10 Trobes for engaging postcolonial people

From the seminar on ministry among post-colonial people by Dr. Darrell Whiteman of The Mission Society, there was a handout titled 10 TROBES FOR ENGAGING POSTCOLONIAL PEOPLE, which he credits to Michael A Rynkiewich (with help from Simon Varghese and all his international mentors).

Even though Paris and France are not economically poor, there is a spiritual poverty and brokenness here. These suggestions are therefore also important to heed for those outsiders who come to minister here. The ones highlighted in orange are those that especially resonate with me at this period.

1. KENOSIS. Empty yourself. Do not grasp your own ideology, privilege or authority. Identify with the other.
2. GUEST. Receive hospitality. You are the guest; the other is the host. Learn what that means in Scripture and in the cultural setting.
3. SEEK FORGIVENESS. Seek the forgiveness of the other for the privileges you and yours have received from unequal colonial, neo-colonial or globalizing repression.
4. ENACT GOOD NEWS. Identify with the poor and oppressed. Discover what good news would mean to them. Speak of God's great love in Jesus Christ, and follow with practices that are good news.
5. SEEK RECONCILIATION. Learn where people have been hurt and are hurting. Seek to mediate God's reconciliation in those situations.
6. SEEK JUSTICE. Study the structures and behaviors that give rise to injustice, become an advocate for the poor and oppressed.
7. STAY. The poor and oppressed have had a succession of do-gooders pass through their neighborhood, and most have kept going. Stay in the place that God has sent you, pray for the good of the hood, and work for the community.
8. RELATE. The poor have heard the good news, but there was little good in it. Develop relationships that honor the other.
9. SUBMIT. Submit yourselves one to the other. The other has a vision, a goal and a plan. Discover what it is and what your place can be in it.
10. BE SELF-GIVING. The measure of a religion is not what it does for its own adherents, but what it does for those who are not adherents. Be clear that what you do, you do because of Christ and for the other, and not for yourself.