Soroti Timothy Leadership Training

This week I co-led the 6th manual of Timothy Leadership Training here in Soroti.  This group of pastors and leaders started the training a couple years ago.  They will complete the program in October and some will become master trainers who will go on to train many others.  Although I was not with this group for the previous manuals, the coordinators were in need of another facilitator, and so I filled in.  We met from 8-5, Monday-Thursday.



The 6th manual is: "Overcoming Violence in the Family."  This is a powerful manual and very practical.  Some of it is very intimate and hard to speak about.  We looked at what the Bible says about honoring other people who are made in God's image.  We were challenged to honor people in society that are not normally honored, following the example of Jesus.  We looked at examples of family violence in the Bible (there are many), and what they teach us.  We looked at what Christian marriage is supposed to look like, and discussed issues of domestic abuse and other conflicts in marriage.  We not only discussed personally how to deal with these things in our families, but also how to help those in our churches. 

We talked about contemporary issues like land grabbing, verbal abuse, female genital mutilation, protecting children from abuse, and other sensitive topics.  We spent a great deal of time talking about pornography and how we can help those who are struggling.  It is becoming a bigger and bigger problem in Uganda.  While we struggle with it in the US on our computers, in Uganda people commonly have access to it on their phones as well as stores that rent out pornographic DVDs.  We talked about other sexual sins like incest and how to protect people from it.  And we talked about how to help those struggling with homosexual desires.  We talked about how to help victims heal from past abuse, and how to help the perpetrators find forgiveness and transformation.  I also learned that alcoholism is a serious problem in Uganda.

People were very touched by the training, and they are very excited to carry out their new action plans based on this manual.  They are eager to help those in their churches with these difficult topics.  Some are planning to find ways to counsel people in their churches struggling with family violence, and others are going to teach this very manual to others.  Here is a picture of them praying for their action plans.



Here is a photo of me, and Rev. Ngigii in the middle who came from Kenya to be the leading facilitator for this training, and Emmanuel on the left, the local coordinator.  Emmanuel was also at Pentecostal Theological College while we were there, so he is a good friend.



Over the week I was able to hear testimonies about the previous action plans from the other manuals.  Here are three testimonies about action plans that I received permission to share with you.

Emmanuel,  (the one in the picture above), shared about his action plan which consisted of starting a drug store in Soroti, in an area heavily populated by Muslims.  The plan was for this store to help supplement his income to take care of his family, and also a way to reach out to Muslims with the love of Christ.  Emmanuel carried out this plan and created "Grace drug store."  It is doing very well and he has other employees that help him run the store, since Emmanuel also has full-time pastoral work.  They talk and pray for people that come to the store for drugs or treatment.  A few people have come to Jesus and been saved because of talking to him or other employees at the store. 

Martin made a plan to start a small nursery school through his local church.  He talked to the church and they responded well to the plan and they let him start a small school at the church property.  Since that time, the school went from about 20 children to over 100 children.  They are filling a big need in the community.  Martin named this school, "Timothy Nursery School."

Joseph, (another of our former students), is the pastor of the church in Soroti we've been attending.  After the stewardship manual, he wanted his Christians to know about the importance of giving.  He made a plan which consisted of teaching, as well as visiting the individual families in his church.  Once he carried this out the giving increased from about 400,000 shillings for a month to 500,000.   Then it kept going up, to 600,000.  And it kept going up.  I'm told that right now it is at about 1,800,000 - 2,000,000 shillings for a month.  This is about a 400% increase in giving because of the action plan Joseph made in TLT.



When you train in Africa, there is always something interesting in the environment to take notice of.  Here is a cute little guy I found on the church veranda.