A new book by Kathryn Joyce
called The Child Catchers: Rescue, Trafficking, and the New Gospel of
Adoption recently came out that takes an overall critical look at the
American Evangelical International Adoption movement. Yet, Rwanda’s journey and our family
specifically are reported on in an overall positive light. Also, the book addresses growing concerns
that we have with short-term missions and the applying of industrial economics
to our vocation. The book is as painful to read as a marathon
is to run. Yet, it is a must read for
both believers and the secular if one has an interest in these matters. Following are my missionary reflections on
the book.
SITTING UNDER THE
TREES
Our family was given a great gift
to spend 19 of our adult years serving in East Africa. One of those blessings was spent practicing
an old African virtue of sitting under the trees. We did it in all the places God allowed us
to serve. Our community gathered. We shared a cup of chai (African tea.) We discussed the problems of the day. We hoped for a better future. We debated.
If the context was church we debated with open Bibles.
Yet sometimes it was not a church
where we debated under trees. Sometimes
it was our Leadership Committee meetings in Uganda. Sometimes it was our Umuganda in Rwanda. Sometimes it was a Harambee in Kenya. Sometimes it was even with friends in
national media debates on Monitor FM in Uganda, or Rwanda Focus.
When we sat under trees well we
rose in unity and labored together.
Our bzee (wise elders) taught us the virtue of sitting under trees. We did not need to all believe the same
things. However, we did need to treat
one another with honor. We needed to
listen. We needed shared wisdom to
refine. Finally, our children’s future
needed us to proactively serve with grace.
In 2011 God gave our family a
privilege to foster a child named Gabriel Mugisha. We did this with fear and trembling
believing God had asked us take steps forward with Rwanda’s orphans and
vulnerable children. We did this with
a belief that Mugisha was Spoken For.
We were to be one of the initiators of a conversation that grew from the
virtue of sitting under trees.
Rwanda’s Ministry of Gender and
Family Promotion had asked for help from Rwanda’s churches and families to
de-institutionalize children in orphanages.
The church we pastored, Christ’s Church of Rwanda decided that our niche
would be fostering children in vulnerable situations until long-term solutions
could be found. As senior pastor we
needed to lead in both word and deed.
As we began this journey Jana was
contacted by Kathryn Joyce. A few
friends suggested we not visit with her as Ms. Joyce shared a different belief
perspective than us. Yet, the African
virtue of sitting under trees told us that inclusion is part of the
answer. We are thankful to have had Ms.
Joyce in our home while Mugisha was also there. We are thankful that she listened and
reported on our journey.
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| Christ's Church of Rwanda Hand Over Gabriel Mugisha Jacobs |
Our Mugisha journey took us to
Nairobi as we sought healing from Mugisha’s seizures. In time Mugisha was adopted by Mark and
Chelsea Jacobs. Throughout our season
with Mugisha our community rallied.
Much of the rally came from our church.
Yet, it was a Muslim doctor at Aga Khan Hospital that found a drug combination
to stop the seizures. Also, my
agnostic friends called to check on Mugisha, and offered their support and
encouragement. Sitting under trees was
the virtue that gave Mugisha healing and we hope.
On May 6, 2013 a friend contacted
us that Kathryn Joyce’s, The Child Catchers: Rescue, Trafficking, and the
New Gospel of Adoption had been released, and our family featured in almost
a full chapter labeled, “A Thousand Ways Not to Help Orphans.” We scrambled to find a copy in a local book
store. We sat down to read. It was time to again sit under the trees.
We consider Ms. Joyce an
acquaintance in our journey. We hope
someday to consider her a good friend.
She raised some excellent points.
There is much in her book for which we empathize.
The Child Catchers is a
painful read. It took me 2 months to
get through it. My book is highly
marked up. I have read a multiple of
discussions on the book. Most of the discussions that I have read seem
to feel partisan. Some criticize the
American Evangelical International Adoption Movement. Others defend the movement. I have not read much so far that feels like
sitting under trees. It seemed to me that it was time to also offer
my missionary reflections.
