Many of you may have read the website (www.dwellingplaces.org) or seen the literature passed out (via email) about Dwelling Places and what this organisation are actually doing here in Mutundwe (Uganda).
"Who we are: Dwelling Places is a Christian non-governmental, charitable organization that provides holistic care services in terms of rehabilitation, education, family reconciliation, fostering and adoption facilitation to ex-street children, abandoned babies, and high-risk slum families. The thrust of our mission is to prevent the recurrence of street migration among children in Kampala and other towns in Uganda. We also aim to play our part in providing gravely disadvantaged babies, children, and families with a chance to a better and dignified life and we do this first and foremost through the impartation of Christian (Biblical) principles. We encourage our clientele to get to know God in a personal way as a means to alter their lifestyles and consequently influence their destinies.
Although the words on the page are powerful and the vision sounds grand I want you to take time to read what DP really is…at least through the eyes of one volunteer- me.
Ok so first and foremost it is a family.
Ephesians 1:4 For the chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted us as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.
The promise we have here is so powerful. The word “adopted” makes complete sense to me here as I see what it is to belong to God’s family. The children living at DP become brothers and sisters- many of them become mothers and fathers (aunties and uncles) to the younger ones: sorting our fights, putting on plasters, braiding hair and even disciplining the excitable little ones and translating for them during rehearsals (for which I am extremely grateful). (Many of them struggle with English. They have been living on the streets and so have had no formal education before coming to Dwelling Places. They speak only Lugandan and broken English depending on how long they have been in the home).
DP focuses on rehabilitating the children and their families. It is unlike any other orphanage (that I know of) in that it works with the communities and families. Many of the children have been abandoned, they have lost parents to aids or accidents although some do still have relatives or families that simply can’t afford to look after them. They become street children. In these situations DP takes the children to the home and pays for their education (for this we rely on sponsorship and fundraising). There they live with the other children and they become their extended family. They are taught skills, which they don’t learn on the street; basic things like how to brush their teeth and wash with clean water, manners and rules. The only rule they have ever known whilst on the streets is to “survive”.
Meanwhile DP makes relationships with the children’s families, if they can trace them. They offer them support, training in crafts or skills they can use to earn an income in the hope that one day their children will be able to return to them. One example of this is Mamma Maureen. Maureen’s children live in the “orphanage”. She has been supported by DP to start her own hair salon in the village and is becoming more and more self sufficient. I don’t know the percentage of children that return to their homes or if Maureen will ever be able to house her family again but I do know that she and her children both belong to a new family. A family opened up to them by the work of DP: the family of God. And so they will never be in that desperate, lonely place again.
DP is like a little piece of heaven: Yeah so not all the time. I am not going to pretend that these children are from another realm and they never quarrel or strop; trust me they do. But the reason I associate DP with heaven is because the children and staff never cease to praise. It reminds me a little of the picture in Revelations 4:8. (Day and night they never stop saying: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come." I must admit imagining these angels or “creatures” as they are described here is beyond even my vivid imagination; I can only wonder. But I want to focus on the angels worshiping. You see it never stops; it never tires or weakens. They don’t have a wee rest from praising God. They don’t stop during the week and then remember God on a Sunday. It reminds me of the way the children worship. They are so in love with God. They are so grateful and fully aware of him at work in their lives that they really know him. At home, at church, even with their friends they lift their hands to him. There is no question of embarrassment or worry who is watching or what people will think; that seems to be a characteristic of the western world. They work at the relationship they have with God (by reading and discussing his word) and they believe the promises he has given to them. You see they are the children that Jesus talks about: they were the hungry that are now fed, the naked that are now clothed; the homeless who now have a place to call home. Because of this they believe that God really does fulfil his promises. They believe that when they pray for something in his name that they will receive it. So much so that’s it’s almost a case of, you know the saying “be careful what you wish for” well here it’s be careful what you pray for because it will happen. Can you imagine what would happen if you started to pray with this amount of confidence? (Ephesians 3:12) “ In him and through faith in him we can approach God with freedom and confidence”. Imagine approaching God and expecting him to answer!
