, its wealth, the Mekane Yesus Church.  

I don't think I chose to become involved in Ethiopia.  There is simply no evidence to support the case.  I think, rather, that God chose me to become involved.  I want to tell you it has not always been fun and certainly not easy.  Exciting - often;  thrilling - sometimes;  uplifting - usually;  but also painful, physically and emotionally, time consuming, some times frustrating.  No, I don't think the choice was mine.  It has been both extremely enriching and extremely demanding.  Since becoming involved, various tasks, challenges, and opportunities have presented themselves.  Aren't most things of value in life like this-our families, our jobs, our churches?  

I'd make one more point here that I'll talk more about in more detail later.  I am an idea person.  I like ideas, I like to plan, I like to see things work.  It has been humbling how often, related to the Partnership and our work in Ethiopia, that my ideas were simply wrong.  I thought I had a solution;  God, usually through our host, humbled me and sometimes gently and some times less gently said "Mike, you don't quite get it".  

My plans and God's plans have not always been the same.

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4.  Too Rich to Tithe ?
Speaking of being humbled, I am going to tell a story about tithing.  I was at the home of Rev. Bill Cox, past chair of the Partnership Committee, and his wife Mary Lou, while Yonas and Asfaw, two leaders of the IBS Church, were visiting from Ethiopia several years ago.  I don't recall what brought me out that cold night but I will never forget what transpired.  

Someone in the room asked the question about tithing in the Mekane Yesus Church.  'Was it a common practice?'  'What percentage of the members tithed?' something like that.  Yonas and Asfaw looked at each other in an unknowing way and asked for clarification. 

"Well all..."Yonas was saying looking quizzically at Asfaw who offered
"Well certainly most...it would certainly be the exception if someone did not tithe". 

Then comes the sting.  Bill Cox saw it coming before I did.  He was already looking at his shoes when Yonas said something to the effect of 
"Don't Christians in your church tithe?"

Taking a cue from Bill I was now looking at my shoes and, I think, unconsciously backing up, perhaps looking for a place to hide.  Bill said in a low tone of voice that the national averages in the Presbyterian church were that the average member tithed at something under 4.5%.

I became acutely aware of their looks of unbelief  and confusion as I was trying to hide in the closet and shut the door behind me.  Yonas and Asfaw were polite and did not ask too many questions.  What was unspoken, but still screaming in my  mind, was the reflection on our culture, our values, our church, our relative spiritual poverty.  Most Ethiopian's live on under $200 per year according to United Nations figures.  Are we in the west - in the Presbyterian Church (USA) - too rich to tithe?    

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5.   Concrete Need = Generous Response 
After that dismal thought about tithing I'll share something very positive.  It is something we've seen repeatedly in the Shenandoah Presbytery.   When there is a concrete need for funds or support, expressed clearly, for work in Ethiopia, the Presbyterian Christians of the Shenandoah Presbytery respond.  Sometimes it is individuals, sometimes churches or groups within churches.  

I was amazed the first couple of times I saw this happen.  We needed $5,000 to build five wells to bring water to thirsty, starving Nuer people in Gambela, Ethiopia in late 1994.  A small parish of three very small churches stepped up to the plate, along with one mid sized church, and the $5,000 was on its way to Gambela in three months.

A couple of years later we were asked to purchase a truck, $36,000, for our missionary in Ethiopia, Brian Gilchrest.  Several months later the funds were raised and the truck, picture to the right, was in Brian's possession.

Perhaps the most generous response I've seen yet is when the call went out to sponsor poor and often orphan children in Ethiopia.    The people of Shenandoah Presbytery again stepped up to the plate and today we are committed to sponsoring 51 children in Illubabor, Ethiopia at a cost of over $20,000 per year.  The response was quick and powerful when the call went out for sponsors.  

I could give many examples of smaller yet similar projects.   There is ample evidence that we are a generous people when the need is made clear. 

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6.   Heroes
In a time when we seem to be a little short of easily recognizable heroes, I need to say that in Ethiopia I met  the genuine article.  I think it is not that we don't have heroes in this country or even in our communities, we do.  

