Traveling to Equip Local Church Leaders in Uganda: A Photo Essay

Intégrité: A Faith and Learning Journal Vol. 21, No. 2 (Fall 2022): 63-72

Traveling to Equip Local Church Leaders in Uganda: A Photo Essay

Cordell P. Schulten

On July 21, 2022, I departed from St. Louis for Bushenyi, Uganda, to serve with a team of three fellow teachers providing leadership training to local church leaders. The conferences were organized and presented through the ministry of Equipping Leaders International (ELI). Our team presented two fourday conferences for pastors and their spouses to encourage and assist them in their gospel ministry throughout the western region of Uganda. ELI provides these training conferences several times throughout the year to equip and support local church leaders who will then be able to further teach and equip their local church members with the training they receive. Psalm 121 is often called “the traveler’s psalm,” and I pray it as I venture out on each new journey. I departed St. Louis on the morning of July 21 and arrived, by God’s good and gracious hand, in Washington, D.C., where I departed later that day on the second leg of my journey to Brussels, Belgium. There, I met two members of our ELI team, Rose and Dennis Kroll, and then we traveled together to our final destination, Entebbe, Uganda. We arrived in Uganda around 11:30 p.m. Friday night local time.

“If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me…. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith” (Philippians 1:22-25 ESV).

As Paul reflected on his ministry in his prison cell, he was convinced even more that God had called and equipped him to serve his sisters and brothers in Christ with the singular purpose of encouraging their progress and joy in the faith. This same purpose motivated our Bushenyi team as we began our first conference. God has been and is now at work in a powerful way among the churches that these dear sisters and brothers are serving. Our first sessions stressed the foundation of the Gospel, God’s design and purpose for marriage, and the wonderful ways God has created husbands and wives to be mutual helpers in life by His grace. It also stressed how God even uses our differences God uses to refine and develop us in our walk with Christ so that the marriages of believers can be a strong testimony to the mercy, grace, and forgiveness Jesus shows to us in His love.

At the conclusion of the first day’s sessions, one sister and two brothers stood up one at a time and spontaneously gave testimony to the truth of God’s Word that they had heard for their mariages that day. Pastor George, our team coordinator and an overseer of 70 local churches, said that it was very special for such testimonies to come on the very first day of a conference. Ordinarily, such responses from the conference participants are spoken on the final day as an expression of appreciation and thanksgiving. The dear sister said that she had been praying for a very long time for God to bring this teaching about living out the reality of the Gospel of Christ through their marriage relationships.

“When Barnabas arrived in Antioch, he rejoiced as he witnessed the grace of God, and he exhorted them all that they should remain faithful to the Lord Jesus with steadfast purpose of heart.” (Acts 11:23 ESV)

As I anticipated and prepared to come to Uganda, I prayed that God would give me the spirit of Barnabas to encourage and strengthen the faith of my dear sisters and brothers in Christ. Now that I have been in their midst, especially in the first three days, the Lord gave me the blessings of Barnabas both to witness

the grace of God so abundantly present in their hearts and lives, and to rejoice with them in praise and worship of Christ who unites us with one another in Him.

“What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to faithful people, who will be able to teach others also.” (2 Timothy 2:2 ESV)

Toward the end of our first week’s conference, I taught one of the concluding sessions on the topic of parenting. I emphasized the primary role and responsibility of parents to shepherd and disciple their children so that they too would become faithful followers of Christ. I stressed that discipleship is a fourfold path that begins with parents saying, first, you watch me (that is, the parents must first be examples and models of obedience, confession, and repentance as Christ’s disciples themselves); second, you help me (with whatever life activity or task you are seeking to train them in doing); third, I help you (with the task—for example, with Bible study and memorization, or life skills such as cooking, washing the dishes, or laundry); and finally, I watch you. As our first conference came to a successful conclusion, we again reminded and encouraged all the conference participants to take what they had learned over the past four days and teach and train the families in each of their

local churches to follow Christ by becoming more faithful husbands, wives, and parents to their children, all by the grace and strength of God’s Holy Spirit, as they purpose in their hearts to obey God’s Word. Our team leader and local coordinator had together graciously arranged for us to spend a full day of rest for spiritual and physical renewal and refreshment at the Mbarara University guesthouse that day over the weekend. We were even blessed with gentle rain showers to refresh us during the time of rest.

“So we built the wall. And all the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work. But when Sanballat and Tobiah …. heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward and that the breaches were beginning to be closed, they were very angry. And they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it. And we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night. In Judah it was said, ‘The strength of those who bear the burdens is failing. There is too much rubble. By ourselves we will not be able to rebuild the wall.’” (Nehemiah 4:6-9 ESV)

When the workers rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem had reached the halfway point of their project, the enemy opposition increased to its strongest force, so that discouragement began to set in. When we reached the halfway point in our mission to teach and train the local church leaders of the Bushenyi District here in Uganda, discouragement, at least within me, began to arise. There was too much rubble in my soul. I realized that I was becoming quite short-tempered and easily irritated by the slightest annoying behaviors (from my perspective) of others around me. I decided to take the opportunity of a day-off from any scheduled activities over the weekend and spend the entire day in solitude, personal reflection, and rest. The day alone, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer directs for his students in his little book, Life Together (1939), was extremely needed and proved to be refreshing and renewing spiritually, psychologically, and physically. After that day alone, I awoke Sunday morning before dawn, and I was greatly looking forward to worshiping with our sisters and brothers in Christ here in Mbarara. After a breakfast of omelets, toast, tea, and fresh fruit, our host, Pastor George, arrived to take us to the location where his church gathers for worship. We traveled a few minutes away from the university guest house and came to the church building where many local believers were gathering and beginning the morning worship by singing and dancing! You would have thought all those fiery discouraging darts that had been piercing my soul the day before would be thoroughly quenched and driven away by such a vibrant spirit of worship. However, just as the National Bishop (for the Full Gospel churches who we are serving here) was invited to preach, an

