Home : The Voice : December 2002  

“En Afrique” — Things Change

by Gerald Stephens Jr.

Gerald writes from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, on the fringe of the Sahara where he and wife Bonnie are studying French in preparation for their mission work in the Congo.

Eighteen months ago, over a meal with Bonnie at a restaurant in Birmingham, I unburdened my heart, sharing with her what had been privately pressing my soul for weeks. “I think God is calling me to the Congo.” I said the words, closed my eyes, and braced myself.

I expected to hear, “What? Have you lost your mind?” We were, after all, living a comfortable life in the suburbs. I was in my 15th year of serving as head pastor of Chapel In The Pines, a congregation of abundant love and grace and a deep commitment to Christ. Bonnie was in her 13th year at Compass bank working with people who had become dear friends. Many of our family lived in our suburb and worshiped at Chapel In The Pines.The rest of the family was near enough that we could count on frequent visits with them. We had eight grandchildren and believed that at least two more would arrive in the next three years.

And now I was telling Bonnie that I thought God was calling me to move to Africa. To my amazement, she did not respond with shock and horror. Instead, she said calmly, “It probably makes sense.” We discussed the possibilities and ramifications. We prayed. A few weeks later, we began filling out applications to the Worldwide Ministries Division of the PC(USA).

We traveled to Africa, where we were met by three months of physical and spiritual torture. Bonnie fell ill to several maladies including bladder infections, kidney stones, and various negative reactions to an anti-malaria drug. On one hellish night, I sat at Bonnie’s bedside as she lay writhing in a putrid local hospital. No one, it seemed, could tell us what was wrong with her.

Yet not once during these trials did Bonnie say, “Take me home. Coming here was insane!” Rather, it was I who questioned and doubted. To the contrary, she hung in there faithfully. And eventually the Spirit of God led us to the right doctors and nurses and ultimately to the needed cures.Today, thank God, Bonnie is healthy. She also has leapt into this different culture and language with an abandon that leaves me both proud and envious. She understands better than I what it takes to hurdle the walls that separated us from the strange world around us. Bonnie bounds into the neighborhood and engages everybody with her badly spoken French. She has no regard for certain “rules” or “traditions.”

For example, in our apartment complex, the apartment dwellers are not supposed to be chummy with their hired help. Yet Bonnie talks to the neighbors’ housekeepers as if they’re her sisters. At first the housekeepers themselves were wary. I suggested to Bonnie that she might be committing a faux pas. She shrugged her shoulders and said, “So I come across like some idiotic American. If I can get over it, they’ll get over it.” And they did. Now when Bonnie shows up, the housekeepers smile and are anxious to chat with her.

So, our African adventure unfolds. Through my wife’s witness, the Spirit of God has led and instructed me and perhaps reminded me that God still wonders what the Apostle Paul was thinking when he declared definitively that the husband must always be “the spiritual head” of the household (Ephesians 5:22-23).

A child sits playfully in Bonnie Stephens lap
in the Stephens’ apartment in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

Calvary Presbyterian Church
Celebrates 112 Years of Ministry

by Mary Newbern-Williams

Calvary Presbyterian Church in Montgomery commemorated 112 years of ministry on Oct. 13. The church formed in 1885 when African-American members (who had been worshipping in the balcony of a white Presbyterian church) began worshipping as a separate congregation. The church’s first pastor was the Rev. William H. Sheppard, the renowned missionary to the Congo who the presbytery is partly named after. In 1968, the church purchased land on its current site with assistance from the Birmingham Presbytery, and members named the church Calvary. Today, the church works on revitalization and redevelopment in the community. Calvary engages in a ministry in which community residents can purchase food at good discounts, and partners with Immanuel Presbyterian for a summer day camp program.