African Mediators

Well, I have taken a new step as an African missionary. Today, I was called upon to fulfill a very important African role. At church tonight I preached about anger and relationship restoration with your family members and neighbors. During the invitation time I told the people that if they had hate in their hearts, or unresolved conflict with others, they needed to get that right. Either they needed to use the African method of an intercessor with their unsaved family, or go to the person personal if they were born-again.

Well, after the service, while talking with the people, one of the teen boys asked if he could talk with me. When he pulled me aside, he told me that he had had a fight with his father that day. He had disobeyed his father's wishes, and he wanted me to mediate for him.

So after I told him that I would be his mediator, I had the opportunity to pass through another cultural door that I have never been through before. I will give the reader a basic sketch of the procedure.

I went to the house and asked to see the father. We made all the formal greetings, and after this I told him my mission for coming to the house. I told the father that his son knew that he was wrong and wanted to seek forgiveness. To this the father told me all the offenses of the son. After this I told him that the son knows of all these offenses, and wants to be reconciled. To this the father asked me to call the son. Then with the son in his father's presence, I told the son what the father had said. From this point, we spent the rest of the time resolving the conflict through the mediator.

See, the mediator in African conflict is very important. When two people have trouble, they do not deal with this one on one. They need a mediator. This mediator has great power: he can mend wounds, create wounds, and even delay healing. Basically in African culture, the mediator is the channel for all communication. He goes to the offended party on behave of the offender. The mediator listen to the problems of the offended, and brings them to the offender. Then brings the request for forgiveness to the offended. After this he brings the warning from the offended to the offered, and adds his own warnings with it. Many times he seeks to confirm, in the guilty parties mind, the important of him changing his actions. After the guilty party makes confession, then the mediator workers on behave of the guilty to soften the anger and punishment of the offended.

This whole process is very thick with cultural meaning, interaction, and protocol. I learned many things from taking part in this process today. Though many times in a setting where the mediator is not Biblical minded this role of mediator can be abused, and many times does not resolve the deeper issues. But, even with its flaws, it has amazing power to open the door for further discussion privately between the parts and the mediator. If the mediator will follow Bible truths, he could use his role, to greatly help and teach the people involved in the conflict.

In the end, the whole event is a great opportunity to help people understand Christ and His eternal ministry. For he is our mediator. He goes to the Father for us, bearing our sin and guilt. Without Him, the Father would never hear our voice, and we could never seek forgiveness from Him.

(Note- all the pictures in this blog are taken from a Baptist photographer's website- each is from Ghana- if the reader likes the photos, they can be purchased from his site at http://gallery.williamhaun.com/main.php)