It is an unusual thing for a priest of a diocese in the United States to ask to be transferred to a diocese in Nigeria. That is exactly what I asked of Bishop Lee, and that is where my membership is now, under the Rt. Rev. N. N. Inyom of the Diocese of Makurdi.
A comment he made about the All Africa Bishops’ Conference reminded me of how much we think alike and how appropriate has been this transfer.
At the conference in Entebbe, Uganda, we were given the texts of the morning talks. Each of these was given by one of the leaders of the Ugandan church.
In one of them the bishop was talking about the leading of the Holy Spirit in mission. He went out of his way to add a note on this subject. In that he declared that what the church needed was to simply follow the Spirit’s leading, that’s all. Then he made his point. Some missions leaders get caught up in pursuing research on people groups and giving thought to developing strategies for mission. Totally unnecessary if we follow the leading of the Spirit.
Oh, please!
Yesterday as Bishop Inyom and I were driving to the Diocesan Women’s Conference, he was speaking about the Entebbe conference. He turned to me and, speaking rather energetically said, “ I don’t know why that speaker was critical of thinking and strategies for mission. He said we must just follow the Spirit. Does he not believe that the Spirit leads us through our research and expects us to think?
So, I am happy to be here under this great missions thinker and leader.
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