Pastors & Church Leaders' Conference, July

Our special greetings to you all. We praise the Lord who has been with you in every circumstance, the Lord is good all the time. The scripture below has been of great encouragement to us.

“Praise the LORD! Praise God in his sanctuary; Praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; Praise him according to his excellent greatness!”  Psalm 150:1-2. 

This text encourages us to praise the Lord for his mighty deeds and for his greatness. It is a reminder to you to praise the Lord for whatever He has done in your life, or for whatever He has allowed to happen to you. The Lord is mighty and great in power, let us praise Him!

As the Psalmist has said, we ask you to join us as we thank God for His mighty deeds and greatness for the Pastors’/Church leaders’ conference which took place 9th to 11th this month. We really saw God working behind all the details of this conference. Forty seven Pastors/Church leaders attended.

A group discussion

In the group discussions the leaders were contextualizing the text together. Forty seven Pastors/Church leaders were divided into five groups. We provided accommodation and food for all. Most of them we had met them through village mobile trainings, which we do with church leaders, more especially for those who pastor village churches and have hardly attained any theological training. It was a blessing to catch up with most of them.

The picture above is the group photo of all the leaders with Alex on the extreme left.

Do you remember in our May Newsletter we wrote about a popular city pastor who burnt Bibles? This group called us to teach them what the true Bible is. So, we have had a close friendship with them as a ministry. The books we were holding are CHRISTIANITY EXPLORED MINISTRIES materials. It’s a discipleship book. Each member was asked to carry out this program in their local church; it basically focuses on the book of Mark. 

As LUNGALA BIBLE MINISTRIES-UGANDA, we will be ensuring that these materials are really used. We will be available for them in case they have any questions, or if they would want any guidance from us, or even when there is a need for extra materials needed. 

CHRISTIANITY EXPLORED MINISTRIES was leading day sessions at the conference, while LUNGALA BIBLE MINISTRIES-UGANDA led night sessions; majoring on PREACHING BIBLICALLY and THE SERVANT AND THE BIBLE. If you're interested in these topics, please let us know and we can always send you a soft copy.

General group discussions

After our teaching, a couple of church leaders would come to make photocopies of our materials. We didn’t make copies for all, as it is expensive. The common question each church leader was asking "How do we encourage our congregation to realize that meaningful preaching must have a reasonable amount of time?" This was after asking them to avoid 10-15 minute sermons. Usually at our church the sermon takes 45 minutes to an hour each Sunday. 

Way forward    

                                     

We have a form for all people who attended the conference. We will use this to do a follow-up with them. We have received two church members who have already started this program in their churches. This was a sign that they cherished this discipleship. We will be making phone calls and personally visiting these groups taking place in their local churches.  Part of these materials is written in Luganda and is on a digital copy, we would love to have a hard copy. Most church leaders here speak our local language, a few can speak English. So, this Luganda in a hard copy will be of great importance to those who speak little or no English at all.

The Ministry of the Bible distribution

The Bible is our DNA. At the conference we had one case of Bibles. The attendees were able to get Bibles for themselves and for their church members. We continue to ask for your support in that field. There is no way we can expect a transformed church when people have no access to the distribution of Bibles.

Above is a church leader enjoying her Bible study in the morning Bible devotion at the conference. The pastors were so happy to find affordable trusted Bibles at the conference. Scovia who is a church member here, says “after finding a Bible here, I saved every small coin so that I could get one. I had previously spent my money in witchcraft, so why can’t I spend my smallest coin to get the Word of Life”. She said this to me (Alex). I think that was heart touching. 

More conference photos

No, its not a real angel in the bright shining garment!

Mpigi Home plot news

It’s becoming hot here. The rainy season is coming to an end. We have started to harvest. Although it might be good for harvesting, pasture will be scarce for our animals. Six pigs are two months pregnant. They look heavier.

One of our ground structures occupied - a pigsty

We want to thank you for your prayers for this ministry. May God bless you. 

Prayer Requests: 

1. Ministry Land

2. Join us to thank God for the discipleship program going well

3. Provision to print Luganda Christianity Explored booklet
4. Ministry financial support (we are in a critical time)
5. Provision of Luganda Bibles for the village Churches

Alex and Simon (Uganda-Africa).