A letter from Debbie Blane, mission worker in Sudan
July 2011
Dear Friends,
Greetings from Louisville, Kentucky! I have had several months now in the United States itinerating, having time with friends and family and attending the Big Tent event in Indianapolis.
My schedule has been fast-moving and busy. It has also been rewarding. I have had the pleasure of meeting people on both shores of the United States, in many different Presbyterian churches and even a church camp for middle schoolers in the Oregon Cascades Mountains.
I have had time to reflect and make sense of some things that I had not understood before. Our connectionalism as the Body of Christ as expressed in the connectionalism of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has helped in the sense-making. I would like to share with you some of the sense-making in this letter.
First, though, I would like to focus for a moment on the fact that in two days, July 9, 2011, the southern one-third or so of Sudan will become an independent country. South Sudan will proclaim her independence from the north and will begin a new life as the world’s newest country.
South Sudan is going to have tremendous obstacles to reach the basic goals of enough food for all; medical care and education for all (including girls); and a country free from internal conflict and conflict with neighboring Sudan.
My return from the United States to South Sudan is being delayed by about two weeks because of some dental work that needs to be done. I look forward to the middle of August when I will land on African soil once again. I especially look forward to my return to Malakal. I will move into a house that will be new to me, be reunited with students and colleagues, and begin a new academic year in September.
Moving on now… As I have itinerated this last few months I have realized that I have not fully understood the change that is happening in mission giving in our church and in the way that mission worker salaries are funded.
I have understood mission at the General Assembly level. That is, I have seen mission as a part of the life of the church as a whole, a part of the common life of the national denomination in which I serve. I have heard lately that while Presbyterians are giving as generously as ever, they are giving more on a local level now than giving to the national church for missionary work going out from the national offices. The local level can mean the food bank down the street or it can mean an individual church sending out its own missionaries to a non-local mission field. This is a reminder that nowadays the “mission field” is all around us even though I happen to serve in mission overseas.
I shared with someone recently that the new ways of fund raising don’t make sense to me because I had seen mission work as a collective effort of the church as a whole, as the national church. I appreciated the reply that I received in this conversation. I was told that it does make sense to the newer generations that are coming up in the church today. I am keenly aware, and applaud, the changes that are happening in the way that we as Presbyterians are doing church ... having mission giving move from the national to the more local level helps me to understand that this does not mean we are losing our connectionalism. I think that is what I feared. I feared that we would no longer act as the Body of Christ, that we would become many fragmented bodies of Christ.
I now understand that this is not true. We are undergoing a shift in the way that we do church together. We are also undergoing a shift in the way that we do mission together. While I never perceived mission going out from the General Assembly level as not connected, I think that there is a new kind of connection that is being cultivated now. It has helped me to greatly understand that nothing is being lost; it is just being transformed. People are giving to mission, and they want to know the missionary and the work that is being done. Of course! We are a connectional church and this is what connection means, knowing one another.
Another way that things are changed is that when I itinerate to do mission interpretation, [p2] there can no longer be an assumption that I am in a gathering and a setting for only the purpose of educating people. Since the venue for fund raising is changing, it means that I am personally present to develop relationships, to create partnerships and fellowship, to educate AND to fund raise. This is an important change and it is vital for the church to understand that with this change, missionaries are personally fund raising—it is part and parcel of the change with how we do missions. There can no longer be an assumption that fund raising is happening only at the level of the national church, that someone else is taking care of it.
These are things that I have learned these last few months and this is what I wanted to share with you in this letter. Thank you for continuing to walk with me in this journey of exploration, discipleship and the joy of connecting with one another in God’s work in the world.
Prayer requests:
- I am thankful for the many people I have met on this trip, for the churches where I have been able to preach and the youth I was able to connect with.
- I am thankful for the medical and dental care to which I have access in the United States and yet:
- I ask for prayers that one day all the people of the world would have equal access to modern medicine and technology.
- Please pray for the new country of South Sudan.
- Please pray for the safe passage of students who are moving to the new location of the English Track of the Nile Theological College in Malakal.
- Please pray for our studies, that we will grow in our faithful discipleship as a college as we serve God in South Sudan.
- Please pray for my transition back to Africa from this time in the States.
How can you partner with me and God’s ministry through me in South Sudan?
- Pray for me and read my blog.
- Invite me to itinerate and share with your congregation next summer.
- Individuals can financially support my ministry by giving a tax-deductible donation through the following link (see the "Give" line below on the page).
- Churches can financially support my ministry by giving online.
In Christ,
The Rev. Debbie Blane
The 2011 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 54
Visit Debbie’s blog: Debbie's Journey Continues
Give to Debbie Blane’s sending and support.
Give to Nile Theological College.
