Earlier this month our team met with staff members Faustino Ringe and Jakisa Ufoyrwoth in far northwest Uganda just this side of the Congo border. It was an exciting trip! We drove across homemade bridges, had to navigate fallen trees, and all got stung when we passed a wild African beehive with our windows open. This was a follow up training session with several pastors that we met with in 2017 where we began to implement small group fellowship and training.
Historically, we have operated in a large conference setting in an effort to reach many people at once. However this is often difficult and expensive. Using this small group model, our team is able to go out and meet 4 to 5 church leaders at a time and participate in an afternoon of deep study. The group is then instructed to meet together each month and shown how to study the material together.
“As iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another” Prov 27:17. The idea is to show that as Pastors, they do not have to remain on an island, isolated from each other. They are shown that they are not in competition with each other but can support and encourage on another. Who better to understand the difficulties and trials of church leadership than other church leaders?
We have found that this method of learning can be incredibly effective and is very simple to replicate. One of our core principals is that it is the responsibility of each Pastor and Church leader to go out and train their communities and raise up the next generation. This model has a proven multiplication effect that allows an area to be impacted much faster than by a single person alone.
We began using this model in our early evangelism training when using the Evangecube and it has been extremely successful. It started by teaching someone how to share his/her faith. That person then went on to show others how to do the same. By discipling a small group of leaders our team has been able to make an incredible impact and seen great numbers of new believers in east Africa. We are applying the same techniques to train the pastors and other leaders that have been raised up. By continuing to encourage true discipleship, these men and women are raising up many more future leaders than we could ever hope to do on our own.
Thank you for you continued prayers and partnership in this mission.
