Israel Olofinjana on Japa Witnesses; children-at-risk in the OT historical books; and using your calendar to reduce stress
Welcome to my newsletter, ‘Bible, Mission, and More’, where I share what’s on my mind as I teach, research, and write on the Bible and mission, children-at-risk in the Bible and contemporary society, Psalms and Wisdom Literature, and a range of other topics. I teach at All Nations Christian College in the UK, though views are my own. You may also like to check out my Bible and Mission website.
Each Tuesday I’ll share something I’ve read, something I’ve written or recorded, something on learning and teaching, and a quote to reflect on.
Something read – Israel Olofinjana on Japa Witnesses
Rev Dr Israel Olofinjana is the Director of the One People Commission at the UK’s Evanglical Alliance, and founding director of the Centre for Missionaries from the Majority World. He is one of the most prominent and important missiological voices in the UK.
In a recent article he writes about ‘Japa witnesses’. Olofinjana explains:
‘Missiological studies is heavily loaded with European and Western vocabulary and languages. This is partly because of the way the history of mission has been written and developed with a focus on mission from the West to the rest. As we continue to wrestle with the implications of polycentric missiology with attention drawn to Majority World mission, what vocabulary and languages are emerging from such contexts that can help us reimagine mission in the 21st century?
One of the things I am attempting to do in redressing this imbalance is to see how we can theologize, paying more attention to African languages, vocabulary, and slang. One of the slang terms that is currently common among Yoruba-Nigerian youths is Japa which means to escape or run away or take swift action about your future! This article illustrates how theologizing can be done by using the Yoruba word Japa to explore the intersection of mission and migration in Britain.’
He goes on to explain the phenomenon of Japa, reflecting on themes of ‘brain drain’, witness, sacrifice, hospitality, welcome, and integration. He discusses some overlapping themes from the book of Daniel, asking whether they were ‘Servants of Occupiers or Migrating Witnesses’.
Finally, he asks what collaboration would need to happen for churches to embrace the witness of Japa migrants:
‘If these new witnesses are going to be effective, it will require an intercultural collaboration from and with British churches, discerning how we welcome and create a sense of belonging for this new missionary force. Our hospitality will have to go the extra mile in this instance against the secular tide of being inhospitable towards refugees and asylum seekers. Perhaps, a way to begin to address society’s xenophobia in our churches is to recognize that welcoming is not enough. We need to create a process that leads from welcoming, to belonging and integration. What would this look like?’
The article is freely available as part of Lausanne’s Global Analysis publication:
Japa Witnesses: Brain Drain or Migrating Witnesses
Something written – Children-at-risk in the Bible (2) The Historical Books
In April I will be teaching an online intensive on Vulnerable Children: Biblical and Theological Perspectives. Each day on the module we focus on a particular section of the Bible, looking at how children feature in it and how this can shape our understanding and practice of ministry to, for, with, and by children-at-risk.
In the run-up to this I am doing a series of posts highlighting some of the ways vulnerable children feature in different parts of Scripture. Last time I looked at children-at-risk in the Pentateuch. This week we’ll look at the Historical Books, a loose description for Joshua to Kings, plus other historical narratives.
Curiously the term for ‘orphan/fatherless’ doesn’t occur in the historical books, which I think is due to it being a description of a category of vulnerable person rather than specific individuals. In any case, if we look more broadly than just the term, there are, of course, many children and young people in the historical narratives of the OT. In the course I highlight some particular texts and individuals to draw out some of the key themes.
To develop the theme of ‘child-centring’ we look at Samuel as a boy in 1 Sam 1-3 and then examine a couple of episodes in David’s early life in chs. 16-17. I really appreciate Esther Menn’s work on how children feature in certain narratives:
‘The lens of the child enables readers to see familiar stories and characters in fresh ways and the recognize the amazing range and depth of young characters and their essential contributions. Their agency, insight, and presence determine the course and outcome of many stories, whether they dominate the front of the narrative or appear briefly and remain for the most part behind the scenes. Their speech often articulates the central themes of the narrative and provides a theological witness otherwise absent in the story. Children emerge as leaders, protagonists, and witnesses in the Bible perhaps not in spite of their youth but because of it.’ (Esther M. Menn, “Child Characters in Biblical Narratives: The Young David (1 Samuel 16-17) and the Little Israelite Servant Girl (2 Kings 5:1-19),” in The Child in the Bible, ed. Marcia Bunge et al., (William E. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2008), 325.)
We then move on to a couple of stories in the 2 Kings that feature children in very difficult circumstances: 2 Kgs. 4:1-7 and 2 Kgs 5:1-14, asking questions like:
What economic, political, legal (etc) factors have led to the children’s vulnerability?
What themes of power and vulnerability to you see in these stories?
How do the children’s families feature (or not) in the stories?
How do the children display agency?
What contemporary parallels do you see in these stories?
Previous posts relating to these themes can be found at these links:
Contributing to a new Lausanne paper Towards a Biblical and Theological Framework for Child Participation in the Missio Dei
If you are free in April, why not sign up for the module?
Information on Vulnerable Children: Biblical and Theological Perspectives
Learning and teaching – Calendars – a tool for stress reduction
In a recent Learning Foundations class (a kind of holistic ‘study skills’ all first-year undergrads do at All Nations) we looked at the benefits of using a calendar to organise your work.
We asked students to come with a blank calendar for March, preferably printed out – the calendar template in Word works well for this. We then got them to fill in all the deadlines between now and the end of term.
The nice thing about doing this is that it shows in a very visual way when the clusters of deadlines occur and how many days you have for each assignment. It means you don’t have to have a vague, unsettling feeling about looming deadlines; instead you are taking charge, being proactive, putting in place plans for what to work on and when. It is one tool to help us focus when we feel like ‘quiddling’ (see below!).
It is good to put in other commitments as well: are you away at a weekend conference, or do you have other commitments that will use up blocks of time?
Another essential thing to put in your calendar is rest and fun. Planning these things in your diary means they are more likely to happen and you can avoid lurching from one essay crisis to the next with diminishing reserves.
Quote – Susie Dent on ‘quiddling’
‘To quiddle is to make yourself busy with little things as a way of avoiding the important ones. There are many words in the dictionary and thesaurus that express the same idea of pottering about or wasting time. Some from the past include ‘picking a salad’, ‘spuddling’, ‘dawdling’, ‘slummocking’ and ‘moodling’.
From Roots of Happiness: 100 Words for Joy and Hope, p. 69
Thanks for joining the journey and see you next week,
Tim