By Anthony:
I wrote an article about theological education in Africa, and posted it on the CRC Network. You can read the article here: Does Africa Need More Bible Colleges?
The CRC Network is a great resource for the Christian Reformed Church. People are able to write and post articles very easily. The Network also provides a space to discuss ministry ideas with people throughout the denomination and anyone else who would like to join in the discussions from other denominations.
Friday, October 25, 2019
Monday, September 23, 2019
Testimonies from various TLT groups
By Anthony:
In this post, I want to share some testimonies from a few TLT groups around Uganda that I'm coordinating, but not facilitating myself. The above picture is of the Pallisa TLT group, and below is a video testimony from Rev. John Okia, a member of that group. He is reporting about what God did through him and his action plan after he took the first manual of TLT called, "Caring for God's People."
There is also a TLT group meeting in Apac. One of the participants, Abel, was so grateful for the teaching he received in TLT and that God used him to complete his action plan. He wanted to show care for his pastor, so with the help of church members, he built a home for the pastor on the church grounds, and now the pastor is residing there. (In most cases, pastors are not given any home to stay in, and have to arrange it for themselves even if the church is in a totally different region from their own land and home).
Here are photos of the Apac group learning together, and the group praying for their action plans:
Third, here are testimonies and reports from Kotido about how their action plans were carried out based on the first manual, Caring for God's People. Here is a photo of a few of the group members and the facilitators:
Praise the Lord that in total, at least 105 people are reported to have become born again through the visits and evangelism of all the TLT participants! And most of these have started to attend church. Many church leaders were also trained by the TLT participants in how to make visits to other church members.
Lucy visited hospital patients nine times. She shared God's Word and prayed with many patients. She saw 62 people in the hospital get saved and make a commitment to Christ! Some of the patients were so touched that they asked her to travel far from the medical center to visit their homes and families to pray with them as well. Lucy went back to her church to get more help and recruited seven other women from the church to go with her to visit these patients and their homes, and they were able to mobilize some small items (like soap, which is not provided to people in the hospital) to give as gifts during the visits.
Joyce was able to plan a training at her church and taught 14 church members about how to visit people to show them the love of Christ.
Emmanuel visited the prison to do evangelism, and rejoiced to see 50 prisoners accept Jesus as their savior!
Jimmy, a deacon, owns a business and decided to meet with each of his staff members. He met with them one at a time and was able to have good conversations with them about their lives. In the process, he shared about his Christian faith. Two staff members became born again. Another one recommitted his life to Christ. One staff member's parent also got saved.
Herbert visited separated couples from his community, hoping to see some of them reconciled to one another. Most of the couples remained separated, but one couple did reconcile and now started to live together again and are sharing their money and resources!
Desmy, pastor of Kotido PAG, was able to train 25 church members on making home visits to other members in the church. The church agreed to make a plan for every Tuesday to be a day for Christians to visit one another, and a day for people to visit the church office if they would like guidance and counseling. One Muslim couple in the community was visited, and the wife received Jesus as her savior. Her husband has not allowed her to come to church on Sunday, but she has been able to come to the church office during weekdays to receive discipleship and counseling.
Photos from the Kotido group:
Daniel was the pastor who helped me to facilitate manual 1 in Kotido. He was able to return to Kotido to lead manual 2 with George (without me). This is what Daniel says:
"At a previous TLT manual in Kotido, one of the participants was unable to read and write so she could not read the manual. But she was determined to learn, and committed to TLT, so I decided to teach her how to read and write. She and her friends invited me to come early before the next TLT training. I spent two days teaching her and 12 other people the basics in reading and writing in their local language, Karamajong. They organized for me to stay in the home of a church member. They appreciated the training very much."