THE OLD GOSPEL OF ADOPTION
Ms.
Joyce in her book describes herself as “I am a secular, feminist journalist who
covers religion and reproductive rights (Preface, page x.)” She shortly later wrote, “In Rwanda I
explored a church-state orphan-care collaboration that may defy the traditional
‘boom-bust’ adoption industry model and that points to a cautiously optimistic
way forward (Preface, page xiv.)” In
her chapter discussing Rwanda, “A Thousand Ways To Not Help Orphans,” Ms. Joyce
paid our family a great compliment by describing us “longtime missionaries of
the old school – immersing themselves in a foreign culture until it became
their own.” She accurately reported on
our vision to “build Christ’s Church around a plan to expand the Rwandan middle
class.” She also reported what we
perceive about ourselves, as we “learned important lessons from their adopted
countries (page 243, 244.)”
I am a
believer in Jesus of Nazareth’s resurrection.
This belief is defining for me.
It seems appropriate to reflect on this old belief as we discuss Ms.
Joyce’s book. The very title proclaims
a new Gospel of Adoption. I think she
does a masterful job of reporting a historic trend in the American Evangelical
movement. Yet, I think like many of us
(myself included) she misses this idea of the Gospel of Adoption being a
remarkably old story. The Apostle Paul
in his writing to the Corinthian church defines the Gospel as the historical
events surrounding the death of Jesus of Nazareth (1 Corinthians 15:1-4.) I share Paul’s conclusion that Jesus of
Nazareth rose from the dead. It is
this historical event of Jesus’ death and the belief many of us share of His
resurrection that is the historically defining moment of the Gospel.
The
death of Jesus is brutal and horrific.
Why?
Believers in the
resurrection seek to explain it through theology. Many times we use metaphors to make sense
of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. Adoption is one of those metaphors. Paul uses adoption as a metaphor five
different times (Romans 8:15; 8:23; 9:24; Galatians 4:5; Ephesians 1:5.) Most scholars will place the dates of Paul’s
writing in the first century so the Adoption metaphor of the Gospel has been
used for approximately 2,000 years.
Ms. Joyce accurately points out that the Roman culture did not
understand adoption in a similar way as Twenty First Century Evangelicals. For the Romans adoption many times was of
adults being given full status and inheritance, but not entering into a family
as a child.
Yet, Paul was an Old Testament
scholar. As such his mind would have
remembered metaphors of adoption in older Jewish literature. In two notable sections of the Old
Testament Yahweh God’s relationship to humanity uses adoption metaphors. One is “A father to the fatherless,
a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling (Psalm 68:5. New International Version.)” Many date this Psalm to the reign of King
David (approximately 1,000 B.C.) though there is room for discussion.
The second one states, “On the day you were born, no one cared about you. Your umbilical
cord was not cut, and you were never washed, rubbed with salt, and wrapped in
cloth. No
one had the slightest interest in you; no one pitied you or cared for you. On
the day you were born, you were unwanted, dumped in a field and left to die.
“But I came by and saw you there, helplessly kicking about in your
own blood. As you lay there, I said, ‘Live!’ And I helped you to thrive like a plant
in the field. You grew up and became a beautiful jewel (Ezekiel 16:4-7. New Living Translation.)” The history surrounding Ezekiel’s writing
put it during the time of Babylonian Exile of 597 B.C.
Ms. Joyce quotes me quoting J.I. Packer’s Knowing God, “Our
understanding of Christianity cannot be better grasped than our grasp of
adoption. Adoption is the highest
privilege the gospel offers.” Packer’s
book was first published in 1973.
Thus I think there is great evidence among the historical literature
of both broad Judeo-Christian thought and Evangelical thought that adoption is
a metaphor of Yahweh God’s relationship with humanity that is much older than
the contemporary American Evangelical International Adoption Movement.
