Field Trip

Each of the westerners at the Amahoro Gathering went on a field trip to observe and participate in a local ministry. Joni's group traveled 13 hours by bus to Rwanda, where they joined in the work of several local churches. They were profoundly moved by what they saw, and they had many stories to share after they returned to Kampala.

My group flew to Nairobi, where we had very different experiences. Half of our team served alongside Pastor Edward and others from his church, participating in AIDS support groups in Kibera. The rest of us drove out to the Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology to take part in a theological conversation.

We felt a little guilty touring the beautiful campus of NEGST. Part of the discomfort came from the fact that we had just had several days of conversation about the affect of colonialism on theology. Perhaps unjustifiably, that made some of us look a little sideways at such lovely surroundings. Even more so, however, we had just visited one of Nairobi's slums, and we knew that our friends were there again while we were taking pictures of the flowers. I have read, even assigned, C. S. Lewis's essay on being a student during wartime. I knew that our task was important and that education and reflection will never feel as urgent as most other callings. But I was squirming in our comfortable classroom. Frederick Buechner wrote, "Your life and my life flow into each other as wave flows into wave, and unless there is peace and joy and freedom for you, there can be no real peace and joy and freedom for me." Call it a test of connectedness.

The theological conversation went nicely. Brian McLaren was his usual eloquent and winsome self, and everyone rightly appreciated what he had to say. Naturally, I found their pleasant response disappointing. Anticipating controversy, I had been hoping that the miraculous quieting of some theological storm would justify our presence as theologians. But the reception turned out to be as lovely and placid as the campus itself. I was also disappointed that there were not more people in attendance. One of the students told me afterward that postmodern kinds of questions were simply "not on the radar screen" for most of the campus. We had seen a similar response among many of the pastors back in Uganda. Post-colonialism does not necessarily follow the same course as postmodernism, as one may doubt a colonial meta-narrative without doubting meta-narratives in general.

When we all returned to Uganda from our field trips, my story did not feel as dramatic as many of the ones I heard. Compared to theirs, my experience had been pretty routine. Looking back on it, I see that as a good thing. This trip made Africa feel less exotic . . . and more like home.

Bob