Here is a photo of the language training:
In this post, I want to share some testimonies from a few TLT groups around Uganda that I'm coordinating, but not facilitating myself. The above picture is of the Pallisa TLT group, and below is a video testimony from Rev. John Okia, a member of that group. He is reporting about what God did through him and his action plan after he took the first manual of TLT called, "Caring for God's People."There is also a TLT group meeting in Apac. One of the participants, Abel, was so grateful for the teaching he received in TLT and that God used him to complete his action plan. He wanted to show care for his pastor, so with the help of church members, he built a home for the pastor on the church grounds, and now the pastor is residing there. (In most cases, pastors are not given any home to stay in, and have to arrange it for themselves even if the church is in a totally different region from their own land and home).
Here are photos of the Apac group learning together, and the group praying for their action plans:
Third, here are testimonies and reports from Kotido about how their action plans were carried out based on the first manual, Caring for God's People. Here is a photo of a few of the group members and the facilitators:
Praise the Lord that in total, at least 105 people are reported to have become born again through the visits and evangelism of all the TLT participants! And most of these have started to attend church. Many church leaders were also trained by the TLT participants in how to make visits to other church members.
Lucy visited hospital patients nine times. She shared God's Word and prayed with many patients. She saw 62 people in the hospital get saved and make a commitment to Christ! Some of the patients were so touched that they asked her to travel far from the medical center to visit their homes and families to pray with them as well. Lucy went back to her church to get more help and recruited seven other women from the church to go with her to visit these patients and their homes, and they were able to mobilize some small items (like soap, which is not provided to people in the hospital) to give as gifts during the visits.
Joyce was able to plan a training at her church and taught 14 church members about how to visit people to show them the love of Christ.
Emmanuel visited the prison to do evangelism, and rejoiced to see 50 prisoners accept Jesus as their savior!
Jimmy, a deacon, owns a business and decided to meet with each of his staff members. He met with them one at a time and was able to have good conversations with them about their lives. In the process, he shared about his Christian faith. Two staff members became born again. Another one recommitted his life to Christ. One staff member's parent also got saved.
Herbert visited separated couples from his community, hoping to see some of them reconciled to one another. Most of the couples remained separated, but one couple did reconcile and now started to live together again and are sharing their money and resources!
Desmy, pastor of Kotido PAG, was able to train 25 church members on making home visits to other members in the church. The church agreed to make a plan for every Tuesday to be a day for Christians to visit one another, and a day for people to visit the church office if they would like guidance and counseling. One Muslim couple in the community was visited, and the wife received Jesus as her savior. Her husband has not allowed her to come to church on Sunday, but she has been able to come to the church office during weekdays to receive discipleship and counseling.
Photos from the Kotido group:
Daniel was the pastor who helped me to facilitate manual 1 in Kotido. He was able to return to Kotido to lead manual 2 with George (without me). This is what Daniel says:
"At a previous TLT manual in Kotido, one of the participants was unable to read and write so she could not read the manual. But she was determined to learn, and committed to TLT, so I decided to teach her how to read and write. She and her friends invited me to come early before the next TLT training. I spent two days teaching her and 12 other people the basics in reading and writing in their local language, Karamajong. They organized for me to stay in the home of a church member. They appreciated the training very much."
Here is a photo of the language training:
Wednesday, August 21, 2019
Two Book Recommendations
By Anthony:
The first book I'd like to suggest that you read is called: "Just Do Something: A Liberating Approach to Finding God's Will" by Kevin DeYoung. I love the book's alternate title as well - "How to make a decision without dreams, visions, fleeces, impressions, open doors, random Bible verses, casting lots, liver shivers, writing in the sky, etc." It is a really short and easy read. In thinking through decisions in my own life, I found it really helpful.
Here are some quotes that will give you an idea of the book's main points:
"So here’s the real heart of the matter: Does God have a secret will of direction that He expects us to figure out before we do anything? And the answer is no. Yes, God has a specific plan for our lives. And yes, we can be assured that He works things for our good in Christ Jesus. And yes, looking back we will often be able to trace God’s hand in bringing us to where we are. But while we are free to ask God for wisdom, He does not burden us with the task of divining His will of direction for our lives ahead of time."
