Photo courtesy Kristi Hopf
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tudying overseas always has its hiccups, but few are quite like the one experienced by Kristi Hopf (Master of Arts in Intercultural Ministries ’18). “My best excuse for missing a due date was when a ship off the coast dropped its anchor onto the Internet cable feeding the country,” she says. “I lost the Internet and wasn’t able to submit my paper, but Dr. Charles Cook was understanding and didn’t deduct any marks.” Hopf was in Niger, West Africa, at the time, living with the Fulani people and working on her Ambrose Seminary studies at a distance, an endeavour that took the better part of 12 years. Today, the International Worker with The Christian & Missionary Alliance follows her heart to serve and minister to people who are stuck in poverty and least reached. With Niger ranking 187th on the UN Human Poverty Index in 2016, the need is great. “In the development side of my ministry, I work to help the local people build sustainable systems and ways of living that will improve their quality of life, by reducing poverty and disease and helping fi nd economic opportunities for the future,” she says. Her work has been aided greatly by what Hopf learned at Ambrose. She completed courses online and also returned to Canada every fi ve years to join with others in a supportive on-campus community that enriched her learning and her life. “The courses allowed me to gain a deeper understanding of my surroundings and to adapt what I was learning to my work,” she says. “At the same time, I felt loved and cared for at all times.” Hopf learned how to eff ectively adapt her approach and theological teachings to reach diff erent cultures and how to walk beside people in their physical needs and meet them where they are spiritually.
anthem magazine • spring 2019
The courses allowed me to gain a deeper understanding of my surroundings and to adapt what I was learning to my work. At the same time, I felt loved and cared for at all times.
“I was better able to grapple with a theology of suff ering, poverty and development aid,” she explains, “which was helpful as I learned how to live and respond in a world where I see need all around me and suff er at times with compassion fatigue.” Other courses were invaluable in helping Hopf understand her own culture and heritage, the culture of the people to whom she ministers, and how the two intersect in ministry and sharing the Gospel. Helping the Fulani villagers “understand the urgency of change” or “catch the vision” (both key lessons from Ambrose courses) is integral to Hopf’s work. “The villagers themselves have asked for help in agricultural practices and health lessons, yet they are tied in their religion to a fatalistic view that they cannot change their path. It is only the will of God that determines the outcome of their path, and they are further chained in a spirit of poverty that hinders them from taking risks. “I am developing ways to discuss change with the elders of the community, to learn about their view of change and vision and to help them sense the urgency of change in what they desire for their lives. “As I continue in ministry and ever-deepening relationships with the Fulani, the process of learning about faith, ministry and culture will never cease. That which I learn through development work about culture, worldviews and sensing an urgency of change … this becomes an integral part of sharing the truth as I continue to tell stories of Jesus and the power He has to change their lives.” p
THE PAPER CHASE A severed Internet cable wasn’t Kristi Hopf’s only challenge when trying to get the paper mentioned in this Anthem story to her professor. “It was in hot season and I lost power for two weeks as well during the writing of this paper,” she says. “I had, on average, sporadic 1–2 hour bursts throughout the day. “I calculated that I did 13 hours of research/study by flashlight and spent nine hours in restaurants with a generator to work, drinking about 11 milkshakes and eating multiple meals and copious amounts of fries to ‘earn’ an ongoing table throughout the day. “I also waited six weeks for a book to be delivered from the United States for research. I had it mailed from Amazon U.S. to a friend’s mom who flat boxed it to Niger!”
Kristi Hopf teaches a group of women about preventing malaria.
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