I recall a mental torture that my mum went through before she was baptized. After she received Christ, my mum had to follow catechumen teaching so she could be baptized in water. When I grew up, every evening we would sit around fire and my mum would tell us stories. Her most favorite story was that of a young bride who was forbidden to open a basked which was hidden in the inner room of her mother-in-law (in the Rwandese culture, newly married brides would stay in their mother-in-law’s house for about six months). One day, the young bride decided to open the basked. A monkey which was kept in jumped out and ran away. The young bride followed the monkey, asking everyone she would meet, “Could you please tell me whether on your way you may have met with a monkey running away?” By-passers would tell her, “We saw the monkey and we think it’s gone to Nyabikenke, where other monkeys live.” My mum had numerous other stories but this one was her favorite.
So, for three months we stopped hearing stories around the fire. The focus turned to memorizing questions and answers in the catechumen. Every evening I would spend at least two hours reading questions and answers for my mum who was illiterate. We would rehearse for many days before we would go to the next chapter with new sets of questions and answers. It took three months! What still bothers me the most was a question about what happened after the death of Christ. One of the answers was that tombs were open and saints were raised and were seen walking in the city” (Matt. 27:45-50). While the question is in the Bible, I wander how it could help a new believer who was learning how to follow Jesus!
Anyway, the above story reminds us the question we always discuss of why the Church in Africa has made converts and not followers of Jesus Christ. One of the reasons is that the church has given believers information about the Bible instead of helping them go through a transformation journey. Information could come as a result or reading the Word of God for personal nourishment and reflecting on it in one’s journey with the Lord through the work of the Holy Spirit, but information was never an end for Jesus’ way of making disciples. Can you imagine how the story about monkey told around the fire could lead to several powerful biblical lessons that could have helped my mum in her Christian journey more than memorizing facts?
First, the story could teach about obedience. The bride was not obedient to the instructions of her mother-in-law, and that brought consequences in her life.
Second, the story teaches about God’s love. In the story of the monkey, it’s told that finally the bride had to come back home and ask for forgiveness.
Third, the story teaches us about patience. The bride was not patient to wait a time when her mother-in-law would voluntarily (after the bride had passed the test) show her the monkey in the basket and joyfully congratulate her, “You’ve passed the test of patience!”
How is spiritual transformation conducted at TLAfrica? That will be our next discussions.
