What I Learned from Pastor Mezack?

Do you have access to a Bible right now?  If you are reading this on the internet, then the answer is yes.  What about a print version?  

Do a quick count in your head, how many Bibles do you have access to at this very moment?  As I look around the room, I can see three print bibles, the app on my phone and the access I have on the internet.  

Now think about the cost of those Bibles... I paid anywhere from $10 to $30 for the print Bibles, the app was free, and then the internet Bible versions are free (if you don’t count the cost of my internet access).  Say you don’t have internet access, and are forced to turn physical pages.  How much did your print Bible cost?  Now, how much was it in relation to your monthly salary?  For instance, if you make $3,000 per month and you purchased a $30 Bible, it accounted for 1% of your monthly earnings.  How would you feel if that same Bible accounted for 20% of your monthly income?  What about 60%?

Last week, I had the privilege of meeting Pastor Mezack Nkundabantu.  Mezack was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a nation ravaged by war and corruption.  In Congo, Mezack met his wife, raised 5 children, and worked as a teacher.  In the mid-90s, as the Rwandan Holocaust left Rwanda’s borders and spilled over into Congo, Mezack picked up his family and moved to the now peaceful Rwanda.  Around this time, Mezack felt a direct calling from the Lord to use his talents as a teacher to teach others about hope and love found in Jesus.  Think about the difficulty of doing this in that country, at that moment in history (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwandan_Genocide).  People needed hope and reconciliation more than anything.  However, the evils that just prevailed in that country included pastors turning over members of their congregation to be killed in the ethnic cleansing.  Talk about barriers to the Gospel.  Despite this, Mezack followed his calling and moved to Kigali. 

In addition to pastoring his church, Mezack is the Country Director for African Leadership (www.africanleadershipinc.org) in the countries of Rwanda, Burundi, and Southern Uganda.  As Country Director, Pastor Mezack is in charge of training and empowering church planters and ministry leaders with the tools to share the Gospel in their communities.  When it comes time for the graduates to head home and begin their churches and ministries, the majority of them are forced to start from nothing.  As the congregation at their respective churches grows, these pastors might make $50 per month.  However, a large portion of them do not even make that much.  Additionally, if these new pastors have children, the cost for a child to attend school is $10 per month.

Now back to the Bible discussion... the cost for Mezack to purchase a Bible translated into his native language is $10.  This is a barebones, no notes, no references, no concordance, no commentary Bible.  For a pastor with the responsibility of teaching and leading his congregation into a deeper relationship with God, a Bible with commentary would of course be helpful.  However, the cost of this Bible is $30.  For some pastors, this could be 60% of their monthly salary, for some more than a month’s salary.  

I don’t know about you, but I feel incredibly convicted by this.

  

First off, I want to help them.  The two best ways we can help from thousands of miles away are to pray for these leaders at the early stages of their ministries, and to help provide funding for these young leaders so they can afford a Bible that allows them to better teach their congregation.  The best way to do this is through African Leadership (http://www.africanleadershipinc.org/ways-to-give/).  

Secondly, I think about the value of anytime, anywhere access to God’s Word.  It is something I take for granted on a daily basis, without even realizing it.  Bible accessibility for us is easier than any other point in history.  Let’s stop taking it for granted and allow the Word of God to transform our lives.