PipesLine #6-09- The Holy Spirit is at work in their lives.
- Believers are being discipled and new believers are being called by God and are responding to Jesus.
- The staff is learning the dynamics of team ministry, and resolving conflict the Lord’s way.
A team of 5 will be joining us from the States, 3 from Central Christian College, Moberly, MO, one from Visalia, CA and one from Shakopee, MN.
Nancy, our team member from CA will be working with ladies from the church in Kampala and Busanna making choir robes. This is a project we have been praying about for almost 2 years. Nancy is not only an elementary school teacher in CA but also has a great love for sewing.
The other team members will spend their mornings in the public schools sharing with the students. The school program is built around Bible lessons and the Gospel.
In the afternoon the entire team will be conducting Bible studies with people who live in the vicinity of the church. Each team member will have a small group. The Bible studies focus on the character of Jesus and why He came to this earth.
The team is musically gifted. In addition to the Bible studies they will offer a mini concert in the afternoon. Our hope is that this will cause many of the participants to join us for the evening crusade and or church.
Most every evening we will close the day out with a crusade. Serving alongside the Ugandan staff, the American team will participate with music, testimonies, and preaching.
After a week in Kampala we will move the ministry to the rural area of Busanna with the same ministry focus and program.
Dan Morris, (IM staff living in Uganda) and I will be holding a seminar on the Prosperity Gospel with church leaders. From my perspective this is the most devastating lie that has filtered into the church. This deception is carrying away so many believers to a deep dark ocean, where they are drowning in a sea of lies.
For the past month I have been preparing the lessons I will be teaching. In the process I have been convicted of some of my attitudes toward money and materialism. In the next few paragraphs I want to share with you some of the convictions I am wrestling with at the moment.
As believers we often hear about the prosperity gospel and its devastating effects on the Christian faith around the world especially in places like Uganda or other developing nations. What has come as a surprise to me is just how affected I am and the American Evangelical church is by the prosperity gospel. As someone who has always stood behind and promoted the widespread benefits of short-term missions I have seen the effects of our national financial recession first-hand. Fear of widespread financial crisis has caused many people to become tight-fisted and immovable with their pocketbooks, especially where giving to the church and missions is concerned. I have heard all kinds of justifications on why people aren’t able to go on or support a short-term trip, most of the reasons being financially generated.
As I have developed friendships with men and women of God in Uganda and made it my priority to help them with discipleship and church building, they have come to look forward to and really appreciate the teams that have come over from the US to encourage them. They have always viewed the American short-termers as spiritual giants who are able to pour into their lives and help them to grow as a church. However, now as I prepare to tell them not to focus on money and to serve the Lord faithfully, how am I to explain to them that many Americans are not willing to come and serve them in short-term missions because they are holding too tightly to their finances, refusing to surrender it to the work of the Kingdom. I have heard many use “lack of peace” due to financial security as the reason the Lord is “closing the door” for them to go on a mission trip.
I am reminded of the parable of the talents where a man entrusts three of his servants with five talents, two talents and one talent, each according to his own ability. He went away and allowed them to do as they wished with their talents. The man with five talents invested them and was able to return them with a gain of five more. The one
with two talents also invested it and returned it to his master with a double gain. But the man holding only one talent buried it in the round and had nothing of value to give to his master when his master returned. To the servants who invested and made good use of their talents the master replied “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.” But to the servant who did nothing with what he’d been given, the master cast him out calling him lazy and slothful.
How different are we as we make good use of the resources the Lord has given us. Why is it that the church and missions suffer and giving is down, and yet ones quality of life has not changed at all? It appears to me that we value eating out, having new things and being entertained far more than we value furthering the kingdom. If only 10 families were to avoid eating out only once a month, the effects overseas in a place like Uganda would be tremendous, and if we are honest, it cost those ten families very little. Realistically, the things of the earth will burn up and have no eternal value, but who can put a price tag on a soul? If our financial investments have eternal consequence, they will be much further reaching and much more valuable than any standard of living we choose to maintain. It is my prayer that even as the future looms ahead with uncertainty, that we focus in on the person of Christ and His heart for the world and His desire to see the kingdom furthered and in doing so, surrender over our fears of financial insecurity, allowing Him to do as He wishes with the fiscal resources that He has entrusted to us. The harvest is many, and the workers are few. Jesus would love to send workers out to work the harvest, but the act of financial surrender must be present in order for Him to do so.
Next week I will send a daily prayer reminder before I leave. And thank you for taking the time to read our update
Blessings,
John and Alina
"Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His
compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your
faithfulness. I say to myself, "The Lord is my portion; therefore I
will wait for him."
Lam. 3:22-24