extremely painful and violently cramping bout of intestinal distress struck me. It became unavoidably necessary for me to make a fast exit from the service and to be quickly driven by the church’s deputy back to the guest house. I made it to my room just in time. I spent the rest of the afternoon suffering the ill effects of something I had eaten at breakfast. To add to my distress, the electrical power went out at the guest house and was off for over 4 hours. My team members stopped by the guesthouse on their way from church to a family thanksgiving celebration feast at Pastor George’s home. They provided me with Gatorade, ibuprofen, and English biscuits to nibble on as I began to be restored to a measure of health.

“When he had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church, and then went down to Antioch. After spending some time there, he departed and went from one place to the next through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.” (Acts 18:22-23 ESV)

As Paul and his fellow workers returned to the areas where they had first served in ministry after a short period of rest, our ELI teaching team returned to Bushenyi from our weekend of rest in Mbarara. We were graciously enabled to begin the first session of our second leadership training conference with a new group of local pastors and their spouses, and, as if to show us His refreshing blessing, the Lord caused the latter rains to begin falling as the session was progressing. Our second group of pastors and spouses appeared to be a little older (as a whole), more serious-minded, and more mature in their faith. We also returned to our accommodations in Bushenyi at the Crane Hotel, where we have been provided quiet and comfortable rooms for evening rest and hearty meals to strengthen us during those final days of teaching and training.

“So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.” (1 Thessalonians 2:8 ESV)

We learn from Luke’s account in Acts 17 that Paul had only two or three weeks to preach and teach the Gospel in Thessalonians, yet in that short time these new followers of Jesus captured Paul’s heart. In much the same way, I do not hesitate to say that these sweet pastors and their spouses, who serve over 40 local gatherings of believers in the Bushenyi District of Western Uganda, have likewise captured my heart and soul. Upon our first introduction 12 days before, I was immediately struck by the vibrancy of their faith in Christ. The vigor and enthusiasm of their worship through singing and dancing was so wonderfully infectious! Over the course of lengthy conference sessions of instruction, their hunger for the Word of God, like that of the Bereans, grew more evident as each day’s lectures and Q&A sessions progressed.

On the second to last day, I was called upon to present three lessons—the first on the Five Love Languages (as illustrated by Jesus in the Gospels), the second on Effective Communication by Active Listening and Empathy, and the third on Biblical Parenting as the first task of Discipleship. Even though I grew wearier and weaker, the wide-eyed attention of these true disciples of Jesus imparted a special grace that fortified and sustained me. The cynics among readers of this account might attribute my increased energy to an adrenaline rush, but those fellow believers who had been partnering in this endeavor through regular and faithful prayers knew the true source of the power that equips us to serve and to persevere in that service when everything within these frail jars of clay urges us to quit the struggle.

“I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints, and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ. For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother [and sister], because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.” (Philemon 4-7 ESV)

During my final three days in Uganda, “the Pearl of Africa,” I spent time visiting Jinja Town, where I was richly blessed by the refreshing fellowship of God's people, and especially the fellowship of my Handong Global University student, Boyeon Han. Jinja is one of the most international cities in Uganda. Many NGOs have located their offices there, including the Korean NGO, Good Neighbors, with whom Boyeon has been serving for the past six years. She recently accepted a 3-year posting in Jinja in March of this year, and she is now

an integral part of Good Neighbors' project to assist young girls with their education and healthcare. Together, we enjoyed a delightful time of worship and praise with the believers gathered at Arise Africa Church, one of the largest international Christian communities in the eastern part of the country. Arise Africa grew out of a ministry started by World Reach Partners and a local Ugandan pastor. In addition to enriching worship, I was also blessed with delightful hospitality and delicious table fellowship provided by Boyeon at a number of local food courts, cafés, and restaurants. The Ugandan version of Kung Pao chicken that we enjoyed at a food court nearby the church was particularly tasty. In addition to both refreshing fellowship in the Word and at table, Boyeon arranged for some outings to provide opportunities to view both the natural beauty of the equatorial countryside as we joined a cycling trek of over 30 km, and the glorious displays of tropical birds and animals along the shoreline of the Nile River viewed from our group's boat excursion. All too soon, though, my short visit in Jinja concluded. My driver, however, evidently wanted to provide me with a few more minutes of joy and encouragement by arriving nearly 90 minutes late (yet one more experience of “African time”) to our departure to Entebbe, a two-four-hour drive depending upon the jam (short for traffic jams, that are all too frequently encountered along the roads in Uganda).

After a farewell reminiscent of Acts 20:36-37, I took my seat in the driver’s Toyota SUV for our journey to Entebbe airport. Within a few minutes, we were on our way along the route and enjoyed this final view of the Monday evening setting sun. Upon being dropped off at the airport, I began a nearly 38hour journey back to my home in St. Louis via Brussels and Chicago. By God’s good and gracious hand, I arrived safe and sound Tuesday night to the welcoming arms of Sandy and my son, Justin, who met me at the gate!

“For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil: we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. You are witnesses, and God also, how holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers. For you know how, like a father with his children, we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.” (1 Thessalonians 2:9-12 ESV)

My heart has been refreshed and profoundly challenged to make the most of every opportunity that the Lord provides to me to strengthen the faith of our sisters and brothers in Christ both nearby and in the remotest places of the earth. I invite and challenge you to consider the possibility of joining me in another mission abroad in the coming year.