by: Randy Phillips | Sr Director of Church Partnership
As I walked up the concrete church stairs covered with dust from construction all around me, I heard the sounds of hammers and construction workers talking and the voices of another group of people. I turned the corner, and these other voices became louder. I now heard children, women, and men whose voices were overpowering the noise of the construction. I walked into a small block-walled room with windows revealing a busy, noisy city, and the room was filled with 25 families. Smiles all around, both kids and adults sharing, laughing, and hugging. This beautiful noise was fruit from years of a local church walking alongside vulnerable families in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, living in hard conditions of poverty, lack, neglect, and, at times, hopelessness. This was a meeting of church leaders and families being cared for in our Home Based Care (HBC) program having a coffee ceremony together.
This noisy room, filled with the aroma of coffee and the sound of laughter, provided space to share a small meal and stories. A space where people are seen, heard, and present to Jesus at work in transforming individuals and families. These moments are rich with images of Scripture. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness—“the fruit of the Spirit,” as Paul writes in Galatians 5:22. This type of fruit filled this small room. This fruit came from a group of people from a local church “remaining in the vine,” Jesus, as John writes in John 15:5, by loving others as Jesus has loved them (John 15:12).
To remain is to allow Jesus to do the heavy lifting to be dependent on him and others in community. To remain is also to stay. I often want to see change quickly, and if I don’t, I question things. I need help to stay at times. I have learned from working with churches in the global south, like Ethiopia and Guatemala, that these humble leaders love their communities as Jesus taught. They walk slow and listen long, taking the time to get to know their neighbors and provide for their deepest needs. They model what it means to stay.
I would guess “staying” and remaining dependent on Jesus could be hard for others besides me. When I witnessed this room full of families thriving, I couldn’t help but think that there were many times when efforts to help seemed fruitless. Or hope of a new beginning was simply a dream. Yet just because we don’t see fruit doesn’t mean fruit isn’t coming. Fruit takes time. It takes nurturing.
Each woman in this room participates in a four-year microloan program. Some were graduating and sustainable with their own businesses, and some were just beginning. We shared a harvest in that room over four years in the making!
This harvest came from two churches working together cross-culturally in an interdependent way. This Ethiopian church partners with a US church to preserve over twenty families in a wholistic way: spiritual, physical, mental, emotional, and economic. These churches serve with a dependency on Jesus and a healthy interdependence on each other. One of our ten core values of church partnership is healthy dependency over unhealthy dependency. What this means is that these two churches understand their reciprocal roles and responsibilities; honor and guard the unique, divine calling of the other; safeguard each other’s integrity; and understand that the Lordship of the partnership rests in the hands of Jesus Christ. This interdependence is another picture of the vine and the branch in John 15. Both bring something valuable and bear fruit when each does their part.
Fruit takes time. As we wrapped up the coffee ceremony and shared stories, one little girl stayed close to her mom while keeping a close eye on me the whole time. As we walked out of the room, down the dusty stairs, and onto the church’s front steps, all the families gathered for a photo. More laughs and smiles were had. As each family left, the little girl still held her mom’s hand, glancing at me. I went up and hugged her mom and shared how her story was so encouraging. I bent down to shake the hand of the little girl, and she grabbed me and squeezed me as a gesture of kindness. I melted. It took time for her to feel comfortable with an unfamiliar person. But sitting, listening, and sharing in a community of people filled with the fruit of love, joy, patience, kindness, and faithfulness provided an opportunity for a girl to feel seen and to express her gratitude for my being there with a hug. We can learn a lot from the kindness of a little girl. The fruit will come as we remain dependent on Jesus and allow him to do the heavy lifting while walking with others in community.
This article was originally published in the World Orphans Spring Insight Magazine 2024.