There’s a proverb which goes ” Don’t judge the book by its cover page“. Well, one may be tempted to think whether or not this proverb is true but it is very true in many ways. I have been away from the ship for about two weeks but before I left so many things were going through my mind and I was feeling homesick. we left for On-boarding on the 13th January to a beautiful place here in Guinea which is about two hours away from the ship. I quite remember before we left I had purposed in my mind that I was just going to be just with the people I knew, undergo the program then return to the ship. But we never know what surprises God has ahead of us. Also, whenever I heard about on-boarding, I thought it will be a time of teachings about Mercy Ships as an organization, why we are on the ship, and how to serve on the Ship. But I was quite wrong in my thinking. We were fourteen of us from four different Nations. ( Cameroon, Benin, Sierra-Leon, and Madagascar). Together with our instructor Dr. Chris Ampadu from Ghana.
Indeed it was two weeks of great teachings about our worldviews, teaching us more about Africa and why Africa is at the state where it is now though very rich in resources. we were also taught on leadership development and how to serve others as a leader. All these teachings were so deep and rich. So permit me to give us a glimpse of what I learned and how I intend to implement it in my life.let us talk about our worldview.
Worldview: The way we think, see and react to things and life situation is as a result of our worldview. There are three types of a worldview which governs the manner in which one may think and react to things. These include The animistic, secularist, and biblical worldview.
A worldview is likened to a pair of glasses which determines what we see and NOT what is there to be seen. Also, worldview is like a set of glasses in the mind. The truth is everyone has these glasses in their mind and the lenses in them have been set by their culture. As such, the cultural glasses in the United States( secular) will be different from the cultural glasses in Africa or anywhere else in the world. Now, in contrast to secularism, animism has a very different perspective of reality. Animism or the African tradition has a different way of seeing things, as a result, this creates a different set of values and way of life. Many of the worlds poor wear an animistic set of glasses and this way of seeing things contributes to the circumstances of poverty. Secularism, animism, biblical theism each see the world from a radically different perspective and as such create very different values in cultures and thus leading to very different societies and institutions. But because we are all created in the image of God, He wants us to adapt just to one of these listed worldviews which is the biblical worldview. If the whole world decides to abandon their different worldview and focus on the biblical worldview, then our world will be a beautiful one. Let me give you an example of these different worldviews and how they define nature;
Secularism says, nature is a closed system. There is no God, and there are only limited resources. Animism says, this world is not important it’s passing away and we just need to wait to get off it. Theism, on the other hand, says the system is open. Its open to God who created it and open to the angels and of course! open to man because God created man in His image. From this example, we can see how different worldviews can radically affect our world and also how we relate with people on daily basis. The worldview that whites are better than blacks or Christians are better than the Muslims, or that Americans are better than the UK or that men are better than women. But the big question is, What does the bible say? read( Genesis 1:26–28). Hence our worldview impacts every area of life. The worldview of people establishes the fundamental principles of their culture. So let us take off our different glasses and view things from the biblical perspective!
In all of these worldviews, I found myself in each one of them by the way I reacted to situations in life and also by the way I related with people on daily basis. Because before I went for on-boarding, I had put people in a box. But the teachings made me understand that I have to change my mindset and begin to see things the way God sees them because God is love and in Him, there is no hatred, No malice, In His eyes, we are all equal. And so if He loves us all and if I say I love Him then, I must do as He says and love as he does. That is loving my neighbors without stereotyping others. This is a truth and a fact! because we all wear these different glasses which affect our relationship with people and even our jobs and hence our Nation. Learning all of these made us ( On-boarders) see each other from the biblical perspective. Not putting anyone in a box but rather loving one another and being our brothers keeper. This is what that made our on-boarding special and wonderful! I got to discover so many potentials from the other on-boarders and know who they are and what they can do. permit me to give you a glimpse of what we did on daily basis for two weeks;
- Quiet time- 5:00AM-5:30AM
- Devotion-6:30-7:10AM
- Breakfast together-7:10-8:00AM
- first teaching session-8:10-12PM
- Lunch break- 12PM-1:00PM
- Second teaching session- 1:00PM -3:00PM
- Coffee break-3:00PM-3:15PM
- Third teaching session-3:15PM-4:30PM. Then we called it a day!
- Workout with Abdul-5:PM-5:30PM
- Swimming in a natural pool- 5:30PM-6:00PM
- Dinner time-6:00PM-7:00PM
- Hanging-out and just playing games. Then bedtime. Below are some shots we took. All the smiles you see on these shots are genuine. This is what happens when we begin to see things from the same perspective( Biblical worldview)
The field project: Then we return to the ship stronger and so filled with knowledge but that was not the end! We went through another one week of training with the staff development department of the Ship, teaching us some leadership skills and also how to understand the culture of the ship. We were also taught about the difference between the cold climate culture and hot climate culture and that the way people react to things is as a result of visible and invisible roots. So before we start complaining about people’s behavior towards us, let’s try to understand the roots or what their culture says about it. We had lectures from 8:00AM-12PM then had lunch. After lunch, we drove to the Dental clinic where we did our field project. The field project at the dental clinic was all about renovating the dental clinic so that when the ship leaves Guinea, that clinic will be used as a school to train Dentist in Guinea. The renovation was intense but together we made it possible.
Then after the work was finished we all went out for dinner to celebrate all our efforts and hard work throughout the on-boarding.
