I am the prodigal son; I am Judas Iscariot; I am Jonah.
These, the words of Chegem Mark, who, two and a half years ago abruptly dropped out of the Timothy Discipleship program, who disappeared from church, who cut off all communication not only with the missionaries and other Timothy students, but even with his own relatives. I have seen him several times since then, but always interacted on the level of social nicety, realising that there was a great thing unsaid between us. The last time I spoke with Chegem on the phone before he stopped taking my calls, I reminded him that whatever uncertainties he had with the Timothy program or the Mission, Nakaale Presbyterian was still his church family and we still hoped to see him there on Sundays.
Since 2024 that conversation went unheeded, and today when he appeared at the church’s gate, I wondered why he was there. It is not uncommon for people who have absented themselves for long periods of time to return when they have achieved some success in their lives to “reclaim” their church membership and to “testify” about their achievements. All through the service, I wondered what had brought Chegem back. When prayer requests were offered, he said cryptically that he was back and that he had had challenges. Following the service, when visitors are welcomed, he took the opportunity to reintroduce himself to the congregation. What followed was nothing short of astonishing.
He narrated his ill-advised attempt to improve his educational prospects with a different sponsor, his short-lived and unsuccessful marriage, and the shame he felt returning to his community and his church. He confessed his theft of bicycles belonging to the ministry team; he confessed his sinful self-absorption, his failure to come back to worship. He offered himself as a cautionary tale—one who was active on the ministry team and in the church and yet whose heart was far from the things of God. He concluded that his life up to now has been a failure, and he has come back to the church not knowing what else to do. He said that he feels maybe God has given up on him without a hint of bitterness or resentment, as if seeing the justice in such a possibility.
Finished, he sat down, and Pastor Julius, not missing a beat, rose to draw out the remaining strands of the prodigal story. “Since you seem to have an idea of the story,” Julius said, “tell us how it ends.” When Chegem failed in his recall, another member of the congregation supplied the well-known final twist. The father throws himself on the son and cries out in joy “my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found”. “God,” Julius reminded Chegem—and all of us, “has not forsaken you. He welcomes you back.” Stunned and overwhelmed as many of us are by this unexpected development, we have not yet come to the final word given by Luke—”And they began to celebrate.”
It was perhaps fitting that this should take place on the first Sunday back for all the Timothy Discipleship students, home for a few weeks between school terms. Many of them are new to the program and new to the Mission to the extent that we do not yet have a sense of their spiritual trajectory. There may well be those among them who are going through the spiritual motions in order to get a scholarship. There are likewise those who have been in the program for several years, who never knew what happened to Chegem. His testimony will perhaps give all cause to reexamine their own motives. But more than that, it is a reminder to all of us that all our comings and goings happen as the Lord wills. God uses the lost and unwilling to accomplish Gospel ends, and when he brings a sinner home, the angels in heaven rejoice—and so should we.