By Dr Charles Leyman Kachitsa
As we draw towards the end of the year, we are drawing on to a new path. Undoubtedly every new season ushers in new thinking, new ideology and new life experiences. All those who have lived experience can attest to that and that things are not the same as they were this time last year. The modern world means that things that looked impossible have been seen to be possible and we are yet to see other manifestations of yet unimaginable things this coming year.
Life is individual, at the basic level one has to see life as that which is in him or her. Of course the meeting and coming together of souls in whatever endeavour in agreement has potential to bring amplified energy for accomplishing the particular scheme being focused on. This is only true if all the individuals are expending their energies one directional to achieving the goal being persued.
Experience has it that some individuals have in them elements that wear down the energies of other people around them. These are people that when you spend extended time around them you come out realising that unknowingly you have lost a lot of energy. Being around such people is hard work as they emit negativity, even their every word points to that. However, hope is not lost, the new year can bring a lot of changes if the resolutions are chosen carefully. This is both for such people who realise their lack in emitting positivity and those who come to realise that their choices of associates always drain them needed energy.
The quotes this week are from a book that touches on the dynamics brought by a world that has changed in becoming globalised in all its intent. It advocates that as a result this requires leaders who are resolute in intelligently navigating a facet of diverse communities. I am sure that the few selected quotations below from this book will enlighten you to one or two life lessons, read and enjoy:
THE CULTURALLY INTELLIGENT LEADER By Hirpo Kumbi
“We sometimes forget that the modern missionary movement was born at a time when the church in the West did not feel that it was making an impact on society. The church felt weak and ineffective. To some extent, the intention of the missionary movement was to create a strong church in other parts of the world that would ultimately help the church in the West overcome the indifference towards God that had been strong feature of eighteenth-century life in Europe and America. One writer from the period calls this ‘the blessed reflex’. The dream of mission from everywhere to everywhere was deeply imbedded in the very first impetus of the modern missionary movement.”
“Intercultural mission leading to multi-ethnic communities, where leaders from a variety of cultures manage to create an international church or fellowship, are also rare experiences. Again, the skills needed to produce the kind of missionary or church encounter are not easy to acquire and practice. Yet it is precisely this kind of mission that is urgently needed in the present multicultural context of the West.”
“The presence of huge numbers of Christians from other lands in the West presents us with a moment of immense opportunity. The Christian community has the opportunity to model in a practical way what it means to be a multicultural society. —— This is not about strengthening the church, however helpful that might be, so much as becoming a sign and foretaste of the gospel itself, pointing as it does to a new society. In becoming, jointly, citizens of heaven and wanderers in the world, paradoxically we demonstrate how to become prophetic citizens here on earth. By having a heavenly vision, we know better how to create a more fulfilled earthly world.”
“In order to exercise their gifts more fully, many of these leaders then break out to plant churches among their own communities. This seems to be a good and worthy venture, as they are still converting people to Christ. However, what is happening here is that the host church leaders and ethnic leaders are both following, the same style of leadership – reaching out to their own monocultural background. Inadvertently, both host culture churches and immigrant church leaders are contributing to division in God’s mission when they are supposed to synergise.”