Dear Friends and Family,
Quick review: Flight delayed out of Harare, Zimbabwe Thursday so much I missed my connection in Kenya. After arriving in Kenya, I napped about 3 hrs in the “quiet lounge” in the airport. Then a flight to Rwanda arrived about 2AM. I got to my hotel and to bed about 3am and got up at 6:45am. I had a seminar from 9 to 4:30 with a couple of breaks. Then I was taken to a “youth camp” at a local Christian school and spoke from 5:30 to 6:30. Answered questions until about 7:30. Then stayed for dinner with the group and sat with a 22 year old female student who just needed someone to talk to. Then stood in the parking lot talking to three young men about being a Christian and Gen Z in Rwanda. Then they brought me to the hotel. It is now past 10:30pm and I’m still going.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRAYERS FOR STRENGTH AND STAMINA!
SEMINAR
The first two sessions of the daytime seminar were Intro to Apologetics and Worldview, same as in Zimbabwe. The last two were on Bible Interpretation and It’s Application for Apologetics.
My emphasis continues to be: Apologetics is NOT about winning an argument. It is about having a friendly conversation, asking questions, listening. Vital, a young man who works with Gen Z and helped organize these events, told me later that the emphasis on having a conversation was an eye opener for him.
YOUTH CAMP
But the highlight of the day was speaking to a room full of Gen Z (referred to as youth in these cultures) Christians on the topic of Worldview. I use this presentation to demonstrate how “cultural influencers” use music, podcasts, movies, social media, etc to gain a following and spread their ideas about the world, what is right, wrong, and what is life’s meaning. And how easily we can get caught up in this, and adopt ideas from those influencers that we follow and get moved away from a biblical worldview.
Then I review how a biblical worldview answers the questions about origins, identity, morality, meaning, and destiny.
After the talk I answer questions. One young lady let us know that she has gay friends and wanted to know how she can tell them they are sinning without offending them and driving them away. I told her to remain in their lives. Be a friend. Make sure they know where you stand. But don’t openly condemn them or you will lose their friendship. I told her they need Christians in their lives so one day God may open a door to the gospel and that is when you should speak the truth of the gospel. I found out later that even admitting you have a gay friend can cause discomfort in the audience. Another asked how the Old Testament characters were saved before Christ. There were some other questions but the last was a question about the secret of staying married for 54 years, in response to them learning that Brenda and I have been married that long. I guess we all have our ideas. I said “commitment and communication and trying to put the needs of the other ahead of your own, as it tells us to do in Philippians 2.
GEN Z IS GEN Z
I wish I could remember the details of several conversations I’ve had with Gen Zers today. I’ve read enough and heard enough about Gen Z in the US to know some of the struggles, needs, and challenges. And what I heard today from different individuals convinced me, Gen Z here is like Gen Z there.
Their challenges are similar: Pastors don’t want this group to ask questions about Christianity. Pastors feel threatened and tell them they shouldn’t be questioning their faith. I was told that everything is from the top down and Gen Z doesn’t feel respect from those at the top. They feel like those at the top see them as a threat. They feel a generational divide in their churches and that the older generation doesn’t understand the needs of the younger generation when it comes to worship styles, especially.
And the statement of the day that almost brought me to tears (of joy and gladness) was when one young man said to me as we and others talked, “I can’t think of any person in Rwanda in any church who is your age and understands us like you do.” I felt my heart swell with gratitude as emotions welled up within.
I am so absolutely blessed by what I am doing now, “helping to prepare the next generation of leaders for the church in Africa.” And I am so thankful that you are helping to make it all possible with your financial gifts and prayers.
I just added pics from today. CLICK HERE TO SEE THEM.
It’s almost 11:30pm here. Time to finally put this day to “rest,” literally.
By His grace,
Steve
ITEM Next Gen Speaker/Apologist