Missions and the Church

As we spend more time here, God is increasing one passion of ours: the local church.

The mission of overseas missions has to be the development of the local church, whether you are dealing with an unreached people group or not. There are many MANY biblical reasons why I think this, but as I actually do overseas missions, I have become ever more convinced of this.

What people and different cultures need are local, healthy, bodily representations of Christ, or churches. The Spirit is establishing these churches all across the globe. He brings the Gospel to the communities through churches. This gospel brings salvation, not just when we die, but also presently in our world. Thus, not only does the Spirit use the gospel for salvation from death, but also uses it for life now as it is meant to be lived. So, we bring healthy churches, which bring the gospel, which brings solutions to systemic social problems (poverty, education, famine, civil war, etc.). In other words, social issues of our day and the church are tied together.

I don’t know what you think about Uganda or what comes to mind when you think about the African continent, but for most it involves thinking about its “problems”. And while its true that Uganda faces problems (which are extremely complex), they are not all that different from the problems facing the other continents in the world. So, being a believer, as you think about Africa and support various causes, please have your support involve the local church. With all of its dysfunction and unhealth, the local church is still the only viable, eternal solution to the problems that people face (this is true especially in Africa, but it is just as true for the rest of the world). There is no other place like the church that God will use to meet people facing the brutal nature of the evil in this world and the evil in themselves. Sad to say, it seems to me that many problems in Uganda have come about because foreigners (even Christians) have presented “solutions” that have nothing to do with building healthy churches. These solutions end up hurting both Uganda and the church…

So, should you come visit Sarah and me in Africa, what will you see us doing? Working with the local church and the people of that church. We believe that the best people to solve Uganda’s problems (inside AND outside the church, temporal AND eternal) are Ugandans themselves. They know the culture, the language and the people. They can preach and live out the Gospel just like us. Our job, then, must be to train and develop the church to be sustainable to reach out in the ways that only they can do. Now, we might give some time to some other causes that we see are necessary here (ministry to street kids, organizations for those with disabilities), but only because we want to see them connected to the local church. I guess what I am arguing against is the idea that the church only solves eternal problems. The Spirit will also use it to solve societal problems. I am arguing for an understanding of the church doing both and what that means for how we do missions and what we support. The day Sarah and I stop developing some aspect of the local church is the day you should stop supporting us and reading this blog.

Please, lets have the church and its proclamation of the Gospel be central to what we are involved in, especially when it comes to cross-cultural missions.

A Ugandan Wedding

Last Saturday we got to attend a wedding for some friends of ours. Godwin’s, the groom, was someone we met our first trip to Uganda in 2010 when he was on staff at UCF. He was very influential in getting us the house that we live in, and is always willing to help us in any way he can. We have been anticipating their big day and were able to learn much about how weddings are done in Uganda. One thing we learned is that weddings have planning committees that are involved in helping to raise funds and make sure that no detail has been overlooked. Erin and I were on the committee and that was very informative as well. 

The day of the wedding arrived and we planned to be at the church at one when the invitation had stated. When we arrived, there were not many people there which was not surprising for us as we have seen this aspect of the culture many times. What was most surprising was that we knew how many people were invited and even by the time the ceremony finished only about half of the total guests attended the wedding. 

The ceremony was beautiful and not too different from ceremonies we are used to, the only real difference was that offering was taken. That and I looked over at one point to see a chicken wandering around the sanctuary. 

 

After the wedding the bridal party went to go take pictures. The reception was at a different venue and was scheduled to start at 4. We were advised to go home and plan on the reception starting at 4:30. So we went home, I even took a nap and we ate a little snack before heading to the reception. The reception started right around 5 and was again not too different than what we are used to in the states. All the invited guests had shown up for the reception to celebrate, dance, eat and congratulate the new couple. We had a great time celebrating.

A ribbon cutting before entering the reception 

Cutting the cake

Discipleship Training Program

This semester, for the first time, UCF is offering a thing called Discipleship Training Program (DTP). DTP is intended to be a two year program designed to train believers in basic godly character and encourage them to reproduce that character in others. Each semester there will be six Saturday sessions covering a variety of Biblical topics. Kyle and Trey will be taking turns teaching each of the sessions that start at 9:30am and go till about 1:00pm. This semester the areas of study will be; How to Read the Bible, New Testament Survey, Old Testament Survey, and Discipleship.

The first session held gave a breakdown of the whole program and we began our study in How to Read the Bible.  For me, it was filled with prophetic moments. One of Kyle's call to ministry occurred while teaching students how to read the Bible. After years of study and pursuing the Lord's will we were called to Kampala to work with a church and make disciples.  On this particular Saturday I got to sit back and watch my husband do something the Lord has created him to do and something he is passionate about; teaching people how to read the Bible. 

Yes, there is a white board there, Kyle teaches best when he has a white board. 

We had 47 people show up for the first day and we were excited to hear feedback from the day. This coming Saturday will be our next DTP and we are excited to see how the Lord will use this time. Kyle will continue to teach on How to Read the Bible. 

Keep Kyle and Trey in your prayers as they teach and pray for those attending that the Spirit would use this time to ground their faith in Biblical truth.  

Photo Dump

The last few weeks we have done a great job staying busy.  The photos below highlight some of the events.

We made some chocolate chip cookies! Which is really exciting because the only way to get chocolate chips is from an outside source, they are no where to be found in Kampala. 

We had many women over for a baby shower, and had a lot of fun. I have never had so much fun playing the game where you cannot say "baby," it got pretty intense. Some of these women were even tackled because they broke the rules and I was so glad that no one got hurt. 

Of course, we had to have a cake cutting. Stella is expecting her second child in the next few weeks and is married to the worship leader at UCF.

We also had a new student breakfast at church and this is Erin and I learning how to make samosas. 

A samosa is a fried pocket of meat or vegetables that are sold at nearly everywhere you can buy food here in Uganda. 

At this same breakfast, Kyle and I were asked to lead worship, which was pretty easy being that by the time we started there was only one student. 

Despite the low turn out,  all the food that we made did not go to waste. I think it is safe to say that the 7 students that showed up felt very welcomed.