An allegory:
Once upon a time, there was a World
Vision Area Development Program (ADP).
And in that ADP
there was a lovely latrine, which World Vision had taught the community to
construct at a school. This latrine was even called a "VIP
Latrine" (meaning ventilated improved pit latrine). The latrine had
several private enclosures, for boys and also for girls, both younger and
older, even one for menstruating girls. This last enclosure even had a
hand-washing facility. Many girls now stayed in school for years longer
because they had a private place to clean themselves during menstruation.
They felt understood and
respected for the first time in their lives.
Many other new
ideas and lifesaving measures were introduced into the ADP, as well. The
community was so proud of the changes that they officially changed their name
to Progress.
Some years
later, World Vision completed its work in Progress ADP. It was a sad day
when the World Vision staff left, but there was a big celebration with speeches
from the regional governor, a cabinet minister, the local chief, and numerous
community members who gave testimony to the impact of the improvements which
had come to their area as a result of World Vision's efforts. Several
young women who had actually gone on to complete university specifically
mentioned the VIP latrine at their school, and credited that latrine with
keeping them in school against all odds at a decisive point in their lives.
It was a wonderful and fulfilling celebration for everyone.
Yet, as the
World Vision vehicles drove away, you would have thought the community had just
seen Elijah taken up by the Lord's chariot. The people of Progress felt very
alone. So they tried very hard to remember and practice what they had learned
from World Vision.
Soon after that
seeming "day of ascension", back at the school, those now-aging VIP
latrines were creating such an odor that no one wanted to use them anymore.
Besides, now the latrine doors were off their hinges and no one could fit
them back again, because the bricks had settled akimbo over time and set the
doorjams ajar.
But there was
hope on the horizon! The regional government had just announced that water and
sewer lines were being constructed along the main road, and communities could
tie into the lines with proper connections. A new toileting facility
could be constructed with actual flush toilets and sinks with running water!
This could be just what the school needed; it could be the answer to
their prayers!
But the
community members of Progress remembered their dear friends, their teachers
really, from World Vision. World Vision had taught them speficially
how to construct VIP latrines, with concrete platforms and a hole in the center
for squatting over. They had built hand-washing stations which could be
filled by the bucketful, and even ingenious tip-taps for each
home which could tip over a small bottle of water from a peddle and string contraption
which didn't require touching anything with soiled hands.
"That’s the
way World Vision taught us to do it!," some zealously shouted during the
community meeting where they would vote on putting in sewers and water pipes.
"Why spend the money for these new gizmos we don't understand?"
yelled one man. A woman joined in, "World Vision taught us how to use the
latrine, and the tip-taps work well enough. We should stay with what was
clearly taught to us by World Vision. We trust them, and they never told us that flush toilets
and metal sinks were good for us." Their hearts were stirred as they
recalled the big celebration, where the praises of the VIP latrine had thrilled
everyone.
And with that,
the community voted to not bring in water lines and sewer pipes. Over time,
usage of the VIP latrine continued to dwindle, disease went up, school
attendance for teenage girls went down, and slowly the community reverted to
its former unhealthy, unhappy state.
Though in their
minds they were still being faithful to what they'd been taught, Progress had
stopped progressing.
I hope this
story has never happened, and never will! The purpose of World Vision's
work is to put communities on a path of development, not a
destination. The "software" principles -- such as banding
together for synergy, of everyone having a voice, of embracing new
possibilities – are far more important than the "hardware"
particulars of development such as water pumps, latrines, granaries, etc. The
specifics come and go, but the principles are designed to help the community
continue to move forward over time as they face new challenges and
opportunities. Anything less than this must ultimately be considered
failure.
And yet, and
yet….. Why is it in the Christian church, we are like the people of “Progress”,
focusing on the specifics, and missing the universal principles of Jesus?
Over the decades and centuries, we’ve stumbled over women's rights and
ordination, slavery, equal rights and power for every group under the
sun...because we haven't been under the Son's tutelage, we haven't continued on
in the direction he showed us. His actions, perhaps even more
powerfully than his words, spoke of breaking down walls. Yet we often focus only
on the specific walls Jesus broke down, not on the guiding principle of being
wall-breakers. So we celebrate the walls he brought down, and
instead of bringing down the walls that exist in our generation, we often
become those most zealous for keeping them up.
Did Jesus become
“the author and perfector of our faith” by giving us the final word, or by
showing us the way forward, that we might continue along that path, after his
ascension?
We are supposed
to be the people of the Way, yet oh how often we are merely the people of the
Destination.
