New pictures can be found " HERE " (If I can get them uploaded which is not happening at the moment but I will keep trying)
Hi Everyone,
It is almost 5pm. I am sitting in the office of e3partners waiting for my turn to use the computer here.
I am quite sleepy tonight. We came here last night so the power was out. By the time we made our way back to the hotel, and I prepared email, sent it in town, ate dinner, met to discuss finances with our seminar coordinator, and finished some details and got to bed, it was 12:30am. I was awake at 5pm so I didn't get much sleep.
We've finished 3/5 of the week and as the week goes on I think it is safe to say that the enthusiasm of the pastors, who are in attendance, grows.
TODAY'S CONTENT
In the basic/advanced group the men from Acton covered NT Themes through Colossians, Paul's Advice to Elders in Acts 20:28-35, and the Health and Wealth Gospel. Then in the afternoon I went through the theology of Ephesians and Romans with the same group.
In the morning with my veteran groups (those who have been with me before) I covered 1 Corinthians 12 in two sessions. The purpose of the two lectures was to show how spiritual gifts are designed by God to bring unity to the body of Christ and make it possible for every believer to be involved in the church's ministry causing the building up of the body.
UNITY OR DISUNITY BECAUSE OF GIFTS?
When I finished up the first of the two early lectures, defining each of the spiritual gifts listed in 1 Cor. 12, a pastor talked about how spiritual gifts were causing people in his church to become proud and argue and look for status and influence. He asked me to comment on what he should do. I pointed out that they needed to teach what the Bible says about spiritual gifts and show that if they are causing division the Holy Spirit is definitely not in control.
APPLYING A PRINCIPLE FROM YESTERDAY
This gave me a great opportunity to talk about an emphasis from yesterday's lectures. Namely, that the pastor is supposed to equip the saints . . . . .until we all come to the unity of the faith. That means that the pastor is to keep teaching the Bible to the believers until there is a unity of what the church understands about the truth of God's Word. I used this as an example. I told them to teach the doctrine of spiritual gifts to the church so the church will understand the purpose, and will learn that there is not gift that is more important, etc.
This advice can be applied to every potential divisive issue in the church. Time after time I get questions about issues that are dividing churches and my advice is ALWAYS the same. "Teach them what the Bible says."
My third session was a review of the book of Jude with an emphasis on verse 3 "Contend earnestly for the faith." It was another warning about false teachers and what to do about them.
Q&A TODAY
We had people write questions yesterday so we had a stack we could go through. We went through quite a few but not all of them. I'll pass on as many as I can remember.
1. Why did you tell us that it is best for a man not to counsel a woman? Jesus preached to the woman at the well and He's a man and she is a woman.
2. Comment about Romans 14:22 which says "The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves." I was preaching to a prostitute and she asked me to comment on these verses. She said she held her own conviction and approved of what she did.
3. How do you distinguish between a preacher and a teacher?
4. Gen. 1:28 says be fruitful and multiply what do you have to say about family planning?
5. Leviticus says we are not supposed to eat a pig. What is your comment on that?
6. The Bible says "judge not" so why do we take people to court where a judge is present?
But not all of the observations and insights came through questions asked. They also came through conversations. The other guys had conversations about how the prosperity gospel is swallowing up Uganda and how pastors place themselves into places of power, handpicking their elders, and refusing to receive rebuke or advice from anyone. This is all too common here in Africa. It is not unusual for a pastor to receive correction with, "The Bible says `I will not lift my hand against the Lord's anointed.'"
PROGRESS? I THINK SO
The men who are with me from the Acton church notice the difference between the beginning group who is going through the basic and advanced seminar and the "veteran group" of pastors who have already gone through the basic and advanced. They notice a maturity and capability difference. I believe this is at least partly due to the fact that they have been introduced to many things and are now building on the basic and advanced seminars they have been through. We are lining up a few testimonies of pastors who have benefited by past seminars and are doing things differently because of the seminars. We hope to bring back some videotaped interviews with some of these men.
I CAN'T READ THE BIBLE, WILL YOU HELP?
One pastor handed me a note after one of the lectures. It reads: "Due to my blindness, please may your Do me a favor and assist me with reading glasses numbered 1.50x0.00x180. Now days I don't read the Bible! Thanks a lot."
We often hear about the lack of Bibles here in Africa but we don't often think about those with poor eyesight who cannot afford glasses. I know of an organization which recently handed out about 200 pairs of reading glasses and each recipient tested their new pair by reading portions of the Bible.
I could probably think of other things to add but my sleepiness is overpowering my ability to think right now so I'll just send what I have.
Thanks for your prayers and friendship and interest and support.
By His grace, Steve Van Horn
Mawanga, Uganda. [Join] the Community
- Mawanga is a remote village of 5,000 people located 3 hours east of Jinja in the Bugiri District. Partnering with the local pastor and community at large, we empower and assist the underserved who experience economic, physical, spiritual and social barriers to become self-reliant and strong believers in Christ