Part 1: Heidi and Rolland Baker

The goal of authentic missionary encounter with any culture always must be to bring to bear the life-giving power of God against the power of death.
(Shenk 1991: 106)

Heidi and Rolland Baker are currently ministering to the listless orphaned street children in Mozambique. Likewise, they’d spent twelve years in Asia, and ministered in the slums of Honk Kong where they were inspired by Jackie Pullinger, author of Chasing the Dragon and minister to the poorest of the poor in the infamous Kowloon Walled City. Heidi and Rolland each hold phDs in systematic theology from Kings College. As they studied, they also planted a church among the homeless in the city of London. Then, after many years of praying and waiting, they were drawn to Mozambique to care for the abandoned street and working children of Maputo.

In Maputo, the Baker’s discovered the Chihango center, what they call in their authobiography, There is Always Enough, “the government’s best effort at taking care of its abandoned children, and the largest such center in Mozambique…”:

“Chihango was more like a detention center for delinquents: wild, abandoned, homeless kids, thieves and fighters from the streets whom no one wanted, not even the police. There were about eighty of them, living like animals. They defecated on bare floors and sat there warming tin cans over wood fires. There were no beds, no mattresses, no sheets, no pillows. Every night was spent on the cold cement. They were bloated and covered with sores. They yelled, kicked and fought. The government could bring a bit of food only three months out of the year. They still had to steal and beg” (Baker 2003: 19-20).

Heidi remarks, “I was told, even by leaders of existing churches in town, that paying any attention to these children would be a waste of time” (Baker 2003: 20).

These are the stories of showing the unrelenting love of the Father to the street children of Mozambique. Likewise, they are stories of God’s supernatural power, as in the case of Beatrice. Beatrice was a street child when she was found, maybe ten or eleven-years old. She’d been raped many times, her father was an abusive alcholic, and her mother was dead. Her bloated belly, the worms in her feet, the open sores across her face, and the lice and scabies which covered her all combined to cover any hope she had for life.

Says Heidi, “I felt an overwhelming love for this wounded child. I saw Jesus in her eyes when I looked at her. I held her close and brought her home…I got lice and scabies, too, but that didn’t matter. More important was holding Beatrice close and letting her know she was valued and loved…Beatrice responded instantly with tears flowing down her deformed face…Doctors said she probably wouldn’t live, but she did. The Lord healed her…” (Baker 2003: 41-42).

Stories of God’s supernatural provision and his healing among world’s most poverty stricken children abound all throughout their book, There is Always Enough. The faith-awakening stories continue on their website for Iris Ministries. This month, Mozambique was hit with torrential flooding, making the already-dire situation even more difficult. But the Baker’s newsletter communicates even more hope:

“A wave of humanity in Mozambique is again left without any hope but Jesus. And again we are in a position to participate in the building of the Kingdom in the most unlikely places, and to see another level of revival that we could not have predicted or imagined. We don't know yet all that God will do in this country among our Mozambican people, but He surprises us every day. Reports of miracles are flowing in from the camps. Four blind people saw and two deaf people heard today” (Baker 2007: 1).

Lessons Learned from the Baker’s Story:
1. In God’s Kingdom, “there is always enough” provision and hope, no matter what the circumstances may be.
2. As we actively embrace the unlovable, we will release God’s power to them through our very touch.
3. God invites us to participate in Kingdom work “in the most unlikely of places,” and it is often here, in the margins, where we will see his Spirit move the most powerfully.

(Photos from Heidi and Rolland's website: Iris Ministries, Inc.)