Hello Friends and Family,
During these days of difficulty I hope that you will be able to take your eyes off the financial crises for a moment and say a prayer for those in affliction within the country of Angola - where the rapid economic development being celebrated by its leaders is leaving many behind in misery and desperation.
A week past Sunday I was at one of our missions which will be organized into a church in November - so we were doing a pre-exam with the whole congregation. It is quite an interesting process in Angolan Church life - organizing a church from a mission - this organization is particularly poignant for me as I helped start the work back in 2000 through an evangelistic campaign in the area including the showing of the Jesus film and visiting in the homes of the community. Now the mission is running over 200 people every Sunday and most of the folks only know me by name. So, it was good to sit with the church and go through the exam book (yes - the Angolans have an exam book - some 20 pages of doctrinal questions and answers that they expect the members to be able to respond to). So, after asking questions from the book the leaders asked me to ask some questions off the page (not in the book) since sometimes these questions can also be asked. It is a rigorous process.
I called up one lady in her early or later 30's - hard to tell - she was beautifully dressed and an obvious leader of the women's group. So I asked, "Sister, can you tell us all how many children do you have?" "I have seven." She said. "And is your husband here?" "No, I have no husband."
(she has never been married) "Can you tell all of us the importance of marriage before God?"
She did not hesitate at all, "Marriage before God is extremely important for a woman's respect in the community and for her own self. With the ring on your finger it shows to everyone that this woman is a 'wanted' woman - somebody wants her and loves her, she is not just a used woman - it allows you to go to the market without fear of negative comments or harassment."
Women's issues remain a sensitive issue here in Angola - marriage and family are often seen just from the male perspective, although this is beginning to change within the church community. At the pastor's conference in August the Pastors had a session on sexuality and relationships - which was quite a radical theme and everybody, got very quiet as one pastor commented that in many of our churches and even in the homes of pastors sexual abuse was a practice all too common. Seeing this openness within the church community is a positive sign as the church matures and deepens in its awareness of its responsibility to be at the forefront of building stronger family relationships and living out the ethics of Jesus.
While the church takes steps in this direction society in general remains as brutal as ever. The cousin of one of my friends was taken into police custody because he was riding in a car with a friend, he was not driving, just one of the passengers - in a stolen car. The friend's father buys cars and sells them - apparently he had been buying and selling on stolen cars without being fully aware of it. Anyway, this car was one of those stolen ones - and the police, having rounded up the thieves set a trap and caught the son driving the stolen car and put everyone in the car in prison accusing them of being involved in the racket. My friend and his family went to the station to secure the release of their relative. The police quickly realized he was innocent, but that did not stop him from being beaten up, spending a night in a crowded dirty jail, having to pay $200 as a fine, and losing everything he had on him at the time of his arrest (all his money, telephone, etc) only his ID card was returned to him. He left the station with his hands twice the size they had been when he went in - a result of the interrogating practices of the authorities here. This was on the same day that the Angolan Tribunal was ruling that a Non Governmental organization which specializes in the defense of human rights had no right to remain in the country because human rights abuses in Angolan society were rare and unusual events.
Another anomaly happened the other day as the UN was here giving the Angolan government an urbanization infrastructure award for its improvement in its infrastructure facilities - while many neighbourhoods within the city remain without consistent power or water (like ours - I bought water the other day 20,000 liters for $300, much of the water sold is contaminated and there are many ailments associated with bad water throughout our community). Driving the 8 miles or so to town now takes a minimum of 3 hours - if we have morning meetings in the city we leave at 5:30am so we can arrive before 9am.
It would be quicker to walk but then there are security issues involved with that - so mostly we just sit in traffic marveling at the creative cat and mouse game played by the offending drivers (mostly local taxi drivers in
minivans) and the few policemen trying to control the situation. We are confident the city will improve - but there is still a long way to go.
In the midst of all of this we continue to see the churches being faithful to share their faith and strive to live the life of Jesus while corruption remains all around them. Last week I was with 20 missionaries from Luanda as we planned a campaign to encourage the new work of the Convention in seven areas of the city. This week I received two reports about work in the provinces - one from a village of 500 about 50 miles north of Luanda in an extremely rural area where the new Baptist church holds worship services with 147 in attendance, the other from the town of Soyo, where the Convention's work celebrated one year of existence with a service of 105 people. Church attendance remains a powerful indication of the people's search for something more than the life they experience day to day. They look to find that "something more" from the hands of Jesus and no where else.
That is why we hope you will remember us and Remember Them in the days ahead.
Yours,
Scot McHaney
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