Ziwani’s podcast series Big Change: How Ordinary Christians Change Their World explores how Christians can drive significant change in society. In the first episode, Jonathan Wilson introduces four dimensions of reconciliation as a framework for solving complex and systemic challenges. Jonathan is co-founder and Managing Partner at ThirdWay Capital, a venture holding company investing in and scaling small-to-medium businesses in sub-Saharan Africa. This summary was written by Lise-Marie Keyser, and you can listen to the full episode here.
Everyone longs for change
“What does the world need?” This pertinent question is asked by investor and mediator Jonathan Wilson. He has devoted his life to developing and implementing strategies that drive disruption and systemic change, particularly in high stakes, multi-stakeholder environments.
Born in the UK and raised in Indonesia in the remote Yali tribe of Papua, Jonathan has lived and worked in South East Asia, Europe, North America and Africa. “I’ve lived in very different cultural settings, among very different kinds of people. But everywhere, people long to see some kind of change in their environments.” He mentions that Christians in particular have a longing for transformation in society that is rooted in the vision that Scripture gives them, “to care about their world, and about what God is doing in it.” What they’re less clear about is, “Well, do I have a part in that? And if so, how? I’m just an ordinary person.”
Even when we’re passionate about addressing a particular challenge such as poverty or injustice or global warming, we often feel disqualified by our smallness in comparison to the more powerful agents in our world, such as governments and big corporations. Yet there are many examples in history where Christians have patiently persisted (sometimes while facing great hardship and opposition) in working on complex, unjust systems. Until one day, when everything is suddenly different. “Big change can happen, and often it happens through the efforts of people who seem to be very weak,” Jonathan encourages us.
Narrow understanding of reconciliation
Recently returning to South Africa after two decades abroad, Jonathan comments that he is experiencing a stark difference between the excitement of nation building in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and the widespread cynicism and frustration in the country today. “In every sector, I run into people who are cynical about reconciliation because ‘it didn’t really work’. It didn’t really solve the problems. We still have injustice, we still have inequality, we still live with the legacies of apartheid.”
In his view, this is as a result of a narrow understanding of reconciliation. “Most people, when they heard the word ‘reconciliation’, think it means we just go back to a neutral state. We remove the hostility.” Instead, we need to see how rich the Biblical view of reconciliation actually is, because “it’s not just about estranged people who no longer feel anger or mistrust towards each other. Reconciliation also includes addressing material harm and unjust structures that resulted from the broken relationship, and putting them in right order so that both relationships and social systems work in harmony, as God intended.”
This is a comprehensive way of thinking – which is why we cannot disregard the role of business in bringing about reconciliation. As Jonathan says, “The marketplace is where most people are trying to make life work.” Also, it’s in the marketplace that “we as Christians can bring an imagination that’s inspired by the Bible’s view of this world, that we can offer products and services that solve actual problems, in order to contribute to healing where society has been broken.”
Finding inspiration in Colossians
Jonathan anchors much of his conversation in Colossians 1:12–23. At the time of Paul writing this letter, Rome had pacified the whole Mediterranean basin through its military might, and prided itself in enforcing the Roman way across very diverse regions and ethnic groups. In contrast, the Christian community were very small, and made up largely of those who were despised in Roman culture.
“But Paul’s letter to this rather ragtag mix of ‘despicables’ is incredibly majestic,” Jonathan explains. “You’d think he was writing to the nobility of some great kingdom. It’s just not a kingdom that any Roman would recognise as meaningful, because there’s no political structure, there’s no ruler that is visible in some seat of power. Yet that is exactly what Paul is doing. He’s writing to the nobility of a great kingdom – the kingdom of God.”
He continues, “This letter to the Colossians is all about the big change that God is bringing about in history, and what part they can play in that big change. So the letter is perfect for people like us. We know we aren’t anything special. But we have been called by God to make a difference in this big, complicated world – a world that seems to be controlled more by powers like the Roman empire than by the kingdom of God.”
Many types of salvation on offer
Coming back to the question, what does the world need? We might answer according to our personal passion, that we need more effective systems of justice. Or we need the poor to be uplifted. We need scientific breakthroughs that reduce disease or pollution. Or we need strong communities that create safe spaces for women and children.
Jonathan agrees, “These are all things that the world needs, and there are many solutions on offer. Left wing politics, right wing politics, free markets, socialism. In the world of business, everybody is intoxicated with technology. We believe that if we can just find the right tech solution, we can unlock a type of salvation. And these things aren’t necessarily bad. They can even help, but they cannot save the world.”
So then, what does the world actually need?
Again taking his lead from the apostle Paul, Jonathan answers, “for God through Jesus to reconcile all things to himself, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace” (Col. 1:20). “It is important to note that ‘all things’ refers to more than individual men and women,” Jonathan points out. “Yes, people are reconciled to God through Jesus’ death, but ultimately this includes thrones, dominions, authorities, and rulers. All these earthly and supernatural powers are going to be brought back into proper relationship with God and each other.”
He continues, “This type of reconciliation celebrates difference in harmony. It means wholeness in a really rich, full and vibrant sense. And it is made possible when human beings become the images of God they were meant to be in the first place. Because the reality is that these big, complex systems are made the way they are, by how people behave. And the gospel speaks to that directly. That’s why we need both the inward and the outward aspects of big change.”
In his view, many Christians have falsely separated as ‘spiritual’ and ‘physical’ what we should really think of as the ‘inward’ and ‘outward’. “There’s an inner transformation, but it has to be manifested in an outward transformation, and not just at the individual level, but at the community level, at the state level.” If we can get this right, we as ordinary humans can actually have a very powerful influence in the world.
