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BANDA ACEH, INDONESIA
ARE YOU A "SENDER" OR A "GOER"?
Last August, a small team from LCoP traveled to Banda Aceh, Indonesia to assist our LCMS missionary there, Dennis Denow,
with his tsunami relief efforts. Kristen Lutjens had issued the call for the trip to the congregation, and told us we were either “senders” or
“goers”. The congregation took the call to heart. A few responded, after prayerful consideration, as “goers”, and the “senders” raised more
than $16,000 in just over three months – a task some thought would be impossible. The whole idea had been laid before the Lord God, and
He responded with a resounding “YES!”
The team wasn’t sure exactly what they were going to do when they got to Indonesia. All they knew was that Dennis had
arrived on the scene approximately two weeks after the tsunami (which killed over 60,000 Banda Aceh residents) had devastated the area,
and that he had been working with officials there.
In fact, Dennis was a bit unclear as to what the team would be doing. He had settled into working with the curriculum
director of Banda Aceh’s 40 junior high schools, a man he had met while examining destruction on the shore where the tsunami first hit.
Pak Yusuf had studied English in college, and the two men struck up a conversation. With homes, businesses and schools obliterated over
1/3 of the city, Dennis knew that the recovery for the area would be an overwhelming task. He asked his new friend, Pak Yusuf, “What can
we do to help you?”
During the 2-1/2 years that followed, Dennis’ work with Pak Yusuf varied from day to day. He slept on floors and interacted
with other NGOs (non-government organizations) that had flooded Banda Aceh after the waters receded. He helped raise thousands of
dollars to pay for new text books for the schools, as the old ones had been washed away along with the schools, desks, and students.
By the time the LCoP team arrived, he had rented a home in Banda Aceh recently vacated by UNICEF, to be the base of his operations and a
place for volunteers to stay. The LCoP team visited a different junior high school each day they were in Banda Aceh, interacting with the
students and helping them practice their English speaking skills.
From a typical “mission trip” point of view, the trip to Banda Aceh didn’t accomplish much. The team didn’t help with any
building reconstruction, or pass out pamphlets about Jesus on the street corners. They didn’t administer any free medical services, or give
food or shelter to the homeless. All they did was to visit junior high schools, and talk to junior high school students and teachers.
Dennis pointed out to the team before they even arrived on the scene, that circumstances were a bit different in this
Muslim-dominated area of the world. For one thing, sharing your faith (proselytizing) is illegal in Indonesia. Most of the Christian NGOs
which had gone to Banda Aceh after the tsunami did not get their visitor’s permits renewed because they violated that law. The LCMS
effort, however, was allowed to continue its presence in the area because Dennis and his volunteers were offering concrete help to the
tsunami survivors. The way Dennis puts it, instead of casting the seeds into the field, the task at hand is to move the stones out of the
field to prepare it for later planting. The key to his efforts in Banda Aceh is building trusting relationships
.
Dennis’ efforts, and the efforts of the volunteers who have helped him, have made a difference in Banda Aceh. Pak Yusuf and
other city school officials have been so impressed with the efforts of these “LCMS people” that they want to know more about us. LCMS
people have brought them real help, however insignificant it may seem to those looking in from the outside, or even to those team
members who actually took the trip. LCMS people have brought them real caring, and real friendship. Pak Yusuf and his companions believe
that what will help their city recover from the tsunami is to get more of these different and special LCMS people to volunteer.
So, it wasn’t a typical “seed casting” trip, but an atypical “stone-moving” trip. After a typical mission trip, volunteers return
home and carry on with their lives as before. But after an atypical “stone-moving” trip, those who participated, both senders and goers,
have the opportunity to continue to participate in the growth and development of the trusting relationships that were begun during the
initial contact. We at Lutheran Church of Prayer will have that opportunity in a little over a week, when Dennis will visit our congregation
with Pak Yusuf and Pak Ramli from Banda Aceh. They will speak to us about the need they have for more LCMS people to come help them.
And we can speak to them about the reason we are willing to go to the trouble and expense of going to their home: because we serve
the Lord Jesus Christ who gave His life for all people, and that He teaches us to share His love with others by helping them.
We are still talking about Indonesia. We are even talking about going back. We can look forward to meeting just two of the
people whose lives have been touched by LCMS people. Their lives were touched, not only by the volunteers who visited their city, but by
all of the senders who helped get those volunteers to Indonesia. The door has been opened, and they are walking through it to meet with
us in our home. For our congregation, this is the second chapter of an adventure that began last April when Kristen first issued the call to
go. How many chapters remain in the story is up to us, and how willing we are to answer God’s call to declare His love to all the ends of
the earth.
The best way we can talk about Indonesia now is to bring it before the Lord in our prayers. Ask God to continue to bless the
people of Indonesia and all those countries affected by the tsunami with recovery and healing. Ask God to bless Dennis, Pak Yusuf and
Pak Ramli with safe travel when they visit our country. And finally, ask God, “Am I a ‘sender’, or a ‘goer’?”
'...For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink,
I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me,
I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you
something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?
When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you
did for me.'
Matthew 25:35-40 NIV
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