Let me tell you a little about Yadetta.  Yadetta is about my age (latter 40's at this writing).  He has a great sense of humor and a great sense of God's calling in his life.  He is the director of Evangelism for the IBS Mekane Yesus Church.  He also was the interpreter, along with another man, Mubrote, as Rev. Roy Howard and I traveled to two main training sessions, a couple of hundred miles apart, over a two week period of time in 1996.  

Yadetta is very much a Paul like figure to me.  As we walked through the town of Tepe, beside a rain forest in the south western part of Ethiopia, he told me of the time in 1972, fresh out of seminary, when he visited the area.  It was during the time that the Durg, the  repressive communist government, was in power.  He had become aware of a Christian women who lived in Tepe.   One night he secretly went to her home and told her who he was.  She insisted that he leave immediately fearing that they would both be arrested.  Yadetta was telling me this story as we were in the midst of training the church leadership of the Tepe area.   The picture, above left, is of a Magenger man working with his forest grown coffee in front of his home in the rain forest near Tepe.  The group of church leaders in the Tepe training, numbering 76, represented  two to three thousand Christians of several different ethnic groups that have blossomed in the region.  

Perhaps a hundred and twenty miles north east of Tepe is the Duppa Parish.  During our Sunday in Duppa, Yadetta said we would have lunch, after church, in the home of the first Christians in the area. He spoke of meeting at this home in the middle of the night, once or twice a year where he would bring them written material, talk with the Christians there, pray with them.  Then before dawn he would steal away in the darkness.  They sometimes referred to themselves as the "secret church" or "the invisible church".  This parish, like the parish in the Tepe region, had grown to many churches and thousands of Christians since the early 1970's.  The picture above is Yadetta (white clerical collar in center of picture) following a worship service at one of the rural churches of the Duppa Perish, October, 1996.

As we were driving back to Mattu, which was our base, we passed through a small town, who's name I've since forgotten.  Yadetta told of being arrested in this town and taken to the public square, which he pointed out as we passed by in the truck.  Yadetta recalled that he and another Christian, when their faith was discovered,  were placed in the square while the public harassed them, spit on them and in general chided them.  I don't recall if it was in this town square, or whether it was in another town, that Yadetta and a friend were kept out most of the night in a pouring rain one winter while the local police decided what to do with them.  They were jailed after hours of standing in the cold rain.  Yadetta has been imprisoned several times.

The Mekane Yesus Church of Ethiopia is full of stories such as this.  I listened in awe when from time to time an event, or perhaps passing through a town or village, would generate a memory and Yadetta would tell me a story.  Sometimes it would be about his experience, sometimes about experiences or events related to other people.  

When our Partnership was begun in 1989, Illubabor Bethel Synod had approximately 30,000 members.  Shenandoah Presbytery had approximately 22,000 members.  Today IBS has in excess of 200,000 members.  Shenandoah Presbytery around 20,000.  The Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus is generally considered one of the two or three fastest growing Christian Churches in the world today.  It has not always been easy.  What do they have that we don't?  

Is Yadetta a present day, African Paul?  I'm not certain, I am certain that he would say he was not.   In some ways he is very much a Paul like Christian leader to me.

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7.   I usually don't get it right the first time:  

When an idea about a project in Illubabor is discussed,  I suggest that you ask the following questions:
a.  Who's idea is this, yours or the folks in Illubabor?
b.  Has the leadership in Illubabor blessed this idea?
c.  What short and long term commitment are we making?

These are some of the questions I have learned to ask following a history of "great ideas", in my own mind, that turned out to be, well, bad ideas when scrutinized more carefully.  Whether in Ethiopia or here, I seem to have this compulsion to join into, or even start, conversations about "how we could help" or "how we could make it better".   Sometimes the conversations are fruitful.  We have learned (most of the time?) not to go too far with a conversation about an idea for something in Illubabor, until we've run it by our friends there.    

My first experience in "getting it all wrong" was in the planning stages for the first trip I participate in to Ethiopia in 1994.  In this particular case I "got it all wrong" as part of a group that "got it all wrong".  This was informative to me and I would remember this group lesson sometimes in the future when I "got it all wrong"  all by myself.  

