A Story Worth Telling and Hearing
How should Christians respond to violence? Many of us are still locked into an Old Testament way of responding: "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." But Jesus clearly calls us to make a different kind of response. The following story illustrates a Christ-like response to violence during a very tense time in Jos, Nigeria. Carol and I lived in Jos before returning to the States several months ago. The story is shared by Dr. Danny McCain, a friend of mine who teaches New Testament Theology at the University of Jos. -- Bob
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During the religious crisis in the city of Jos, Nigeria in 2001, the closest church to my house was burned. This was the Emmanuel Baptist Church. The pastor there is a young man who is one of my former students at the University of Jos. His name is Sunday Gwona. I was very proud of the way Pastor Sunday led his people during and after the crisis. I want to tell you a couple of stories associated with him.
On the second Sunday of the crisis, which was the first Sunday that we could go to church, Pastor Sunday assembled his congregation in a little mud walled community center about one kilometer from the burnt church building. There were no seats in this building. Some sat on logs. My wife and her mother and I were given the seats of honor which were little low benches about ten inches high. The service was all in Hausa and my Hausa is very poor. However, I understand enough Hausa and the pastor slipped into English enough that I understand what he said. Before he preached his sermon that morning, he said he wanted to make three statements. He said, “First, I am grateful that no one in my church killed anyone.” Certainly many Christians had blood on their hands on that Sunday morning. However, Pastor Sunday said that he had gone around through the community where some of his church members lived and some of the Muslim people in that area said, “Pastor, thank you for the way you taught your people. Your people helped to protect us.” So Pastor Sunday was proud that his people did not kill any Muslims.
“Second,” he said, “I am grateful that they did not burn my church.” We all looked at him a bit incredulously. We were meeting in this little small uncomfortable place because the church building had been burned. But Pastor Sunday continued. He said, “Inasmuch as no church member died during this crisis, they did not burn our church. They only burned the building. We can rebuild the building but we could not bring back to life any of our members who die. So I am grateful that they did not burn my church.”
He continued. “Third, I am grateful that they burned my house as well.” He had been living in the parsonage and the parsonage was burned with everything in it. Pastor Sunday continued, “If they had burned your house and not my house, how would I have known how to serve you as a pastor? However, because they burned my house and all my possessions as well, I know what you are experiencing and I will be able to be a better pastor to you. So I am grateful that they burned my house as well.” To me, these were amazing statements coming from a young pastor. And they were an illustration of true Christianity. Who can find fault with this kind of Christianity. This is not just a veneer of Christianity over evil thoughts and attitudes. It is a true reflection of Jesus’ teachings.
About a year ago, Pastor Sunday was invited to make a presentation to the state administrator while the state was under a state of emergency. In fact, all of the community leaders in the Angwo Rimi area were invited, both Christians and Muslims. When it was Pastor Sunday’s turn to speak, he said something like this. “It is an unfortunate reality that my church was burned twice but that is not what I want to talk about. Your excellence, I want to tell you about the third time that people came to burn my church. On their third attempt, one of my Muslim neighbors came out and said to the would-be arsonists, “You are not going to burn this church. If you want to burn something, there is my house. You can burn my house if you need to burn something but you cannot burn a house of prayer.” This immediately got the acting governor’s attention and he demanded to know the name of the person who had done such a thing. His name was supplied to the governor.
After the meeting, the Muslim community leaders came up to Pastor Sunday and said, “Pastor, thank you very much for what you said to the governor. We are most grateful.” Pastor Sunday said, “There are other things that I could have said. I could have told him about the thieves that keep breaking into the church and I could have told him about some of your boys who come into the church compound and defecate. However, I thought that we are all mature people and we can solve these problems ourselves.” The Muslim neighbors assured him that that is what they wanted to do. So on the following Sunday afternoon, Pastor Sunday invited them to his church. He reported that several of the Muslim leaders came and entered the church. When they entered the church, they all removed their hats. And they all took refreshments from Pastor Sunday. The pastor showed them where the people had been breaking into the church and where the youths had been defecating on the church ground. And the Muslim neighbors assured him that this would never happen again.
About three weeks ago, during the church service, a Muslim child threw a stone over the church wall and broke a window of a vehicle. A few minutes later, a little Muslim girl came and knocked on the church gate. She reported to someone inside that she had seen the boy who threw the stone and she could take the church members to him. They followed and they soon caught the boy. He admitted that he was the one who threw the stones. The case was taken to the police. However, as soon as the service was over, Pastor Sunday was informed. He went to the police station. He learned that there were two boys involved and that their parents were Muslim neighbors to the church. The parents soon came and were very chagrinned over what had happened. Pastor Sunday immediately withdrew the case from the police, assuring them that they were mature people and could handle the situation.
The church estimated that it would cost about 15,000 Naira to replace the wind screen. The Muslim families were poor families. Between the two families, they were able to come up with only 10,000 Naira. The windscreen eventually cost 20,000 to replace. However, the church absorbed the rest of the expense. When the Muslim neighbors discovered that the church had paid the other 10,000 Naira to cover up for the bad behavior of their own children, they came back to Pastor Sunday with the greatest humility and gratefulness. They told him that they never wanted him to leave that community and that they would do all in their power to make sure that the Immanuel Baptist Church stays in the community and is protected from any further damage.
The Muslim neighbors saw a true picture of Christianity. I do not know whether any of them will become Christians. However, I know that there is certainly a much greater likelihood that they will become Christians after these incidents than before. Pastor Sunday and the Immanuel Baptist Church are well on their way to rehabilitating the image of Christianity in the Angwo Rimi community.
Meet a Man of Peace