I'd also like to recommend to you a little book that can help you to understand your pastor better and care for him well. It's called The Book Your Pastor Wishes You Would Read: (but is too embarrassed to ask).
One of my passions is caring for pastors and helping them to live balanced lives where they get enough exercise, enough rest, enough accountability, enough financial support and enough prayer. I love guiding pastors and encouraging them. This book can help you to care for your pastor of your own church.
The book is short; you can probably read the whole thing in 1 or 2 hours. The book wasn't exactly what I expected. Some things in the book are obvious, like that pastors need adequate incomes to take care of their families. But there are many things in the book that you've probably never considered. For example, he explained why most pastors want you to have high expectations of them, and in which ways. If you have interest in making the lives of your pastor/pastors a little bit better so that it is a joy for them to serve you, think about giving this book a quick read.
The first book I'd like to suggest that you read is called: "Just Do Something: A Liberating Approach to Finding God's Will" by Kevin DeYoung. I love the book's alternate title as well - "How to make a decision without dreams, visions, fleeces, impressions, open doors, random Bible verses, casting lots, liver shivers, writing in the sky, etc." It is a really short and easy read. In thinking through decisions in my own life, I found it really helpful.
Here are some quotes that will give you an idea of the book's main points:
"So here’s the real heart of the matter: Does God have a secret will of direction that He expects us to figure out before we do anything? And the answer is no. Yes, God has a specific plan for our lives. And yes, we can be assured that He works things for our good in Christ Jesus. And yes, looking back we will often be able to trace God’s hand in bringing us to where we are. But while we are free to ask God for wisdom, He does not burden us with the task of divining His will of direction for our lives ahead of time."
"God is not a Magic 8-Ball we shake up and peer into whenever
we have a decision to make. He is a good God who gives us brains, shows us the
way of obedience, and invites us to take risks for Him. We know God has a plan
for our lives. That’s wonderful. The problem is we think He’s going to tell us
the wonderful plan before it unfolds. We feel like we can know—and need to
know—what God wants every step of the way. But such preoccupation with finding
God’s will, as well-intentioned as the desire may be, is more folly than
freedom. The better way is the biblical way: Seek first the kingdom of God, and
then trust that He will take care of our needs, even before we know what they
are and where we’re going."
"Obsessing over the future is not how God wants us to live,
because showing us the future is not God’s way. His way is to speak to us in
the Scriptures and transform us by the renewing of our minds. His way is not a
crystal ball. His way is wisdom. We should stop looking for God to reveal the
future to us and remove all risk from our lives. We should start looking to
God—His character and His promises—and thereby have confidence to take risks
for His name’s sake."
One of my passions is caring for pastors and helping them to live balanced lives where they get enough exercise, enough rest, enough accountability, enough financial support and enough prayer. I love guiding pastors and encouraging them. This book can help you to care for your pastor of your own church.
The book is short; you can probably read the whole thing in 1 or 2 hours. The book wasn't exactly what I expected. Some things in the book are obvious, like that pastors need adequate incomes to take care of their families. But there are many things in the book that you've probably never considered. For example, he explained why most pastors want you to have high expectations of them, and in which ways. If you have interest in making the lives of your pastor/pastors a little bit better so that it is a joy for them to serve you, think about giving this book a quick read.
Thursday, July 11, 2019
Pictures from Everyday Life
By Anthony:
This post is a bit random. Enjoy pictures from our everyday life and ministry. This first one is of me preaching at a village church in Katakwi district. The pastor in the red shirt is my good friend Moses who was doing the translation for me.
Our dog, who looks more like a mongoose in this picture.
Can you find all the toads?
Sara prepping dinner:
A hedgehog Sara found in the garden:
A cool frog we found in our yard. It's not a poisonous one, but an expert said it would irritate your skin to touch it. It's probably a Phrynomantis bifasciatus.
An unwelcome guest for the dogs in their bowl, but we thought it was pretty cool to see. A harmless tree snake.
A brown parrot in our yard:
A cool weaver bird in Sara's garden:
Baby rabbits (from 6 months ago):
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