Ministry of Presence

I never thought I'd say this, but I want to be a cheerleader. 

I've never seen myself as the cheerleader type. I always thought cheerleaders were the girly girls who wore skirts and makeup. I loved my shorts and t-shirts; I wanted to play outside, go camping, and get dirty. I stereotyped the whole cheerleading thing and didn't really want anything to do with it. 

Until recently when a missionary told me that I needed to decipher whether God wants me to be a coach or a player in his mission. A coach is one who leads and instructs his players. He is successful when they are successful. For the missionary, the coach is the disciple maker. He invests in leading a small group, and when those in that group share God with others, then he shares that victory. 

The player is different. He is more hands-on. He is involved in the game. For the missionary, he is the one who is less of an overseer and more of an on-the-ground participant. He's the well-digger, the children's teacher, the surgical doctor. 

Both are equally important. Except my missionary friend forgot about the cheerleader. 

The cheerleader is on the sidelines, cheering as hard as she can for those who are in the game. If the players and coaches can be encouraged and strengthened in some small way, then she has done what she was called to do. That's who I want to be. 

This year has been about cheerleading for me. When I look back on these last few months with all its unexpected changes, I honestly confess that this year hasn't been at all what I had planned. But as a result of it all, my relationships with a few Africans have blossomed and flourished. This year has been all about deepening and strengthening relationships, which means I haven't been very productive (by definition), but I've been present. 

The ministry of presence is simply living life with people and viewing the sharing of life as a ministry in and of itself. Henry Nouwen described it this way: "More and more, the desire grows in me to walk around, greet people, enter their homes, sit on their doorsteps, play ball, throw water, and be known as someone who wants to live with them. It is a privilege to have this time to practice this simple ministry of presence." 

It is celebrating their birthdays, being present for the birth of their children, and attending funerals of their loved ones. Then engaging in the conversations that these life events stir up. It is spending all evening preparing, cooking, and eating a meal while you talk about things that aren't important at all and other things that are eternally significant. It's about being at the bedside when they are sick, laughing with them when they are overjoyed, and hurting with them when they've been hurt. It's about getting to know them and the spiritual gifts they have been given, and then cheering them on to fan those gifts into flame. 

It's being their cheerleader. It's encouraging them to read and apply and adore God's word. It's cheering them on to minister and evangelize in their various capacities. It's motivating them to know God more and make him known. 

Because it's the Africans who are going to transform their culture for Jesus, not me, the white outsider. So I will gladly sit on the sidelines and put all my energy into cheering them on. 

Sometimes I wonder how I will look back on my time in Africa. What did I accomplish? What were the big milestones? What difference did I make? I think I won't remember how many projects I did or how many people were healed or saved; I will remember the sound of laughter of the people I came to love. The meals I shared with them. I will remember the joy that I felt burning in my heart when I was hidden in the background and I saw God using them to touch the lives of his people. I will remember the memories we share and the amazing things we saw God do. 

And so I will keep cheering them on, encouraging them to know Jesus and make him known. I hope that I will leave one day and be entirely forgotten, but may the fame of Jesus be spread across the nation as the nationals are empowered and launched forward into ministry of the kingdom of God.