Let the little Children Come:
Finally for me DP is the future: it is the next generation, after all it is children they are nurturing. I’ve said this before and I remember talking to people about this in Peru and then when I returned from Peru: about the next generation. God is raising a new generation of men and women who love him and are not afraid to confess him as their saviour. Just take a second to reflect on that. Digest it. No I’m not kidding. I’ve seen it and I’m excited about it. It may not be on your doorstep but all around the world children, youth, young men and women are praising God and they are desperate to be known by him. It’s exciting to be part of it and you should be too. So often in the west we beleive we are ahead of the game. A friend of mine here sommented that "we Ugandan's are trying to catch up but you in the West are so far ahead, you're so civilzed, so educated." Yes educated we may be but ahead...I think not. As I looked around at the thousands of men, women and children who filled Uganda's national stadium last Sunday FOR CHURCH it made me realise how much catching up we have to do!
Just before we left on our “mission” I had the miserable and unfortunate experience of turning twenty four. I was not at all happy about it and still bite my lip when people ask me what age I am, forgetting to add on a year. Yeah pathetic I know- get over yourself Erica. But it’s just because I want to be part of the “youth”. I still consider myself in that group. It’s not until I see that the youth are ten years younger than me that I realise that I’m kidding myself. Anyway that’s a personal issue and a bit of a sore point it would appear. But the good news is, is that we can all be little children. I’m not suggesting you start wearing baseball caps and start defying your parents but here’s what I think:
Truly I say to you, whoever does not accept and receive and welcome the kingdom of God like a little child (does) and shall not in any way enter it (at all).
Luke 18:17
Ok so I didn’t choose this verse to scare you but I guess just reading it will make you slightly worried. There is a process described here. The first step is to “accept”. Humbling ourselves and becoming childlike is a very foreign concept for many of us. From a young age we are taught skills to enable and prepare us for adulthood. We are told to ‘grow up’ and to ‘take more responsibility’, ‘to be more responsible’. Yes in the world these things are important. It would be slightly embarrassing if we couldn’t cross the road without reaching for someone’s hand to hold and I wouldn’t like to be in a place of work with someone who couldn’t tell the time (although I have been accused of this a few times). However, it is not behaviours I am talking about; it is humility. Being able to accept that you are not King of your own castle, as much as you would like to think you are, is the challenge God presents to us. (Sorry if that cut deep, I think that might have been a sore one for all you men reading this). Taking a leap of faith and letting God take control of your life is an incredibly difficult thing to do; it involves humility.
The good news is that once we “accept” then we are invited to “receive”. It’s like getting an invitation to a party. You are given the invitation and you “accept” it. You don’t go to the party expecting to have a rubbish time. You go there to meet friends and have fun. Well the same rule applies here. God is asking you to ‘accept’ his invitation so that you can “receive” all the things he has in store for you. The word “receive” is most commonly associated with gifts. If you leave your invitation stuck to the fridge (yeah sorry I always go back to there, it must be in my sub conscience) you won’t receive the goody bag they give out at the end of the party and someone else may have eaten your slice of the cake! Get it...you won't "receive".
The third part in the process is described as “welcoming”. How hospitable are you to God? Is he like a visitor who rings the door bell early on a Saturday morning and disturbs your sleep or are you ready for him? Are you at the bedroom window looking out for him and do you welcome him with open arms? Actually let’s take this analogy of a visitor a step further- Kate Bonnar style. If you’re anything like my mum you tidy the house for your visitors coming. (Yeah she has a life so sometimes, only occasionally, the dishes are left! I guess that’s why she had four children- although I dare say there’s no-one there to do them now that I’m gone!) Anyway you tidy up don’t you! You buy some biscuits; make sandwiches you even go to the hassle of cutting off the crusts! You make an effort. You certainly don’t leave your dirty washing on display or leave dishes unwashed. That would be disrespectful and would embarrass your guests.
So look at your life. How welcoming is it to God? What parts would you want to hide and why? Are there some bits that would embarrass him…or you? I know that I want to get these things sorted out before he arrives!
Lastly, he says we should do all of these things "as a little child”: humbly and willingly. Every morning we start rehearsals with a warm up song called “Follow the Leader”. The song has an amazing rhythm and involves lots of shaking of booty (a talent African’s excel at), wiggling and singing loudly. The lyrics of the song got me thinking about how impressionable these little children are and more so how willingly they follow. When we jump they jump, when we shake they shake: they do it without question but with enthusiasm.