Painfully, I must admit though I had read the historic literature,
I missed how powerfully historic the metaphor of adoption has been upon
Christian thought until 2011. I am
guilty of making the old Gospel of Adoption read like a new gospel simply
because I needed conversion again in my life.
One
of the reasons many have reacted so strongly to Ms. Joyce’s book is it hits
home to our deepest beliefs and experiences.
We have been converted. Yet, we need to be converted again. We are not all God intends. We hunger for more.
PERSONAL
CONVERSION THROUGH THE POWER OF A SPIRITUAL COMMUNITY
For instance, as my family left
Africa’s Great Lakes and has started over in North America’s Great Lakes friends
on occasion give me honor in the transition.
They many times speak of my courage and compassion. I think they exaggerate. I may be a bit like those of old who know
in their hearts that the numbers of times I may have acted courageous are dwarfed
numerically by the number of times I acted cowardly. I also know the number of times my
compassion was dulled. If there is
any accuracy to describing our journey in East Africa with the words of courage
and compassion it is not by my strength.
It is character that was shaped
by others.
My African Great Lakes community
has many bzee (wise elders) who I was fortunate to follow. They are men and women of great compassion
and courage. Their stories are amazing. If I have a few of their traits it is simply
osmosis of 19 years.
Secondly, the greatest intimacies
of this community were shared with those who shared a common faith. We believed the good we did was not of our
own, but of the Holy Spirit living in us.
Thus this old Gospel of Adoption
is very personal. It is where our
community became new. We were
converted. I was converted. I missed a lot in the past. I’m thankful to have shared a journey of
sitting under trees. I hope for another
day.
THE
FATHERLESS ARE NOT GOD’S INTENT
As we go on this journey we find that old presuppositions are not
true. The way we judged the world,
others, and ourselves was flawed. Ms.
Joyce’s third chapter, “Suffering is Part of the Plan” takes on the holes in
Calvinism and the pragmatics of Predestination. True to her beginning presuppositions she
does not point out the holes in the arguments with an open Bible. She well uses pragmatics. Ms. Joyce quotes Brian Luwis of America
World Adoption stating, “God knew there was going to be a Fall… It’s part of His plan that other families
raise other children, because he knew that this world was going to have sin… When we know that suffering is part of a
loving God’s plan than we can understand that the existence of orphaned
children is not an accident or failure of God’s plan (page 97.)” (It appears the quotes were compiled
together from interviews and writing.)
Allow me to use an open Bible to demonstrate the fatherless are
not God’s intent. The word “predestined”
can only be found 6 times in the New American Standard Bible (Acts 4:28; Romans
8:29, 30; 1 Corinthians 2:7; Ephesians 1:5, 11.) Of
the times “predestined” is used it is close to adoption metaphors of the Gospel
in Romans 8:15, 23; and Ephesians 1:5.
Some other words that may give insight are “sovereign” (used 297
times in the New International Version), and “grace” (used 124 times in the New
International Version.) There is a
bigger theological picture than predestination and adoption. The dictionary defines sovereign as “One that exercises supreme,
permanent authority.” It defines grace
as “Divine love and protection bestowed freely on people. The state of being protected or sanctified by
the favor of God. An excellence or power
granted by God.” (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/sovereign.)
Predestination
and adoption make most sense when we understand them in the bigger picture of
God’s sovereignty and grace. God has
all authority. Yet, He allows the
consequences of sin to come upon His creation. He does not force His creation to be like
programed robots. We make choices. Those choices have consequences for us and
others. Also, this world is just full of
chaos. For instance, wars, poverty,
disease, and natural disasters. It is
impossible for any to be free from the effects of sin and unpredictable
chaos.
The Ezekiel
16 adoption metaphor offers insight.
Ezekiel told this metaphor not to make adoption a predestined way to
take away the pain that comes with adoption.
He told it as metaphor to illustrate Israel was like an adulterous
wife. The baby found in a field had
been abandoned. God nurtured the child
to adulthood and married her. Yet, the
wife committed adultery and left her husband’s love. God then punished adulterous Israel. Yet God would also forgive and restore
Israel.
