Origins
I want to explain the origin of the name Abraham’s Legacy in this post. It could have been anything like Transform Uganda, Develop Uganda, World Development, Africa Change etc. At the time I thought I might start the charity work in Uganda but then maybe it would spread further afield, probably not further than Africa, but maybe…
I was reading through the book on Genesis whilst on the bus from Entebbe Airport in Uganda to Kaliro town about 150km away. The journey took a staggering 8 hours! Whilst on the bus I’d agreed to do a presentation to the school children on science and the Bible. I was therefore searching through the Bible to find a specific passage when I came across the story of Abraham fighting against several local kings.
The passage is found in Genesis chapter 14:
I would not take a thread or a sandal strap or anything that is yours, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’
— Genesis 14:23
Abraham and his men have just rescued the women and the possessions of the king of Sodom, including Abraham’s own cousin Lot and Lot’s whole family. The king of Sodom wants to pay Abraham for returning his possessions to him but Abraham declines this offer saying I will not have you say “I have made Abram rich”.
I was aware of this passage but had not remembered that it was the king of Sodom making this offer. This king is very likely the same one who is destroyed by burning fire and sulphur just a few years later as recorded in Genesis 19. That means this king is known to be the ruler over a very sinful region. Abraham rejects the offer of money from a sinful king, in favour of having less money but giving all the glory to God.
At around the same time that I was reading this passage, the World Bank was already working on sanctions to punish Uganda for upholding its law against LGBT rights (link here). Over 3000 years later we can still see the connection between homosexuality and finance.
I considered Uganda to be at a crossroads where it had the choice to accept money from ‘the king of Sodom’ or to give glory to God for their prosperity. A large proportion of the Ugandan population are born-again Christians, including the current president, but too often the temptation of wealth causes compromise. On this occasion, the Ugandans did not compromise.
My mind wandered from this thought to how could I help the Ugandans prosper. My attention was drawn to Western influence. It was all over; African men dressed in Western clothing, our hotel room with veranda and tiles, and then there was the school curriculum.
I considered the impact of Western influence that had been copied by the Ugandans without, or seemingly without consideration of whether it made sense in their context. My conclusion is that it doesn’t make sense in their context. They have an education system that can take a child right up to 18 years old, but in the whole town, there is maybe only a single plumber and a single builder. Add to that the complications of having a whole class try to learn subjects in theory for which there are no jobs in the whole country.
It was inconceivable to me that someone would spend 8 or more years at school and afterwards only have a basic grasp of English and the primary job prospect was taxi driver or subsistence farmer. I was saddened by this situation and considered how I could help. I considered the Earthship buildings that I’d already been interested in for several years. Could these people learn to build with dirt and thereby become builders? Building is a trade that is traditionally passed on from master to apprentice. This whole system seemed to be missing in Uganda.
And so the concept of helping a community to prosper through educating them in basic trades using cheap and locally available materials. This would be called Abraham’s Legacy because Abraham rejected the Get Rich Quick approach and prospered with God’s help.
Abraham has another legacy. He has a legacy of faith that is still alive to this day.
Abram believed the Lord and he credited it to him as righteousness.
This is the greater legacy that can already be seen in action in Uganda.
The Apostle Paul considered Abraham to be the Father of all who believe. In this sense, the people of Uganda and the whole world, who believe in Jesus, are Abraham’s legacy.
So far so good. The Ugandans accept what is good and reject what is bad, yet they are not prospering. I contemplated this fact again. You could easily say that it is the whole of the African continent that is not prospering. Now, sure there are signs of economic growth in Africa, and some parts of the world are worse off economically, but generalizing, the black people groups seem to perform worse economically than non-blacks.
That is a huge generalization and I’m not looking at causes, I’m simply making the observation and considering the primary cause and not looking at secondary causes, of which there are surely many.
Consider this passage from Genesis 9:25:
Cursed be Canaan;
a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.
The context of this passage is that after the Great Flood, Noah plants a vineyard and then gets drunk on wine and passes out naked. His son Ham, referred to as Canaan because he is the father of Canaan, sees him naked (possibly more) and is therefore condemned for eternity (I don’t mean eternity but a multi-generational curse that lasts until the World ends. I don’t think there’s a word for that).
