Category Archives: Ministry

Pastor Training

Effective for Christ

Written by Pastor Kibe

Pastor Kibe sharing a story

Paul told the church of Corinth 1 Cor 9:26, “I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air.” Considering this scripture in light of ministers of the gospel, I think that a lot needs to be done to improve our effectiveness in soul winning and discipleship.  As I look and pray concerning South Sudan I tend to see that one of the greatest need for the church is to have the pastors and the teachers of the word equipped properly to have them carry on the work of Christ effectively. In Deed and Truth Ministries has been training pastors from Tonj and Rumbek. Last week we had Pastor Billy from Uganda come and teach STS (Simply The Story), the art of story telling as a way of passing the Word of God. Since the majority of the congregation cannot read or write, story telling is one of the beautiful concept that the pastors can use to teach the word.

Pastor Billy Teaches STS

As the seminar went on, it was just beautiful to fellowship with the pastors and church leaders and see how eager they were in learning. I was really encouraged to see one of the participants called Peter, who is 16 years old, eager to learn the story telling concept. Our prayer is that as they go back to their homes they will continue to use this method to teach the word.  The Lord Jesus said in Luke 12:48, ”For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more”. We would urge you too who are partners with us in Christ calling to pray for them.

Kuj Family, Ministry, Pastor Training

A Visit from the Coppedges

It was a joy to host the Coppedge family, missionaries from Arua, Uganda, for a new story telling training.  Billy has visited us many times but only came with his wife and 2 oldest children once, over 2 years ago.  Since then they have added twin girls to their family and it was our pleasure to have them all come for a short visit.  For them as a family to engage in ministry together was also special.

Our kids asked us for days leading up to the visit WHEN would they arrive!  We don’t get a lot of  ‘young’ visitors, so this was an all round special time for both families.  We really thank God for this family, for enduring despite the hard work to pack up four young children for a trip into the bush and for being willing to go wherever the Lord sends them.

Billy was a facilitator for the Simply The Story training through Mango Ministries and World Gospel Mission.

Ministry

CHE Community Visits

Written by Whitney Smith

Lurchuk Team with Whitney

The last two weeks have been very busy but very exciting. I was able to visit all of our CHE trainers in their communities, and I can’t tell you how encouraged I was to see their progress in their communities and in their homes. Now, the basic structure of a CHE program is this:

Facilitators will lead a series of Training of Trainers (TOTs). There are 4 of these TOTs, each a week long, and spaced out every few months, with specific homework assignments for the trainers after each TOT. These trainers help to create awareness in their communities about CHE and how it can be used to bring about wholistic transformation. They do small-scale projects to encourage the community, and help them realize what they can achieve when they work together, even without any outside help. After the 3rd TOT, the trainers help the community to select a committee. The trainers will train this committee in how to run a CHE program. The committee will select what topics to teach to the community, and also decide what community-wide projects should be done to bring change and transformation. Then, the committee will select CHEs (Community Health Evangelists), who will lead home groups, where they teach physical and spiritual lessons that can be easily implemented and shared, thus multiplying the impact throughout the community. The Trainers are also the ones to train the CHEs. One of the greatest benefits of this structure is that a community really feels ownership of this program, thus, they are empowered knowing their development lies in their own hands with God’s help. They feel confident that they do in fact have the resources, both in materials and people, to see their communities grow and become healthy in every way – physically, spiritually, emotionally, mentally, socially.

Our current trainers, who are eleven in number and span 5 different communities, have now completed 3 TOTs, and are gearing up for the fourth March 11-15. In one community, Lurchuk, we visited the home of trainer Athunta, where she lives with her 4 boys. She was keeping her home very clean and even using a tippy-tap! She and fellow trainer David have started training their committee and have already covered 14 lessons since January 7th! The committee is really motivated it seems. This community is about 3 hours from Tonj by car, and there is no phone network there. Despite the fact that these two trainers have been so disconnected from the rest of us, they have still maintained so much momentum for seeking God’s change in their community and helped to spur on others as well! I’m so proud of them!

Would you pray for our trainers and our team of facilitators as we prepare for the last TOT? We know that the real power to transform comes only from God. Join us in seeking his transformative power in the lives of our CHE trainers and their communities!

Athuntas Tippy Tap

Medical Clinic

Three Year Old Boy Needs Our Prayers

By Sham Musyoki (RN)

Burn VictimToday three year old Akuei Teng Ulol was brought to our clinic with extensive burns covering about 36% of his body. The burn was caused from boiling water which poured on him after he was left at home alone without anyone to watch over him. His father carried him from the village of Korking, which is very far, a whole day walking. With daytime temperatures reaching over 120 F, this journey was not an easy one. We’re just so thankful our clinic is here to help them, otherwise what would they do?

This is one of the very many incidences resulting from lack of safety in so many homes and one reason our clinic is shifting its focus more to the community and preventative care. We have started training through the CHE program, Whitney recently taught the Community Health Worker’s (CHW’S) on how to conduct a ‘healthy home’ visit and also Margit has begun her CHW training on Saturday mornings. Our desire is to bring awareness and prevent accidents before they happen by conducting home safety training during our home visits and share ways of making the home area a safe place for the little ones who are quite adventurous in early childhood.

Akuei is doing quite well and is currently admitted in our clinic. Please pray for his quick recovery and also pray for his family.

Burn Victim

 

Church Plant

Update from Pastor Kibe

Demonstration

Even in the most desperate situation, we try to share the gospel. This is exactly true at the In Deed and Truth Ministries clinic. Of course the patients come here with an aim of getting treatment. We seize the opportunity and share the gospel. Such happened yesterday Pastor Judah (who happens to be my translator most of the time) and I did a demonstration of how sin has a grip on us as human beings – we were using the verse in Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” We called one of the guys, used a string to tie his hands and feet and passed the string around his neck. I asked him to untie himself and he couldn’t. I called one of the health workers(Joseph) to untie him as i explained that such is what Jesus did for us when he died at the cross. We also quoted from Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is everlasting life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” We assured them that if the call upon the Name of the Lord they shall be saved even as the scripture tells us so. The patients were glad that we shared with them the gospel, and prayed with them. Besides sharing the gospel orally, we also ensure that the patients get a gospel tract written in Dinka. We know it is a challenge for some of them to read such material since they do not know how to. But we hope and pray that they will read this material or get someone to read for them and that the Lord will speak to them.

One of the challenge though is how to reach the men since most of those who come at the clinic are women and children. Pray that the Lord will lead us on how to reach to the men, especially the former SPLA fighters who spend most of their time drinking.

Patients

Patients