News for end of April 2003

Dear All,

Ten men (North Americans and myself) sitting in a circle. All the things that men are: a bit reserved, somewhat wary of one another ...

The men begin to remove their shoes and socks and lay them to one side. One at a time these men get up, pick up a basin of water and a towel, and kneel in front of one of their colleagues. Then they take hold of and begin washing their colleagues' feet ...

This was just one of the striking and memorable scenes at the recent Church of God - Africa - missionary retreat. John 13:14 tells us "Now that I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet." The Church of God takes this as a contemporary ordinance! Give thanks to God for the times of teaching and sharing which I was able to be a part of. Give thanks for the many and varied ministries that my colleagues in the Church of God are involved in around the Continent.

The retreat was held on the lower slopes of Mount Kenya, and included missionaries serving in 4 different African countries as well as visitors from the USA.

In addition to attending this retreat my time has been taken up by a lot of preparation for classes, attending funerals and church meetings, dealing with issues that have arisen since I was last here in December, reading and studying and so on. Two Sundays ago we had a baptism of about 12 people at my home church.

Please pray for me to know at this time whether to go ahead with the studies that I began while in the UK, and if so then just how to do so. Being back here in Kenya has made me realise again just how difficult it is to explain things that happen here in English to a foreign audience in ways that will not come across as very negative. (The reverse also applies). What-ever else arises from any studies that I do, I hope they will be glorifying to God!

Jim