In this particular case a group of seven were heading out from Westminster Presbyterian in Waynesboro.  None of the group had been to Ethiopia before and we were going by invitation of the Mark Rassmussen and Caroline Kurtz, missionaries in Addis Ababa that Westminster Church supported.  Mark and Caroline were assigned primarily to a private school in Addis Ababa.  Our group was working with a mindset of "work 16 hours a day and do all we can for these poor,  impoverished people in the short time we are there".  Or at least this is my description of my attitude and it appeared to me that this attitude was shared widely in the group.  About six weeks before we were to depart Caroline sent Rev. Kyle Allen, minister of Westminster and leader of our group, a fax.  While I don't have a copy of the fax I remember what it said, or more precisely, what it appeared to say to me.  My severely abridged paraphrase is 'you guys are missing the point...your coming across as arrogant Westerners...these folks have much to offer...the most important thing you can do for them and yourselves is get to know them and let them get to know you...'.  While Caroline wrote all of this very nicely she was also clear.  I remember upon hearing this I, and I think the group, felt as if we'd just had cold water tossed on us.  It was a confusing, humbling feeling.  Few words were spoken in those minutes after hearing the fax from Caroline read as the group sat in the small conference room at Westminster. We all agreed that we believed, and accepted, Caroline's observations but it was still hard for us.  Our motives were sincere, we were giving our all, we were gearing up to be as productive as possible in the short time we had.  What our 'neighbors' most wanted was relationship, understanding, to value us and to be valued by us.   This was a head on collision of  the Western core cultural value of productivity and the Ethiopian core cultural value of relationship.  

In 1998 I was graced to be a part of a small group including four youth, ages 17 - 22, and two "mature adult" leaders, Kay Heizer and me.  Our primary mission was to visit the Gore Home for Children where Brian Gilchrest, Shenandoah Presbyteries missionary in residence, had major responsibilities.  As we came to know the children and learn more and more about their individual struggles, victories and circumstances, someone in our group hatched a wonderful idea.  With a little work we could raise money back in the states to pay for tutors to come in and work with these children on a regular basis and there by make them more likely to reach their academic potential, perhaps even to win a spot in the university.  We spent hours in our planning.  We gathered data about what good tutors would cost, how many times a week we'd bring them in to tutor in which subjects.  We thought out all kinds of wonderful details.  We were excited, we were going to change (a small part of) the world.

When I ran this idea by a person in leadership beyond the walls of the children's home I could tell by his expression that he was not totally enthralled with this idea.  He finally said something to the effect of  'these children already have substantially more advantages than most of the children in the town...how can we pick these children to give so much more to over the other children...'  Once the person explained this to me it was perfectly clear.  I had no difficulty understanding his reasoning nor, apparently, did any of the other "super planners" of our group.    

The events described above are but a small sampling of the events that have humbled me related to having good ideas.  I am a slow learner in many respects but I hope I have leaned the lesson that, while it is still good to  have ideas, not to go too far with them until they've been checked out by those who will really be effected by those ideas.  Illubabor is a different land, a land with different cultural, political and material realities and practices.      

I hope we have gotten better over the time of our Partnership relationship to ask our Partners what they need or would like rather than trying to pressure then to accept our 'very bright ideas'  and 'solutions' for how we can improve their lives.

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8.   Almost Heaven (but not quite): Conflict in the Church
The corrugated tin storage building in Bedele got hot in the afternoons and the afternoon tea break was welcomed.  I was wandering around the five acre compound, alone, drinking tea and eating a bagel, enjoying a break from the activity of the day.  I climbed a pile of rocks and sat down on top in a small shady spot.  From my position on the rock pile I surveyed the compound.  To the left was a longish mud and stick building with a rusty tin roof.  It had been erected during the famine of the mid 1980s and served as a home for orphans and other children in great need.  The building to the right was the tin warehouse that was also built during the famine of the mid 1980s.  It served its purpose then to house life sustaining food aid for the local community and today was a the local church with its dirt floor and rough hewn wooden benches.  There was one light bulb suspended from a cord in the middle of the building.  The building served as a classroom that week as Roy Howard and I provided instruction in management, theology and counseling skills to the church leaders in the Bedele area.  

