In South Africa, teaching has got to be one of the hardest professions. Not only is it among the lowest-paying jobs, but when you add classrooms overcrowded with students who represent more than eleven different cultures and languages, who come from families that have just as many varying views on education and discipline, it gets complicated.
Recently I was asked to lead a three-day retreat for some school administrators in Pretoria. They were about three quarters through the school year, and were discouraged and exhausted. Many of them were facing difficult challenges in their own lives in addition to the pressures at school.
The truth is, I didn’t have time. My schedule was full. But I have a soft spot in my heart for educators in this nation. My kids have grown up in this system, attending school here. I said yes, even though my calendar groaned under the weight of my schedule.
I wanted these teachers to be encouraged, to find rest and refreshment. Mostly I wanted them to encounter God. The only way I knew to do that was to spend hours in listening prayer, asking the Lord what he wanted for this group of educators. “Lord, give me your heart for these people,” I prayed. “I don’t want to get in the way of what you want to do on this retreat.” After weeks of praying and listening, I ended up with an outline for a retreat that had minimal instruction and maximum space for reflection and encounter with God.
We started the retreat by imagining that we were wearing backpacks. Inside the backpacks were all of the things we were currently facing and carrying: job pressures, family struggles, situations, challenges, etc. One by one, we emptied our backpacks at the feet of Jesus, handing over all of these things and people to him. We asked him to carry these precious things for us during the weekend, and to only put back in our backpacks the things that he wanted us to carry. I could see the educators start to relax.
The next day brought more times of silent reflection. The retreatants were asked to ponder Jesus’s question to Bartimaeus in Mark 10:51, “What do you want Me to do for you?” as well as his question to some of his first disciples in John 1:38, “What are you looking for?” as though Jesus were asking them. And, like those early disciples, they were encouraged to spend the day with Jesus, listening, learning, and being.
On the last night of the retreat, I opened space for them to share with one another what they had been processing over the weekend. I wasn’t sure how this would go; being open and vulnerable is not readily done in this country. Yet I felt it was what the Lord wanted.
One by one they shared, more deeply than I could have imagined, about really hard stuff: spouses walking away from their faith, divorce, children making bad decisions, children who had been murdered, cancer... and how the Lord had spoken tenderly to them, held them while they cried, encouraged them.
The last one of the school administrators to share started off by saying, “I hate being vulnerable.” There was a pause, and then she said, “But I’m tired of hiding behind walls. I’m tired of pretending to be a “good Christian” who has it all put together, I’m tired of wearing a mask, and as much as I hate being vulnerable, I want to do it. I need to do it.“ She then went on to say that she had never been baptized and would love to end this retreat and begin a new season in her spiritual life by being baptized... right then... in the duck pond!
It was winter here in South Africa, and the water temperature was about 10 degrees Celsius (50 degrees Fahrenheit). But nothing was going to stop her from making a public declaration for Christ then and there. It had to be the duck pond.
And so she was baptized, right next to three snow-white ducks (which kind of reminded me of the Trinity). It was the most beautiful baptism I have ever seen.
I’m so glad I said yes to leading this retreat, I’m so glad the Lord’s plans are better than mine, and I’m so glad he allowed me to witness one of his beautiful children following him in obedience!
Making disciples is at the heart of all we do in Novo. This year, 40,184 people started following Jesus through the ministry of Novo staff and those we work alongside. Learn more about our ministry impact in 2019 by downloading our Annual Ministry Report.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Annie Erickson and her husband Dan live in Pretoria, South Africa. They are part of Novo’s Ethne collective and minister to the local arts community and church leaders in that region. Annie is also the Care Team Director for Ethne staff around the world.