Graduation Ceremony: we celebrated our graduation on the ship together with other crew members. The organizing committee presented us to the entire crew and the crew accepted us in the community. We told the crew members what we’ve learned, did, and the transformation which took place in our lives as individuals. We decided to have a matching fabric for our graduation. To round it up, I will say it was a successful graduation ceremony!! Here are some pictures of our graduation
Abdul’s story:
Abdul Cole is a 22 year old from Sierra-Leone that joined the ship in Benin. Abdul started working on the ship as a day-crew until he decided to serve on the ship as a crew. He works in the deck department of the ship and these are the guys behind the scene doing all the hard jobs and working under the sun most of the time. Abdul have been on the ship for three years but as I earlier said in all my previous post, everyone on the ship who comes to serve as crew is a volunteer and we have one goal which is to serve the people of the Country we are. I decided to talk about Abdul on this new post because he’s got an interesting story which got me thinking of how God can use anyone to serve Him despite of who you are and where you are coming from or even your religion won’t stop God from using you.
We live in a world where people easily judge others because of where they come from even without knowing them personally. It has come to a point where people will describe you based on where you come from or based on what you wear or based on the religion. But the truth is the love of God is spread aboard and you can’t ask Him to choose who to love or who not to love because He created us all in His awesome image and so it’s our responsibility to show love even to those ones we think they don’t deserve it.
I am not exempted from it because i actually put this guy in a box just because he was a Muslim. This was quite unfortunate because I couldn’t even recognize the fact that this is a Muslim serving as a volunteer in a Christian organization and who is willing to pay in order to serve! Abdul signed-up for the On-boarding program. On-boarding is all about spending time with God and series of teachings of how to serve Him as Christians. It is also a time to share some of our challenges and gets to know one another more. Knowing all of that, Abdul decided to do the on-boarding. I remember talking to him before we went for on-boarding and he told me how anxious and stressed he was because he had been so stereotype and was wondering how it would be knowing that he was going to be the only Muslim among thirteen Christians. I remember trying to persuade him to become a Christian and so many others around him but i totally forgot that even at that, God loves Him.
Before we went for on-boarding, He told me” Christel, I am open and ready to learn whatever God will be teaching and ready to evaluate it and then make a decision”. Those words were quite deep because this was a Muslim talking. Based on my little experience about Muslims, I know that a Muslim will not call the Name of Jesus not to even talk of pray in His name. And I began to imagine how the on-boarding would look like for him. I didn’t want to be in his mind to see what was going on in there.
Abdul, spoke to his mother about the fact that he was going for on-boarding and to his greatest surprise, his mother supported him and told him that it was sorely his choice to choose what he wants and who he wants to become. Having the support of his mother was great but he couldn’t stop thinking of the decision he was to make. Just like in every religion there are principles and again based on my little knowledge about the Muslim religion, it is” prohibited” for a Muslim to pray in Jesus Name. The same will be true for a Jehovah witness fellow who refuses blood transfusion just because it is not allowed according to their beliefs and principles of the church. I also know of churches where ladies are not allowed to mount the pulpit to preach and others where female members are not allowed to come to church without covering their hair (headscarf).
We are so much surrounded by these so many principles that it makes us not to see God’s goodness in the lives of others and we forget that the Love of God is unconditional and it is our responsibility to show that love to everyone despite the race, religion, beliefs, character. And if we check the scriptures we will discover that Jesus died so there will be no more separation among us.( Romans 8:31-39).
During the on-boarding, we had sessions of teachings and also of sharing our life experiences and challenges on daily basis. Abdul was at first not very comfortable at responding to questions because according to him being a Muslim, he has little knowledge about the scripture and so he wouldn’t often respond to questions. But our instructor Pastor Chris Ampadu respected him and treated him as anyone else. So Abdul began to feel free and will be the first to respond to questions when asked and it was just so amazing to hear him speak as he responded and spoke with so much wisdom. And as we continued, we discovered the potentials he had and he was such a blessing in the group. We showed Abdul that we love him and God loves him too.
One evening after a session of teachings about the love of God and how God so much loves us and we have the responsibility to reciprocate by loving God. But the big question was, how can you love god when you don’t love others? How can you love God when you see others and easily judge them and out them in a box? How can we say we love God? This got me thinking and I repented of the fact that I had stereotyped him and put him in a box and this made me not to see the great person in him. So I met with Abdul and asked him to forgive me for putting him in a box and looking at him in a different way and he forgave me and told me how he was deeply hurt. Sometimes in the attempt of trying to portray ourselves better than others, we hurt people.
Before we left the on-boarding ground, Abdul gave his life to Christ and decided to be a Christian not because I persuaded him but because he was convinced that its the part he wants to go and also as a result of the love we showed towards him. He left on-boarding feeling very refreshed and confident about the choice he made and decided that there was no turning back. Today Abdul and i are very close friends.
I believe things have changed now because of the transformation that took place while we were for on-boarding. Things are not going be the same again because we now see things from God’s point of view. I have learned not to stereotype others but love them because the love of God is unconditional.
Abdul Cole, Deck Rating. 
The world will be a beautiful place if we all can love people for who they are knowing that by so doing, you are demonstrating God’s love and spreading this gospel. We can not say we love God and hate or despise one another. Today, Abdul and I are best of friends! Please like,comment and share.
christel's ship journey 