I climbed down from the rock pile and crossed beside a large pile of sand.  It occurred to me that the church was collecting building supplies;  I'd have to remember to ask Yadetta what they were planning to build.  

That evening I asked Yadetta and he told me they had collected material to build a new church building on this site.  He went on to tell me that though they had the land and material they could not agree where on the property to actually build the church.  As a result the church members had argued amongst themselves for the past several years and no church was being built.  

I remember smiling at that explanation.  Yadetta, no doubt, wondered what I found humorous in his explanation.   What I had to explain to Yadetta was that I did not find the situation funny but rather it was the first time I had heard of people in the IBS church squabbling about something.  It sounded, well, so PC(USA) esq.  I don't recall if Yadetta smiled back but I did get at least a nod of understanding.  All is not perfect in the lives or churches of IBS.  

In 1998 I became aware of an issue of a much larger within the church.  This particular issue had to do with language.  Something like 80% of the people of the IBS church are of the Oromo people group.  The Oromo are a people  who have had a unique language and identity long before Ethiopia was a country.  The discussion came when a number of Oromo people wanted to have church services in the Oromo Language rather than in the traditional, and politically correct, Amheric language, the official language of Ethiopia spoken as native tongue by perhaps 30% of Ethiopians, those in the ruling class.  Was this a theological request of the Oromo People,  to worship in ones own language, or was it a political ploy, with the Oromo people trying to make a political statement?  

What is important to me is not the answer to the question about the motive of the Oromo People in the greater Mekane Yesus Church of Ethiopia, but rather, the realization that even in this very strong, very rapidly growing church there are struggles, with different names perhaps, but with some of the same kinds of issues that we face in our  PC(USA) Churches today.  I've come to believe that struggle is part of the big plan.  Paul and Peter struggled mightily as they tried to discern how Jewish customs fit into this new church.  I have never understood why conflict seems to be inevitable when serious Christians work together but it appears to be, even in Illubabor. 

The spiritual wealth I've seen and experienced in Illubabor, Ethiopia is beyond anything I've experienced anywhere else.  Realizing that the church has struggles was somehow, for me, a confirmation that I was seeing the real church.  God, and the people, had let me peek in a few of the cracks where I could see the authenticity, the reality that this Mekane Yesus Church that so enamored me was still of this earth, Holy as it may be.  Almost Heaven, in many ways, yes, but also firmly grounded on the realities and humanness of this world.   Another important truth was revealed as our Partners shared with us difficulties they were facing.  The truth exposed, in my opinion, was that our relationship had matured to a point of genuine trust.  It was more than a program of our respective churches called Partnership.  It was a sincere sharing of real pain; it was evidence to me of genuine relationship.

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9.   We've Become 'Part of the Village'  
I thank Jerman Disasa, Ph.D. for this particular and important insight.  For days I gave a great deal of thought to this idea that we, in the Shenandoah Presbytery, had become part of this village far away.  I could  list specific ways that we had become a part of the village.  With this realization came a sense of awe and responsibility.  We are not playing at Mission work here.  We are a part of these peoples lives.  They have come to depend on us in some important ways, and we on them.

It took a little longer to come to the next realization about being part of the village.  Not only, or even primarily, has the Shenandoah Presbytery become a part of the "village" of Illubabor Bethel Synod in Ethiopia, but perhaps more importantly, or just as importantly, Illubabor Bethel Synod has become a part of the "village" of the Shenandoah Presbytery.  Illubabor Bethel Synod is an ever growing part of the culture of the Shenandoah Presbytery.   I see the undeniable imprint of Illubabor Bethel Synod on the hearts, and in the behavior, of many Presbyterian Christians who have been touched by some aspect of the this Presbytery's relationship with Illubabor.  Some number of us in the Shenandoah Presbytery will forever be changed because the Illubabor Bethel Synod, of the Mekane Yesus Church of Ethiopia, has become a part of our village.  Praise be to God.

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Introduction | Equal Partnership? | Material  and Spiritual Poverty | God's Plan/My Plan | Too Rich to Tithe? | Generous Response | Heroes | I Usually get it Wrong | Almost Heaven (but not quite) | Part of the Village