Introducing the 4R Framework
Over many years and in many different contexts, Jonathan has found the application of the 4R Framework useful in first understanding, and then solving, complex challenges. The four ‘R’s or dimensions are:
1. Rescue
The first ‘R’ as a dimension of reconciliation is rescue, which refers to God rescuing us from the power of darkness, and bringing us into the kingdom of light through Christ (Col. 1:13). The reason we need to begin with rescue to bring about true reconciliation, is that “we all have the problem of insisting on being our own god, on being our own power broker in creation,” Jonathan reminds us. “We’ve become enslaved to ourselves, and to darkness. God rescues us by forgiving us our sins. And then in doing that, He relocates us into the kingdom of light, the kingdom of the Son of God.”
He saw the effect of this rescue firsthand while growing up in the tribal Yali community in Indonesia. “Their culture was animistic, cannibalistic, misogynistic, and very warlike. Then they encountered the message of Jesus, and over about 25 years their culture experienced a massive shift. In their own words, they explained that the positive changes in their society began with the realisation that God was offering them rescue out of their sin and out of the powers of darkness.”
Big change begins when God rescues us – because we are all part of the problem, and we cannot rescue ourselves.
2. Reorientation
The second ‘R’ as a dimension of reconciliation is the reorientation of our minds to God. In Colossians 3:2 Paul writes, “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.”
“Note that he’s not saying set your mind on some paradise, some esoteric, non-earthly place,” Jonathan points out. “He’s saying, set your mind on where Christ is seated in authority, and from there live your life. He means that we have to be reoriented in our minds as to who is King of heaven and earth.”
Again, Jonathan saw the effect of this reorientation firsthand. “When I first came to South Africa, I was involved in political mediation in KwaZulu-Natal, where the violence was hectic. Hundreds of people were dying each month. Among the various political leaders, we met was a local warlord called Sifiso – who had the reputation of being a murderer, and had just been released from prison on a technicality.”
“We eventually met with Sifiso and his bodyguards in a dark back room of an obscure little panelbeater shop,” Jonathan continues. “I remember thinking, how on earth are we going to convince a warlord to take part in a peace process? And then my boss Michael Cassidy greeted him with, ‘Well, Sifiso, you got away by the skin of your teeth. You know you got out of prison when you really shouldn’t have. You’re probably guilty of those murders, but you’re out. So, what might God be up to, when you’ve been released from prison when you should actually still be there? And Sifiso said, ‘I’ve been thinking about exactly that.’ I almost fell off my chair!”
Jonathan and a colleague met up with Sifiso again a week later. “He explained his change of heart and mind by showing us a photo of him in combat gear, saying, “I used to be a warrior for the cause, but now I serve a different King. It has changed everything.’ He had been reoriented in his mind,” Jonathan explains. “He believed that from then on he was to live for God. But he didn’t take up his gun for God and use military power to fight for justice. No, he didn’t do that, because that is not God’s way. He set down his gun.”
3. Repair
The third ‘R’ as a dimension of reconciliation is the repair of the brokenness in people’s lives.
By way of illustration, Jonathan uses another example from his own family’s history. “My great grandparents and later my grandparents went to the Congo as missionaries. They witnessed firsthand the brutal acts committed as a result of the Belgian effort to extract rubber from the rainforests – cutting off people’s hands, or burning down whole villages. Millions of Congolese died terrible deaths so that somebody in Belgium or the US could drive a new car with rubber tires.”
“My great-grandparents and grandparents could have said, ‘No, I’m here just to preach the gospel’ (to rescue people),” Jonathan remarks. “And they did that. But because their minds had been reoriented, they went further – putting their lives and careers at risk by meticulously documenting these atrocities, assembling all the evidence they could, and sending file after file after file back to the UK. These files were used to lobby the Belgian government, until after many years, they finally brought an end to the atrocities.”
“The Congo has unfortunately been wrecked by the damage caused by colonialism,” Jonathan states, “but nevertheless, Christians played an active role in bringing about the end of these significant crimes against humanity. Similarly, we can all play a part in reconciliation by acting to repair the damage, brokenness, or harm that is right in front of us.”
4. Reordering
The fourth ‘R’ as a dimension of reconciliation is reordering, which refers to social systems and structures being properly ordered to bring about a flourishing of humanity and creation. The kind of order that is characterised by right conduct, and by justice.
“As long as people are alienated from each other, one will behave towards the other in an unjust manner,” Jonathan says. “Reconciliation requires significant effort. The extent to which we have experienced the four dimensions of reconciliation is the extent to which we can rightfully pursue justice. If we don’t know the cost of justice, how can we aim for it?”
He elaborates, “A friend of mine is in a fairly senior position in government. He’s a Christian, and is inspired by the love of God and the love of people to build a social system that can bring about flourishing communities. He is trying to turn social grants into seed capital for entrepreneurs, particularly in the township economies. So he is thinking about an existing pool of money and reimagining how it can be used – giving people dignity and agency, rather than treating them purely as victims who must passively receive handouts.”
“Will it work? Well, it’s early days,” Jonathan concedes, “but it’s a good example of this dimension of reordering. Where somebody is trying to reimagine existing government policy to bring about something that we could actually describe as reconciliation. Where people are being brought back into right relationship to work, right relationship to themselves, and right relationship to others as they meet the needs of their communities through entrepreneurship.”
Take the first step
In conclusion, Jonathan states, “God’s work in this world is a work of reconciliation, at every level – of people to God, of people to people, of social and economic systems being put in rightly-ordered relationships with God, his people and his creation, and of secular and supernatural powers being brought into rightly-ordered relations with God’s people and God’s creation.”
So, what does the world need? For each of us to take that first step. In the beginning it may seem insignificant, but over time it might just bring about the big change we all long to see.