Pragmatically,
Evangelicals make both a Biblical and pragmatic error when we assign tragedy to
the predestined will of God. It is
never God’s will for tragedy to befall children. Being fatherless is not God’s intent.
The choice
we have when fatherlessness happens is the place where with an open Bible we
can seek to find answers.
THE COMMUNITY UNDER THE TREES
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| Jana and Ruth with Senator Mary Landrieu, 2004 |
Ms.
Joyce in her book points out that the American Evangelical International
Adoption movement is very well connected with one another. I think her perception is accurate. My career was spent in East Africa, but
when she describes Rwanda almost everyone she mentions is a friend or
acquaintance. I was also surprised as
she discussed the broad pictures of the movement with how many of the players
an isolated African missionary like I had met. This experience of a community under the
trees creates great empathy.
For
instance, while Jana grew up in Africa I grew up in Minnesota which has one of
the highest per capita adoption rates in the United States. Besides our own adopted children and foster
child; Jana has an adopted brother, and I have an adopted sister. Empathy is the emotion of the day for a
community under the trees, and our community is one that promotes adoption.
Ms.
Joyce’ book is a difficult read. Her
critics have pointed out that the book is heavy on anecdotal evidence. They point out there are other adoption
stories worthy of attention. I agree
with both Ms. Joyce and her critics.
Part of the reason that reading The Child Catchers is so painful
is because I too could fill a book with anecdotal stories that are both
disastrous and inspiring.
One
area that Ms. Joyce well points out is the need for clarification of numbers. I admit I’ve been confused for years. I’ve
noticed a struggle with definitions.
Part of it is contained in different cultures sense of empathy. Part of it also is contained in vision
casting and even International Non-Government Organizations marketing. One can quickly find numbers in the
millions of children in vulnerable conditions.
Some of that is poverty. Some of
it is due to children who may have no father in a patriarchal society. Some of it is due to children who may have
no parent. Yet, in the above mentioned
conditions of poverty, fatherlessness, and parentlessness in the context of a
clan based society a child may not necessarily be a “true orphan” where there
is no adult caring for the child. Most
of the time when the numbers are tightly defined there are millions of children
in vulnerable conditions, but typically only thousands that have no adults
within their extended family offering care.
To reason well under the trees our community needs clear numbers.
THE
AMATEURIZATION OF MISSIONS
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| Missionary mentor to many, Wendell Broom |
One of the reasons we need clear
numbers is the task is very complicated.
A missionary friend of mine uses a phrase to describe recent mission’s
trends of “the amateurization of missions.”
Ms. Joyce well raises the issue a few Evangelicals are debating, but
many missionaries are whispering. Missions
over the last 20 years have significantly changed.
She writes, “many churches in
recent decades have traveled overseas in unprecedented numbers…’volunteerism’
vacations in developing nations…. Volunteerism frequently amounts to
deprofessionalization of missionary work, a shift from career missionaries who
learn the language, culture, and laws of the country to amateurs combining
sightseeing and charity… volunteerism
is often centered around orphanages, with wealthy Westerners paying to spend
time on their vacations or mission trips playing with institutionalized
children. Too often… the emotional needs
of the tourists are the key focus of these trips as visitors seek personal
fulfillment by forging immediate emotional connections with orphanage
children. But after the tourists leave,
the children suffer yet another abandonment, leading to a pattern of intense
connection and loss that is detrimental to their emotional wellbeing and
development (page 7.)”
Agreed.
In the past the better mission’s
thinkers I knew advocated three purposes for short-term missions. The first was a vision trip to expose donors
to opportunity. The second was an
internship to train a new generation of missionaries. The third was a project when there was a
task that needed outside expertise.
