“I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.” – Romans 1:16
Four of our Pastors, Joseph, David, Santino and Andrew travelled to Uganda Arua on 13th July 2012. They did not have any challenges on the way though the car had a puncture near the border and thank God they had a spare tyre.
They arrived in Arua on Sunday 15th July in the evening around 6:00pm. They received a warm welcome from Billy and his family. They were amazed that a white man could kneel down to greet them. They said that Billy’s wife and kids also could wash their hands and kneel as they were greet them. They said that this family demonstrated God’s love by doing that because they felt honoured, something they did not expect from a white person.
On Monday 16th July at around 8:30 am the training commenced. They had six sections in a day. The main thing they were taught was Bible stories. They gave me an example of a story about Mary and Martha the time Jesus visited them. Martha was busy preparing something for Jesus while Mary decided to sit under Jesus feet and listened to Him. Mary came complaining to Jesus about her Sister’s behavior but Jesus told her that her sister has chosen the right thing.
During the training the Pastors were divided into two groups and they were taught how to be a good story teller. First you need to deal with the story and not to make a quotation or else you will be confusing people. When telling the story you need to go slowly in order for people to understand. You need to have the Bible with you when telling the story or else people may think you are giving your own teachings. Don’t mention the chapter first because people will be busy openingthe Bible instead of listening from you. When you finish telling the story you now mention the book and chapters.
Each group had a teller of the story, a reteller, a leader leading through the story and also an observer. Billy taught them for three days and ask them to go out and teach. They had a chance to facilitate the teachings to some South Sudanese students in a certain high school in Uganda.
The Pastors were given ten chapters in the Bible to read them. After they had read them several times and understand them, they can share with new believers.
The Pastors were very excited and thanked Suzy and Sabet for allowing them to participate in this training. They are looking forward to share with their communities, Santino mentioned that he will share with the people of Maloney, Joseph with the people of Warkar, David with his village and Andrew to the patients who comes everyday to the clinic. They were encouraged to share God’s word to the prisons, road, garden and anywhere else.
After the discussion with them today, David offered to tell us a story from Bible in the book Acts 24:24-27 about Felix and Drusilla his wife, he sent for Paul to listen to him as he spoke about faith in Christ Jesus. David asked for a volunteer to retell the story, and then I led through the story and Albino was the observer.
They were really excited and thank God for the opportunity to hear more of His word and they are more than willing to share to all nations.