No prayer, a second prayer, what to pray, your prayers

No prayer

It was the beginning of an exciting two week training.  I [Zach] was assigned to a "Tool Group".  We excitedly practiced facilitating discussion using slips of paper which were placed between us for all to see.  When we finished, it was time for a short tea break, but first I stood up and said, "Wait a minute everyone!  I want to take your picture!

What a great tool group!

After I took the picture, everyone was eager hurry off for tea, but first I quickly asked them.  "Can I use your picture?  Can I share it on my blog so people can pray with us?"  They were all happy for me to do that.

The Kuce Pastors and Aunties

I wanted to write on this blog, "Pray for us as we meet with Kuce (pronounced Kuche) pastors that our conversation will help them as they plan to restart their translation project.  Pray that we will be able to meet."  But the workshop was intense.  The breaks were short, and many of them I used to help finalize preparations for future sessions or to discuss changes in plans.  On top of all this, there was a curfew in Jos due to unrest outside the town.  I never got to post the picture with the prayer request.  Although we were praying here, there was no way you could pray for this need!

A second prayer

However, Christy did send out a blog post that ended with the prayer request. "Pray for good practice facilitation groups, that they will be meaningful and have great impact."

That same week, on Friday, we got to meet with two pastors and two lovely Aunties, Igye Ruth and Igye Leah who Christy and I have had the privilege of knowing for a few years. My role in the meeting was simply to introduce everyone and then hand over to my colleagues who we were training.  I asked Malgwi to open in prayer then we each introduced ourselves and our various organizations.   Finally, before handing over to Obed, I related how Christy has worked with the Kuce in literacy in 2013, and how we had had a heart for Kuce ever since.

Obed facilitates discussion

Obed stood up and began wisely by asking those who came what their purpose in coming was.  We thought they had come to plan for a meeting the following Monday to select the members for a board. Rachel and Obed were ready to help them think about who should be in that meeting.  We call the tool they had prepared Stakeholder analysis.  They surprised us by saying they wanted to choose an organization to work with in Bible translation.  Obed immediately handed back over to me.

It was an awkward situation.  I had thought we could facilitate any subject that they wanted to discuss. After all participatory methods are very flexible, and all about helping people think and plan well together.  But this was the one topic I hadn’t anticipated and which would be difficult for us to facilitate. You see, the Kuce people had already begun their translation and literacy work with another organization - one of our partners. That other organization has for two years had difficulty giving the Kuce project the support they desired, but we didn’t want to imply we wanted them to leave our partner; to facilitate the discussion would seem to imply that. So what could we do?

"I know we opened in prayer," I finally said, "but I would like to pray a second prayer."  Then I asked God for wisdom in how we could help them.

Prioritizing characteristics of good board members

Then I simply told them that we couldn't facilitate that topic, but we would be happy to facilitate any other topic they thought might be helpful.  Sure enough, they did want to choose a board.  However, they already knew exactly who they wanted to be in that meeting.  So Rachel and Obed's Stakeholder Analysis tool wasn't going to be helpful.  Still, we could show them a tool they could use the next week to select the members of their board.  They discussed in the Kuce language and agreed that this would really help them.

So without special preparation, Rachel and Obed changed to a different tool call Criteria Development.  The two Kuce pastors liked this tool a lot and invited us to come to their area in two days to use the tool with a larger group of Kuce pastors. 

What to pray?

However, because of the curfew, a most our meetings with actual groups the next week were cancelled, including the Kuce one.  So it wasn't until three weeks later that we finally gathered with the Kuce pastors.  The discussion was lively, and they were willing to even go farther than we had expected, even listing the names of potential board members and then rating them in a participatory and mostly confidential way according to the criteria they had selected as most important.

At the end of the day, though, I left with a feeling of uncertainty.  What had we accomplished?  Many of the people they selected had already been on the original list the pastors had before the meeting.  Some names had been removed and some had been added, but were these changes to the composition of the board for the better?

I wasn't exactly sure what to pray.  Do I thank God for the participatory process?  Do I thank him for choosing these people? Do I ask him to help these people to be committed to the board they are being asked to serve on?  So I still didn't write a prayer blog update.

Your prayers

Now it is about six weeks later.  Since that time, the Kuce pastors continue to desire to translate the Bible into their language and they are taking steps in that direction.  Although I still don't know if our facilitation helped, I do know that it is important to pray for Kuce!

Please thank God for the interest these pastors have.  There are some differences of opinion on how to translate the word for "God" in Kuce.  Please pray that a good term can be chosen and that all can agree to move forward together in this translation.  Please pray for the new board as they will have to make a lot of significant decisions to restart the Bible translation process.