These words are from the blog of fellow YAGM Cindy McPeake who is currently serving in Malaysia. Her words are awesome and they sum up a lot my own feelings during these first few months in South Africa. Enjoy!
The first time I heard of the word accompaniment as a concept was at the DIP (discernment, interview and placement) retreat, one part of the YAGM interview process. Accompaniment is part of the ELCA’s Global Mission department’s model for ministry.
Their website defines accompaniment as, Walking together in solidarity, practicing interdependence and mutuality. Gifts, resources, and experiences are shared with mutual advice and admonition to deepen and expand all efforts within God’s mission. Pretty self-explanatory right? Right. You can read more about the Global Mission department here: ELCA Global Mission
On the surface, accompaniment is a fairly straightforward concept. We walk alongside people to understand their story, which in turn leads towards interdependence and mutuality. Through that cooperation and shared experience we are able to expand all efforts within God’s mission. We are able to increase our efforts in creating the world God intended this place to be.
Working together= bigger results.
At the retreat and through more discussion on my own and at our orientation, I thought I pretty much mastered this concept. I was going to Malaysia to walk alongside them. But in my head the word walk switched to work.
I was going to Malaysia to work alongside them.
Something happens when we change that word from walk to work. We put expectations on how much we get done, how much work we get done; and then we start to measure our efforts. We create objectives, measured goals, and perceived outcomes. We measure how much good we are doing in terms of how much work we are doing, not how much walking we are doing.
And when we begin to measure how much work we are doing, we begin to see ways that we are failing. We don’t meet those outcomes and goals so we have failed. We are bogged down by what we AREN’T doing, how much we AREN’T accomplishing. We are trapped by those results.
This was my idea of serving as I prepared and even as I got to my placement site in Malaysia. A unique part of many placements in the YAGM program is that you get to look for ways to serve the community you live in. I was placed at a kindergarten here, but because I have extra time, I get to look for ways to be a part of this community. I am still searching for that other component and grappling with the idea of accompaniment as a basis seeking out the need.
In my journey to understand how I serve here and while discussing my role in this community with a friend, I began to understand accompaniment a little better. Below is an email I shared with a Global Mission staff person, which includes the conversation I had with my friend.
So I had an epiphany today. A friend and I talked a little about accompaniment and what that actually means- thought I knew, but as our conversation continued some concepts starting emerging…it was totally an “ah-ha” moment for me. The conversation went like this:
Anna: Do you have to lead anything or is it just about building relationships?
Cindy: I think it’s mainly about building relationships. At first that felt silly to me, like I was wasting time. But they don’t need me to come in and start leading stuff; they are doing pretty well without me. And lately, I feel like it’s more productive to build relationships instead.
Anna: It truly is. You’ve got nothing if you don’t have relationships to start with. I suppose it goes with the ELCA vision of accompaniment.
Cindy: When I started, it was walking alongside them WHILE working or actually doing a job…and now I feel like its just walking alongside them…that’s the point, that’s good enough. Its actually kind of freeing…rather than worrying I am “serving the right way”, I just get to be.
I think I realized today that my perception of serving is to work (and I do. I teach English), but its not the only way I am serving. I serve by just being- by building relationships. My American mindset says that’s not work, that’s not service because I am not “doing anything”, I am not punching a time card, there is no tangible result of my work. I think today I actually UNDERSTOOD what accompaniment is. It’s being.
Just be. Accompaniment is being. It’s also doing and working and learning…but it’s the being part that makes all of that possible. And it can’t be measured.
So it does no good to measure ourselves against what we do. We are enough. Accompaniment frees us to love, to break free from results, to stop worrying if we are doing enough. We have the freedom to be.
Jesus loves us that way too. He doesn’t look at what we do to determine how much He loves us. He doesn’t have a tally sheet to mark down all the good things we do, all the ways we serve, or all the ways we fulfill our calling. Our calling is child.
There’s this blog called Stuff Christians Like, and recently there was a post that said, What does He call us? What phrase or words does he give us instead of “Real Christian?” Son. Daughter. And it turns out, those two words are enough.
Child. Son. Daughter. Those words are enough. We are enough. Walking is enough. Being is enough.
Enough.Sufficient.Plenty.Abundant.
You are enough.