Before you write in the comments that I’m wrong, only Canaan was cursed, I can see what you’re getting at… the text literally says “Canaan”. Many people have written about this and how this passage does not condone the slavery of blacks because it is limited to the Canaanites. I agree, to the extent that this passage does not condone slavery; it simply states that his descendants will be in servitude, a statement of fact. But let’s continue thinking… those same arguments and apologists say that Canaan was in servitude to Shem and Japheth when Canaan was defeated. However, read the passage again, it says that Canaan would be in servitude to his brothers. So you cannot have it both ways, either the passage means Canaan would be a servant to Canaan’s brothers, or it means Ham would be a servant to Ham’s brothers. It does not mean that Canaan would be a servant to his cousins.
I am not going to continue further down this rabbit trail because my observations lead me to conclude that black people groups are somehow cursed so that they are not as prosperous as other people groups. Just to be clear I am not contrasting them only with whites here either, I mean Whites and Indians and Chinese.
The curse, however, is already defeated. Jesus took to the cross every curse. The curse of servitude is defeated, and the Africans can now be free from servitude and free to prosper because of the price that Jesus paid. It’s still possible to live under a curse without knowing that the curse is broken. It has been likened to people living in a perfectly dark prison. The walls are around the prison and everyone knows that the walls are around the prison until one day the walls are removed. Nobody even attempts to approach the boundary because they remember being told about the wall. This seems to be the curse that the Africans live under. They are free, yet they still believe they are imprisoned.
There is a fine line that I can see. If you make the people productive then they may become greedy and they may turn towards the lusts of the flesh instead of enjoying the simple pleasures in life. But I believe God has always been happy with this prospect, he has given grace even whilst being rejected, and he has given prosperity even though he might be ignored, yet he has done it anyway. God is faithful despite our faithlessness. So I believe that it would be no bad thing to seek to bring prosperity to Africa and to have a part in ending the curse.
I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
This next point I wasn’t sure whether to leave it out, but I will share it anyway as it is something that occurred to me. Abraham is someone who people of different faiths can unite around. Maybe “unite” is a strong word, but what I mean is the name of Abraham is not offensive. Christians, Muslims and Jews can support a charity that has Abraham in its name. Now this is still a point for me to consider, how much do I promote faith in Jesus through this ministry compared with how much I allow the love of Jesus to penetrate what we do? I believe this could continue to be a source of struggle for a ministry that isn’t focused primarily on preaching the Gospel.
Indeed, this was even an issue for someone I knew who ran a youth group. The youth group employed non-Christian workers, largely because they couldn’t find willing Christians to work even for wages. My goal will be to run a Christian ministry with a Christian heart and with Christian leadership but accepting donations and volunteers with other worldviews. This is either naive or God-ordained, I will find out!
I recognize the irony that I started this post by talking about the King of Sodom wanting to give money to Abraham and he refused it, but now I state that as a ministry we would accept donations wherever they come from. That is true; let any unclean money be crucified at the foot of the cross so that the money no longer has any power of persuasion but is given new life to serve the purposes of God.
The other example of carrying out Christian service, whilst finding acceptance among people of other faiths is Mother Teresa. She served Christians, Sikhs, Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists and Atheists, all without prejudice or preference. Although she had to stand her ground against criticism from the Church, she continued and saw the fruit of her labour.
Let it be known that I am a Christian and this is my act of service toward God and my motivation, but my conviction need not be a stumbling block to others.
Likewise, if individuals wish to come and serve the poor, or wish to give to benefit the poor, then I will let them do it, and may it be to their benefit. Although they cannot be saved through good works but only through the Cross of Christ, and that is the stumbling block for many. Maybe Jesus is not their motivation to serve, but in serving maybe they will find Jesus.
So to summarize Abraham’s Legacy and somehow turn it into a mission statement:
- Enabling prosperity
- Revitalising villages
- Empowering communities
These objectives will be met by taking a practical approach to education, through applying sustainable practices and leveraging local resources, and micro-finance loans for starting and expanding businesses.
The emphasis will be teaching people how to do things for themselves using their own resources, rather than doing it for them or showing them how we would do it in our country.
A little side-note, having chosen the name Abraham’s legacy I was thinking how could I shorten it to form a simple logo. Then I came up with the abbreviation ABLE. This beautifully captures the heart of what we will be about. Educating, Empowering and Enabling because our God is ABLE.
This work will leave a legacy for generations to come.
We will serve with a heart of love and give glory to God for the resources with which he has blessed us.
If this is also on your heart then please get in touch and maybe we can work together.
If you want to support this new work, volunteer some time, or simply keep track of what we’re doing then please subscribe.