A letter from Ingrid Reneau Walls serving in Ghana
DECEMBER 2014 - DANCING TO AFRICAN RHYTHMS - PT. 2
Dance, then, wherever you may be. I am the Lord of the dance, said he. And I’ll lead on to wherever you may be, and I’ll lead you on in the dance said he.
—From “Lord of the Dance” by Sydney Carter
Visiting varying congregations and venues is never an easy experience, but it’s always a deeply rewarding one. In Princeton we were graciously welcomed to share about our service at ACI (Akrofi-Christaller Institute of Theology, Mission and Culture) in the home of a Witherspoon Presbyterian Church member who, along with others, were planning to visit Ghana in consideration of future partnership opportunities. Later we were warmly welcomed in Erie Presbytery, already engaged with mission in Ghana, so our time there was a way for them and us to gain further insights and appreciation of the ways in which the PC(USA)’s involvement in mission in Ghana could be broadened and strengthened. This was similar to our time of sharing at the New Brunswick Presbyterian Church, where again a partnership with Ghana already exists; here too we were encouraged by the pastor’s desire to support a mission co-worker serving in Ghana as a way of strengthening the church’s partnership with Ghanaians. We are thankful for this support.
Andrew and Ingrid speaking at First Presbyterian Church, Curry, Pa.. Erie Presbytery
An especially high point in Erie was the opportunity to be welcomed by and to worship with a South Sudan congregation! This was an especially moving time, for it was as if I was back in South Sudan! I am grateful for this. Additionally, while in Erie, I shared on mission perspectives with a short-term mission team that has begun service to my country of birth, Belize! This too was a moving experience, for which I am eternally grateful.
Soon after that we had the privilege of participating in a mission forum held at Emory University, Candler School of Theology, convened by Andrew’s former student and now Associate Professor of World Christianity, Professor Arun Jones. Later we also had the opportunity to discuss our work with several Candler faculty, again including former students of Andrew’s, such as Professor Jehu Hanciles, who are now Associate Professors of Theology at Candler, as well as with faculty members and a Dean from Columbia University in Atlanta. Through it all we listened, we spoke, we asked questions, were questioned, preached, lectured, and were engaged in some stimulating discussions about mission, the church in the U.S.A., the UK, and Africa, and we did all of this as a means of sharing our much gratitude for experiences of Jah’s mission in the world, via Christianity in Africa and its engagement with the wider world Church.
Ingrid delivering a paper on the effects of war on missionaries in South Sudan at conference held at Liverpool Hope University, UK
Though we’d begun my IA (Interpretation Assignment) together, Andrew and I parted in June, when he returned to the UK to meet other responsibilities and I carried on solo in the U.S.A., till we reunited at Liverpool Hope University, where we each presented papers at the annual conference of the Andrew Walls Center for the Study of African and Asian Christianity; this year it was on War and Peace and its effects on mission / missionaries. Andrew spoke of the effect of World War I on missions and I extended it to warfare in the contemporary world by speaking about the effects of war on a missionary serving in South Sudan; others spoke on war’s effects in other contemporary situations such as Nigeria, Bosnia, Sri Lanka, China and Korea.
Soon after, Andrew and I parted again, only to be reunited at the New Wilmington Mission Conference. Here too we experienced another kind of homecoming, and we are grateful for this. Andrew lectured on Early African Christianity and I shared with students mostly, from kindergarten to college and graduate students. It was pure joy to share aspects of our life and work with these young people. I found most enlightening the discussions I had with teenagers about the need for the reality of the Holy Spirit in their lives, and why this is even more important now as a resurgence of a spiritual life apart from mainstream Christian teachings seems to be a mainstay in America, especially among high school and college students.
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Ingrid addressing a 2nd generation African Diaspora congregation in Liverpool, UK
I remember the look on the face of one 18-year-old young man: the seriousness in his eyes and the watchfulness of his gaze as he looked earnestly at me and said, “This is what I need to hear; this is what I needed to be talking about here! This is real!” It seemed to me he was speaking for the entire class, and I was struck by this because I had not expected young men to receive what I had to say in this way. Moreover, what touched me deeply about these discussions was the intensity of the students’ engagement and their appreciation for such discussions as a means of entering into the world of Jah’s mission, both at home, among their friends and communities, as well as abroad, internationally. I was struck by the hunger and openness with which they engaged discussions about the spirituality of mission and their own Christian lives being lived out in the contemporary post-Christian times in America. More than anything else, they seemed to know that they needed to be equipped to engage this new world in which they had to navigate and remain vital as a new kind of increasing Christian minority.
The overarching polyrhythmic journey of IA afforded many opportunities to share in varied venues about life as a mission co-worker in PC(USA) World Mission. One such venue was “preaching” during Sunday morning worship at New Wilmington Presbyterian Church. After deciding to speak on the topic of a favorite hymn and sharing about its origin and how it relates to our present-day Christian faith-walk, I’d chosen "Lord of the Dance." I had not known how controversial it was; what mattered to me was it had been a favorite of mine since childhood in Belize and it was also my dear sister Miriam’s favorite, so it was cinch. I had not realized how clearly this was a metaphor of Life as a dance, and the Lord Jesus as not only the choreographer but the actual eternal life dance himself that we start living and dancing as Christians and that had always been informing my Christian and academic life. I am still dancing and always have been dancing to his rhythms and with him, as the Lord of the dance, which is this blessed eternal Life.
I’m grateful that through it all, as my loving supporters, you’ve each and all been dancing with me, more or less, keeping time with me, uncovering the rhythmic patterns of my being a PC(USA) mission co-worker, encircling me at other times with assuring embraces that, “Your YES to Lord Jesus, Ingrid, is not only Jah-supported but people-supported too.” This comes at a time when I’ve sorely needed it, for since getting married it seemed as if some supporters had arrived at an understanding that I no longer needed support. But nothing could be farther from the truth, especially when in reality I have married the quintessential academic missionary himself, whose tenure in mission we can describe in this way: Andrew, who worked in Sierra Leone and Nigeria before his university service in Scotland, retired on health grounds from a chair at the University of Aberdeen in 1985. He calls his position since then as ‘a missionary volunteer to the academic world.’ In this capacity he set up at the University of Edinburgh (where he is an honorary professor) a centre for the postgraduate study of Christianity in Africa and Asia, describing it as ‘a faith mission in the public sector.’ He has been teaching as a volunteer professor at ACI for many years, assisting in developing its doctoral programme.
For this reason, then, I welcome your continued support of me, and us, undergirding our steps in mission. I look forward to when we gather together again, or for the first time for some I was unable to meet in 2014, in meaningful exchanges about what the Lord of the Dance is up to in his dance in Ghana, at ACI, and in the world Church as expressed in the PC(USA) and other Christian congregations in the U.S.A.
And finally I ask you to please continue in pray for Ghana and the West African nations of Sierra Leone (ACI has students from there, whose families are still there; we have one student and his family who are in Sierra Leone now), Liberia and Guinea. We ask for your prayers also for Ghana and Akropong, where we live, and where a cholera outbreak has been raging since the summer. We continue to pray that Ghana will remain free of Ebola, especially because its health care structures are already stretched to the limit in combating cholera.
Thank you for your powerful prayers for us, Akropong, Accra, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. Enjoy even more than ever, the Lord of the Dance in this New Year!
In Deepest Appreciation,
Ingrid
The 2015 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 131
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