Collaborative Healing - One More Step

posted by Ed Noyes

Monday morning about 10:30am, lying in the pre-op area of Helford Hospital, we gathered around Miriam for a short time of prayer. She looked a bit tired and wan. Having no eyebrows and no eyelashes gives that impression. But her dancing eyes and occasional flashing smile erased the impression in an instant. Miriam's mom, Ruth, her Uncle Wes Brown, and Dick and Stephanie Sullender, pastors of FBC Monrovia, had all joined us for the start of the day.

Wes read the verses from Paul's letter to the Philippians -- 4:6-8 : "Don't worry about anything, but in all your prayers ask God for what you need, always asking him with a thankful heart. And God's peace, which is far beyond human understanding, will keep your hearts and minds safe in union with Christ Jesus. In conclusion, my friends fill your minds with those things that are good and that deserve praise; things that are true, noble, right, pure lovely and honorable."

Then we prayed together, as so many of you have prayed with Miriam and with us over these last 5 months. We thanked God for his gifts. We thanked God for the doctors, nurses, lab technicians, receptionists, counselors, fellow travellers and friends that He is using to help heal Miriam. We asked God once again for his help, his guidance for her doctors and all the others involved in the surgery, for each the ability to give their best. And finally we asked that God would use this occasion of sickness to bring a measure of health and blessing to the people we touch on the journey.  An hour later, Miriam was rolled on to the operating room and the rest of us returned to responsibilities for the day.

At 2:30 Dr. Yim came out to give me a brief report on the surgery. He was pleased. It had gone very well. He saw no obvious visual indications of active cancer in the lymph nodes. The preliminary pathology screenings of lymph nodes and breast tissue done during the surgery returned negative too. After spending the night in the hospital, Miriam returned home on Tuesday.

When we think about things that are "true, noble, right, pure, lovely and honorable" we have plenty of concrete examples to ponder from these recent months. God has surrounded us with his love and with remarkably talented and compassionate people, not all of whom would even admit an allegiance to him, but nonetheless reflect a part of his character and purpose. Thank you all for joining us in asking the Lord of all creation for what we need during this season in our lives.

Extending the reach of God

posted by Ed Noyes

What an audacious thing to say!  How could anyone extend the reach of God?  Of course the answer is, “We can’t.”  No matter what new territory we explore, what new peoples we “discover”, we always find God there ahead of us.  Still the phrase evokes the image of an important truth: as God’s people, humbly seeking to serve him, we carry God’s presence with us into places where rebellion persists. 

This is an image that continues to inspire me.  To be certain, we are the flawed, scarred, often inadequate body of Christ.  But God chooses to use us to turn darkness into light in the world.

For 25 years, I have helped Congolese Christians to eliminate hunger in the villages of central Bandundu Province.  We have shared the productive crop varieties that God created.  We have shared principles of how God created plants and their environment so that people can work with God to satisfy food needs.  The extension agents of the Baptist Agricultural Center have shared their insights and experience with their neighbors and have pushed chronic hunger to the very margins of Bandundu life.

The IMA World Health project covers 56 health zones in 5 provinces.  Ed and Miriam will be based in Kinshasa.

Now I have a chance to take the fight into parts of 5 provinces where malnutrition and poverty rates are among the worst in Congo: Western Kasai, Maniema, South Kivu, Eastern Province and Equator.  Long-time International Ministries partner IMA World Health has invited me to serve 60% of my time as the principal agricultural extension advisor for a large project rehabilitating rural primary health care systems (rural health centers and hospitals.)  The project encourages villages to create common production fields to help support health centers.  These fields provide excellent opportunities for village groups to experiment with the best available crop varieties and best agricultural practices – simple innovations that can often double agricultural production.

Over the next five years, I will be leading a program that trains village extension workers, distributes high quality seed and seed cuttings over wide swathes of Congolese territory, and helps village groups turn agricultural produce into cash contributions to their local health care system.  In the course of these activities we hope that farm households will adopt innovations that boost their basic agricultural production by 50-100% and ensure that people have enough to eat.  The project hopes to work closely with over 7,000 village groups representing over 4.9 million people.

I will continue to work with Timothée Kabila and ACDI Lusekele, perfecting extension materials, training staff and troubleshooting as needed.  

There is one interesting new development there: Timothée has asked the new governor of Bandundu to include support for ACDI Lusekele’s extension program in the provincial budget.  The governor’s staff has been very encouraging.  We continue to pray that they finally realize that ACDI Lusekele is one of the few serious agricultural extension programs in the entire province and a solid investment in regional economic development.

Paul encourages the Ephesian Christians in this way:  “You yourselves used to be in the darkness, but since you have become the Lord’s people, you are in the light.  So you must live like people who belong in the light, for it is the light that brings a rich harvest of every kind of goodness, righteousness and truth.”  A world without hunger and world where farm families live productive lives while building the capacity of the land to produce sustainable yields – for me that is part of the rich harvest, a sign that God is finally being honored and obeyed.

Please pray for this new venture and the changes it entails.  In the coming months we can share with each other what God is doing.