Interview with Alex Harris

Anyone seen my spade?

A simple text message received at Liverpool Street Station got Duncan Banks chasing an incredible story last week. It was story of toilets worse than those found at a summer music festival, of death warrants and illegal midnight marriage ceremonies; a story of a highly competitive hockey game stopped by Afghan goat herders, and a story of a universal God and a lost spade.

So it was a fairly normal Thursday morning. I was sitting with my Latte at Liverpool Street Station when the familiar beep of my Nokia 6210 hailed the arrival of a new text. (Ancient, I know... but it was a free upgrade last summer!)

Here’s the text…

Word for word…

Just in case you don’t believe me…

            No running water, no power, toilets equal a spade, had to ride in on   Donkey, 40°C in day, 5°C at night, other speaker from USA ill so         picking up all his sessions, six hours teaching each day now till Friday,            having to prepare as I go – genuinely, no where else I’d rather be. I    think the teaching must be the most beneficial I’ve ever delivered.

Who could have sent such a text? Mr Bond maybe or was it the intrepid Indiana J?

Oh no… The name was Harris… Alex Harris and he is our man in Karachi.

I smelt a cracking story brewing so I downed my Starbucks ‘sharpish like’ and got back to the Karachi Kid to find out more…

DB: Alex, it sounds like you are truly suffering for the gospel right now. Where are you exactly?

AH: I’m spending nine days at a conference in northern Pakistan, about four hours drive from the Afghan border.  It is a beautiful place, nine thousand feet high and surrounded by pine forests.  It is fairly rural – we rode the last two miles  on donkeys; and on arrival I was presented with a spade for (quote) “your bathroom duties!”  In the local village all the women wear full burkas, and the men enjoy pinching my skin.  I suspect to see whether the white comes off! 

DB: So not exactly a Christians stronghold then?

AH: You can be a practicing Christian here – there are open churches and even a theological college in Karachi, but it is illegal to convert from Islam to Christianity, it’s punishable by death.  Three of the 40 pastors and missionaries at the conference are under a death warrant by the government, all reported by their families to the authorities when they converted.  One man, who used to be a Muslim cleric, has a bounty on his head meaning you’ll be rewarded if you kill him and present his body to a police station.

Two of the ladies here are also ‘on the run’ from their families.  When they converted to Christ their families immediately tried to marry them off to Muslim men.  One of the women was woken up in the middle of the night by a groom and cleric saying the wedding vows over her!  She managed to run out the front door.

There is also a medical doctor here who used to be the senior consultant.  He became convinced of Christ’s relevance through preparing lectures on medical ethics from an Islamic context and finding it unsatisfactory.  Two years later he now works as a check out assistant in a different city, under a different name because he was unable to continue his job.

By comparison a week without running water hardly counts as suffering for the gospel!

DB: So what are you doing such a long way from home?

 

AH: I am here, as with most of my travelling round Asia, to assist these men and woman in sharing their faith effectively in the world of sport.  It is basic skills to understand the Bible, and communicate it clearly and relevantly.

DB: Why do us Brits think we have something to offer the world when it comes to sports ministry?

AH: That is a great question, because let’s be honest we have a lot to learn about sports ministry and evangelism ourselves in the UK.  We’re far from perfect!  What we do have, though, is a wonderful history of Christianity and some fabulous training and education to prepare us for such work.  In Pakistan, for example, there are less than 100 people with theological training (of a population of 160 million, three times the UK).  We certainly can not teach them anything about a radical commitment to Christ (that’s one of the ways we can learn from our brothers and sisters throughout the world), but we do have something to offer in training to handle the Bible, and of course in praying and encouraging each other to stand tall for our faith wherever God has placed us. 

DB: Doesn't the way we do it in the UK clash with their culture?

AH: Yes and no!  Of course our cultures are hugely different – for example all the unmarried Christian men and woman with Christian parents I spoke with in Pakistan would rather their family’s arranged their marriage partner than left it to ‘love’!  And of course, the culture of sport is radically different.  Most schools cannot afford books (or even a roof in the village next to us!) so buying sports equipment, or having organized leagues is impossible. 

However, the things that unite us are far more significant than those that divide.  The Bible applies wherever we are in the world, whatever our economic wealth, life expectancy, or standard of living. The training Christians In Sport is asked to give here is like gold dust.  In Pakistan there were four evening talks scheduled.  At the end of the last talk no one moved but insisted I preach for longer.  One night I gave three different talks and then had an hour of questions.  I crawled to bed about 11PM knowing everyone else stayed on praying for each other late into the night.  Christians have a passion for God’s word and CIS is uniquely placed to equip people in that task.

Also, a passion for sport is universal - even if facilities and equipment are lacking. We had a game of hockey with the local village team (we lost 6-3!) using branches as sticks (carefully chosen and stored, they were treated like top of the range equipment).  We had to stop the game twice so the villagers could re-herd their goats before they wandered too far away.  But the passion in the game, the seriousness of the result, and the level of skill would challenge any match played in the UK!  We even had quite a big crowd! 

Bottom line, yes there is lot to be alert to between cultures, but what unites us and what Christians In Sport can offer far outweighs those differences.

DB: Most people would think of Christians In Sport as working only in the UK but you are living in Hong Kong right now. What's the thinking behind this?

AH: Christians In Sport is one of the oldest sports ministry organizations in the world.  Over the last ten years we have been asked more and more to serve the international community of sports mission.  We serve by training leaders to share their faith effectively, to value and become excellent in sport and sport ethics, and to build committed and effective teams.  It’s what we do in the UK, and it is exactly what we do outside the UK!  Our vision for the world is to see Christian leaders in every country preparing sports people to Pray, Play and Say!  (Of course, that has to be worked through in each cultural setting.)

To be honest, our strategy is unsophisticated.  We want to do two things.  First, train leaders and others in their local context to share their faith well. (In Asia next year, based from Hong Kong, that will consist of 15 country visits delivering 21 training events.  We’re reproducing that in Africa, Europe and hopefully South America too.) 

Secondly, to intentionally mentor and develop the best emerging leaders from these networks.  That revolves round the ‘International Partner Training Scheme’; a five week intensive program based in the UK and beginning this August.  (We have 11 leaders from India, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Mongolia, Malawi, Indonesia and the UK.)

It is a privilege that Christians In Sport is in such a position, but also a demand.  We have been given much in God’s grace.  I have no doubt we must now expect much of ourselves as we aim to serve and support our brothers and sisters globally to reach their world of sport for Christ.  

DB: Thanks Alex

AH: Pleasure… Anyone seen my shovel?

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