With a clear perimeter short-term trips were kept focused and followed
the adage of “do no harm.” Most of the
better mission’s thinkers I knew thought only a very small number of people had
skill that required outside expertise. Thus
“short-term projects” were very limited in both number and scope. Today, most short-term mission trips fall in
the old category of “project” yet the vast majority of those coming to do a
short-term missions project have no skill that could not be found in the local
community. In all practicality at best
they hurt the local economy by taking away a local job. At worst they create immense confusion and
undermine good strategic long-term development.
Ms. Joyce points out what many
missionary friends have pointed out privately. Volunteerism is an industry and requires
industrial strength infrastructure. One
of the infrastructure components is orphanages. A few years ago I heard a wise old
missionary state, “If you want to increase the number of orphans in a community
start an orphanage.” His point was
well taken. There are thousands of
ways to help, but creating an orphanage undermines the extended family and
community that has the capacity to nurture vulnerable children.
I was thrilled to read our old
missionary mentors words restated in Ms. Joyce book by UNICEF’s Doug Webb
stating, “If you build an orphanage, it will be filled with kids (page 155.)”
A few times I’ve heard
discussions about ways to lessen the extent of damage done by
volunteerism. Yet, almost all the
suggestions on limiting volunteerism usually run right into concerns about
limiting travel, communication, and the freedom of religion. I’m puzzled by a way to slow the damage and
respect basic human rights.
Yet, Ms. Joyce well raises an
issue that should not be ignored. That
she so well raises such an issue to Evangelicals like me from a secular
perspective is especially insightful.
A
wise mission’s supporter of mine in critiquing volunteerism once said, “It is
all about the slide show.” When
volunteerism is done for the purpose of meeting either the emotional needs of
donors or volunteers the discerning quickly calls a spade a spade.
Approximately 2,000 years ago Peter the Apostle raised a similar
issue. He wrote “Dear friends, I warn
you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires
that wage war against your very souls. Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving
neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your
honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world (1
Peter 2:11-13. New Living Translation.)”
I believe similar counsel is needed today. The social pressure among Evangelicals
should speak into volunteerism and demand higher standards.
THE
ECONOMIES OF INDUSTRIES VS. MISSIONS
Among my missionary friends in
Rwanda a frequent topic of conversations was defining missionary. Our call, vocation, and culture were rapidly
shifting. I stuck to an old theological
definition my mentors taught me. I
argued a missionary was one sent by the Holy Spirit for the purposes of making
disciples and developing churches. The
implications were that we became cultural insiders. Also, the processes that we engaged upon
made us put down roots and build systems to break cycles of poverty.
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| Africa Inland Mission Founders |
A few of my missionary friends
argued for a definition of missions based upon economics. They refer back to old “faith missions”
where a missionary goes to the mission field financially supported by family,
friends, and local churches; but with no guaranteed salary. They argue that what separates missions
from Christian industries is the economy of trust. As I read Ms. Joyce’s book I realized in a
greater way my friends who argue for missionary economics have quite a point.
Ms. Joyce points out throughout
her book that ethical compromises are likely when benevolent missions require
businesslike efficiency. A mission’s
economy is just the opposite. When one
is sent by family, friends, and local churches who trust you there is
liberating freedom. The faith
missionary does not need to be economically efficient. Thus he can speak truthful but unpopular
words. He can also put down roots and
last out the fads. Lastly, he can be
part of enduring answers. The process
may take years or generations, but only a faith missionary has an ethical hope
of succeeding while the business like efficiency of an industry will likely
lead to compromises.
One of my hopes from Ms. Joyce’s
book is that more Evangelicals will wrestle with the economies of Christian industries
vs. missions. Then with an ethical compass guided by the Bible choose mission
economies.
