Click here to go to the Rural Development Page
Districts
The Mbale Team along with nationals sent by the team serve over 180 rural
churches in 18 of Uganda’s 52 districts (Apach, Bugiri, Busia, Iganga,
Kaberamaido, Kapchorwa, Katakwi, Kumi, Lira, Mbale, Masaka, Mukono, Pader,
Pallisa, Rakai, Sironko, Soroti, and Tororo) and over 120 churches in
several districts across the border in Kenya, continuing the ministry of the
Kitale Team (1981-1994). Because we have a commitment as a team to go
wherever God opens a door, we have found ourselves crossing the border into
northern Tanzania and southern Sudan. At this stage of development, it is
essential that we equip and empower Kenyan and Ugandan nationals to carry
the weight of ministering to each church. Phillip and Laura Shero coordinate
the team’s rural focus on growing clusters and training teachers.
Clusters
All of the churches we serve are organized into clusters. A cluster is a
group of churches within walking distance of each other who fellowship
together once a month and share resources as needed to help each other grow
to maturity. Evangelists in a cluster work together to plant new churches.
Preachers rotate to the new congregations to strengthen them in the Word.
Elders from more mature churches help their younger “sister churches” to
solve church problems. And all the churches band together to meet special
needs such as buying land or raising a new church building, planning
weddings, paying medical bills, and organizing funerals. There are about 33
clusters in Uganda and 22 in Kenya.
Training Teachers
Every church we work with must go through our curriculum of basic Bible
teaching. These begin by laying a foundation for faith in God through Christ
and the Holy Spirit and an understanding of salvation. We then teach each
congregation about living out their new Christian life and being joined and
fitted together in their proper place in the Body of Christ. Ugandan and
Kenyan nationals are the primary teachers of these church seminars. In 2003,
they taught over 200 seminars in more than 100 churches. We are constantly
working to train new teachers as the work expands and to re-train current
teachers as we write new seminars. There are currently about 35 active
teachers.
Elders
While many of the Kenyan churches established in the 80s and 90s already
have shepherds and some level of maturity, the Ugandan churches are much
younger. There are seven churches on the Ugandan side who have gone through
our teaching program to the point of selecting biblical elders to lead them.
As churches and clusters develop their own evangelists, teachers, and
elders, we as a mission team are able to step back and entrust them with
more and more of the ministry.
Development
Though we are primarily a teaching team, we recognize the vast and
legitimate physical needs of the Ugandan people. As God supplies resources
and people with the necessary skills, we try to meet physical needs in
Jesus’ name and prepare Christians to provide for themselves and their
neighbors.
Click here to go to the Development Page.
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