Appendix 8

Gods Love is Not Institutional the Story of Danis

Danis is a Papuan from the Dani tribe. When the tsunami hit Aceh, he and a few Papuans felt the Lord
calling them to go and help the people in Aceh. They arrived in Aceh in the first week after the tsunami. All
around them they saw thousands and thousands of dead bodies, whole villages flattened or washed away
and mountains of debris all over the place. It was like the end of the world had come. It was overwhelming
to say the least. They wondered what they could do. They saw relief organizations with trucks of supplies
with the logo of their organization on the sides of their trucks. These relief organizations had tents and
houses and t-shirts and walkie-talkies. One relief organization even had helicopters.
Danis and his small team of 5 persons looked at themselves and said to each other, God has given us
hands and feet. So they went and helped to bury the dead. Danis himself buried about 200 dead bodies.
He said in the first week it was smelly but it wasnt so bad. But it was terrible in the second week. By that
time the corpses were rotting so badly that when he carried them, heads and arms and legs would fall off.
He said that every day he had to throw away his clothes and he had to really scrub himself hard to get rid of
the smell of rotting flesh. For food they got into line and queued up with the survivors. At night they slept
in the tents along with the survivors.
After all the dead were buried, they wondered what they could do next. They looked at themselves and
again they said, God has given us hands and feet. So they helped to clean the place of all the debris. They
cleaned out hospitals, public buildings, schools, the local mosque and peoples homes. They worked day
and night until they were totally exhausted each night when they went to bed. He told me, As soon as we
lay down we fell into a deep sleep within 2 seconds. Danis and his team became so well known for their
outstanding work that the local government in Banda Aceh appointed Danis as the head of the cleaning up
operations for the city. It was just a title, he said, there was no money to it. Nevertheless, they worked.
When all the debris had been cleaned out, they wondered what they could do next. Again they looked at
themselves and again they said, We still have hands and feet. Lets do what we can with what God has
given us. So they started giving people massage and laying hands and praying for people. It was amazing
what happened. People started getting healed! The news spread and many people came to get massaged
and prayed for. Danis and his team were loved and received by the people, despite the fact that we were
black said Danis.
One day Danis received news that his wife in Papua had passed away and he went back to Papua. For 8
months he was away in Papua. Then I heard that Danis wanted to return to Aceh but he could not afford an
air ticket. I arranged for him to get an air ticket and I said to him, Danis, can you bring me to meet all those
families that you told me were near to the Kingdom of God?. He was very happy to do that. We got a
van and he took me from house to house.
The first house we came to, he walked up to the front door and knocked. I stood behind him. When the
door opened, an Acehnese woman stood there fully covered with the muslim customary jilbab. When she
saw Danis, for a moment she was too shocked to say anything. Then she just burst into tears and embraced
Danis repeatedly saying, Danis, Danis, you have come back to us. I was totally amazed by what I saw. In
all my 10 years in disaster relief, I have seen lots, and done all sorts of projects, but I have never seen
anything like this. That I must say, was the most moving thing I have ever witnessed. Suddenly, the
womans husband came up from behind her. He too came up and embraced Danis with joy and with tears
flowing down his cheeks.
We sat down to Acehnese coffee and some local cakes. I sat silently with tears streaming down my cheeks
watching the love going on between them. I kept hearing the Lord saying, This is my Kingdom.
The next house Danis brought me to, the same thing happened. And the next. And the next

I went through a paradigm shift. I reflected on what I had been doing over the years and came to realize
that all the people I had been helping had probably been seeing me as someone drawing a salary from a big
organization or church and I was doing it as part of my job (although that was not the case). No doubt from
how they were looking at me and what we were doing, they would think all the money for the project came
from the big church or NGO that had sent me, not from me personally. How then could they feel my
love? And how could they feel the love of an institution?
There was a big Christian NGO that was accused by the religious authorities of converting a young girl
although it was not the staff of the NGO but their friends who befriended her. Despite having built
thousands of houses for the survivors, no one stood up for them when the local authorities kicked them out
of the area.
Some funds are needed no doubt, but I no longer think of raising big funds for disaster relief. Now I go
around telling the story of Danis and telling people, Big money causes big problems. No money, no
problems. When they see the money, they dont see you anymore. And if they cant see you, how can they
see God? Neither has God called an institution to share His love. God has called us.
I now encourage people either as individuals or in twos or threes to personally go and partner with the
poor. I dont have the last word on this, but this is how I currently look at it. There are 3 paradigms : the
institutional church paradigm, the NGO paradigm, and the Kingdom paradigm. In the institutional church
paradigm, the church says, Give us your money and we will do the work. What work? The spiritual
work. NGOs are saying the same thing, Give us your money and we will do the work. What work? The
work that the church is not doing the social work. What I am saying is, Why give anyone your money?
Why not you personally go and engage with the poor? Why give your money to someone else to go and do
what God has called you to do? This is what I believe we need to return to Gods Kingdom paradigm
where love is personal, where you go and become friends with a poor family and see how you can help
them do something that will generate income. Where they are lifted up to what they can become and not
be perpetually dependent on aid.
There may be some of us who may be incapacitated in some way or for some reason are really not able to
go and get engaged personally with the poor and we therefore give to an NGO. Thats great. Please do not
misunderstand what I am saying. I am not in any way negating the wonderful work of NGOs who have been
helping many poor communities in significant ways. I am merely questioning why you would push it off to
others to do what God is calling you to do? Remember, the church is not the building, nor the
denomination, nor the leaders, nor the committee. The church is you and your friends who love the Lord
and want to share His love.
Jesus left His world to enter into our world and be with us. His name is Immanuel God with us. In
Jn.20:21, He said, As the Father has sent Me, I send you. He sends us to do the same to leave our world
and enter into their world to be their friends and share our lives with them. If Jesus can come down all the
way from heaven and lay down His life for us, is it too much for us to get across the city or even half way
around the world to where the poor are and become their friends?