COMMUNITY
WORK
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| Gabriel Mugisha Jacobs with the Rwamagana Hospital nurses who first cared |
As we sat under the trees there
was a unique place of labor. Some
translate Umuganda as “community work,” but that seems far too simple of a
translation. Yes, we started with
labor, stopped for conversation, had a little chai on occasion, continued the
conversation, and concluded usually with a shared plan of more community
labor. Yet, we also debated. I loved all my neighbors, but at times that
was difficult. We didn’t share the same
beliefs. Some made fun of my
beliefs. They probably thought I made
fun of theirs. Some of us were ornery
and argumentative. At times we were
unreasonable. Many of my neighbors were
like family, and we knew each other’s failings. (Mine included.) Yet in the end whether we believed an old
Gospel or not we lived out grace. We
forgave one another and made a choice to do community work for the good of our
children and grandchildren. Usually we
were laughing as we made that choice and started the next round of community
work.
As many are critiquing Ms. Joyce’s
writing I as an American Evangelical who is also part of the International
Adoption movement think she has a great amount to contribute to our
conversations. I hope she and those
like her will feel welcome in our shared discussions.
The critique I do offer Ms. Joyce
is that her book does not fit well in our East African tradition of sitting
under trees. There are some
suggestions made, but they are few.
Also, I can’t imagine any of our bzee not accepting her help. I ask for her to engage our vulnerable
children with substantive action. I
hear the bzee say, “Karibu sana.” (You
are very welcome.)
My intent in writing some
missionary reflections was to be brief and I have been lengthy. I wanted to clarify the Gospel, and I hope
history will report I did that well. I
also wanted to affirm my missionary colleagues (as Ms. Joyce did a masterful
job of laying a foundation for our vocation among those who may not share our
beliefs.) In the tradition of my
vocation let me offer some missionary suggestions.
To clarify I in no way define
missionary by nationality or economic wealth of the sending nation. As our family has relocated to the United
States we are still missionaries by both theological and economic trust
definitions. With this definition I am
in the process of calling my brothers and sisters from Africa’s Great Lakes to
join us in the USA as missionaries.
There is a universal need for our vocation.
To address the issues of
vulnerable children in the context that we know well of Africa’s Great Lakes I
offer three suggestions.
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| 2010 Oklahoma Christian University Rwanda Graduates |
First, poverty and her repercussions
are the root cause of the numbers of vulnerable children. The root causes must be addressed. Frequently those causes are rooted in
political and economic dysfunction.
The answer is to build enduring institutions. My friend, Andrew Mwenda said it well, “Leaders
make things happen. Institutions make
them last.” For some of us missionaries
the Lord has given us an opportunity to like our forefathers counsel
leaders. We must well use that
privilege to gently speak for sound policy.
For others in the region who may not have a missionary call their voice
and labor is still needed under the trees.
We missionaries will always be about church development. Yet, other labor is needed. National policy must be developed. Schools must grow. Business must thrive. In such a climate the number of vulnerable
children will decline.
Two, as Ms. Joyce well points out
many of the millions of vulnerable children do have extended family that
provides nurture. One simple pragmatic
answer to functional extended families in poverty is the growth and
continuation of child sponsorship programs.
There are many good child sponsorship programs out there. If you are interested I can make some
recommendations, or you can do your own research. Relatively small donations can do wonders
to help children with functional extended families go to school, learn
employable skills, and break cycles of poverty.
Lastly, despite all of our best
intentions and hopes there will be a
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| Our family, Christmas 2011 |
reality of some children who land in
tragic situations with no extended family to care for them. I believe the best answer for these
situations are the old ones of faith.
Communities of faith (I’ll even include mosques in the pragmatics) can
develop networks of families who can immediately foster children when they fall
into these situations. No child should
ever be without some type of family.
Then it is time to let government systems go to work. Investigations need to be made. As time discerns the situation
re-unification with an extended family may be possible. Yet, if it is not the very best answer is
adoption. Children belong in
families. The complexity of poverty
and culture mean that some children will be adopted domestically in their
passport nation. Others will be adopted
internationally. The point is not an
either or. The hope is that under the
trees our community will find enduing answers so that our children can
flourish.
Thank you Ms. Joyce for giving us
so much to think through. You have made
us wiser. Karibu sana. Please stop by our home if you are nearby
for a cup of chai.