13. Then little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them. 14. Jesus said: “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. 15. When he had placed his hands on them he went on from there.”
Mathew 19: 13-15
It interests me why anyone would “hinder” a child from wanting to know God. Why any parent would deny their child the opportunity to go to church or to be part of this exciting movement. Or more importantly why any adult would deny themselves the opportunity to be part of it.
As adults are we intimidated by how faithful children can be? I know that when I look at these children and I hear how wise they are with regards to the gospel, how God fearing they are yet how hopeful they are it does disturb me. It makes me question my faithfulness.
I know in the past people have confused my own enthusiasm for God. They have put it down to naivety. Some, I’m sure, even put it down to my over excitable personality (yes I am completely aware of my annoyingly loud laugh and excitability thank you very much). You see what I have seen in these children is that they make themselves available to God and that is exciting. Another thing is when you do that guess what happens but: God uses your availability to bless others. I am just grateful that I have been allowed to be blessed by them. So let’s not doubt their faith, but nurture it, encourage it and learn from it.
Don’t let yourself be the one to “look down” on these little one’s faith. We’ve all though it, said it or even been subjected to the kind of criticism I’m referring to: “Oh he’s getting carried away with the church.” “ She’s becoming far too holy.” “It’s weird how much time she spends at the church. They need to clam down, keep their feet on the ground.”
1 Timothy 4:12
Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in, love, in faith and in purity.
No matter what age you are this passage refers to you. If you are an older person in the church what are you doing to build up the youth? What are you doing to encourage them and support them in their faith? You are wise and probably know a lot more of the word than they do- share it with them. You think: but young ones don’t want to listen to me…yes we do! We are crying out for teaching, guidance friendship. (I know I must stop including myself in this category) People of St Andrew’s church (Bo’ness) will remember Mrs Cormack, she lived on Brea head Road thee little flat at the end as you turn down to Marchlands. Anyway, I used to walk that way to and from school. Almost everyday I would see Mrs Cormack. I knew she was something to do with the church and being typically Bonessian she knew everybody and everybody knew her. We became friends and I would visit her after school. I think at the time there must have been at least sixty years between us in age but that made no difference. Our conversations didn’t really revolve around God. Her dementia meant that we often had the same conversations over and over again which at a young age I found amusing, although my mum knows that when I returned home sometimes I would complain that it was slightly frustrating. On one occasion, and truthfully I can’t remember why, she talked to me about her faith and how “in love she was with Jesus”. I remember being completely inspired by her enthusiasm. She had something that I wanted. When she talked about him her eyes looked like she was a teenager! She welcomed him like a child, humbly and with boundless enthusiasm. I remember shortly after she died talking to Albert (he needs no introduction I assume everyone knows him!) about my relationship with Mrs Cormack and we were talking really about his own mum, Maggie. She too had an ability to relate to “youth” to communicate to them and they, including myself, loved being around her. He said that it was amazing how ladies of their age could still create such relationships with young people. But you see, what Albert and I saw was that we all had a lot in common: we were all in love with Jesus “like little children”.
Go back to 1 Timothy: “Youth” grab onto this verse with confidence. Maybe you are struggling with being a Christian and still being taken seriously by your friends and family. Trust me confidence is attractive No-one can be bothered with people who say one thing and do another- and we all do that at some point. So be confident in what you believe. God never tests you beyond what he will give you the strength to cope with so just keep trusting in him. As my big sis says “enjoy the ride”. Being in love with God and walking the walk he intended you to walk is a bigger high than any alcohol, drugs, relationship or shopping can give you! Don’t leave it until you’re twenty four (ahh Yuk!) to start enjoying it. Do it now. The kids here in Uganda are already doing it and it’s a real buzz to watch.
Good news for everyone who no longer fits in the "youth" brackets don’t loose heart. I just looked up the dictionary definition of the word children on this computer. Children: A descendant of somebody, or a member of a people founded by somebody. Wow! Yes we are all the children of God and yes we are members of his family and Yes we were founded by him! Remember the promise he gave us at the start of this blog entry (I know I never stop talking), in Ephesians. We are “adopted”. Before you were even born he had a plan for you. You were “predestined” to be part of this family. So go on 1. “accept” the invitation”, 2. “receive” the gift of his grace and lastly 3. “welcome” to his family!
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