He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.
Revelation 22:20-21
When we read these words from our Lord Jesus Christ and His beloved Apostle, forty church leaders and I gave a long moment of cheering. As the last verses of the Bible, those words represented the end of another three-year journey through Scripture with the shepherds of God’s people in Northern Uganda. The students will return in January to present their final projects, Gospel Sermons that utilize biblical themes, and to recap what they have learned. After that, they will return one final time to celebrate their graduation on April 5th!
Unfortunately, we are ending this journey with only two-thirds of the students that we started with. However, we are so proud of the men who have stuck through to the end. We have seen God move in powerful ways in their lives through the transformation that naturally occurs when people saturate themselves in God’s thoughts. Most of our graduation candidates used to lead the church away from the truth of Scripture towards African superstitions, works-based salvation, cultic glorification of celebrity “pastors,” and many false doctrines learned from others or fabricated themselves through a twisting of God’s Word. Yet, after three years, those same pastors are grounded in the message that ties God’s Word together, the Good News of Jesus’ advent, perfect life, substitutional death, resurrection, ascension into heaven, and soon return as Judge. Now, not only do they grasp the Gospel, but they can now teach it from Scripture. In the past, when asked to preach, instead of explaining and applying their texts, they quickly left their passage in order to preach popular, unbiblical ideas they learned from pastoral “telephone tag.” Eric is a good example of this transformation. Despite his Anglican overseers initially trying to dissuade him from coming to an evangelical school, Eric was placed as the teacher over a circuit of four churches after his leaders witnessed his newfound careful handling of God’s Word.
This journey has been very rewarding and strenuous, but it has not been lonesome. Much like the feeling the Apostle Paul expressed in his second letter to the church in Corinth (2 Cor. 11:28-29), I am continually burdened for the purity of the church here in Acholi-land. Because of the responsibility that I feel, I often go without days off, I wake up to study and pray hours before dawn, and continually intake knowledge from God’s people who have come before me in order to grow as a teacher and leader. But God has given me support from six Acholi men who have served with me through this process. While all the students have become my true friends, the six discipleship group leaders have become more like brothers. I was reminded of this fact last week when I visited Pastor Walter, who sent me home with more than 20 ripe papayas, a humongous jackfruit, and a sack of casava and corn from his garden to show his appreciation.
We are frequently reminded of God’s reasons for calling us here, and ask for your prayers to continue the work, being steadfast and immovable. We don’t take it for granted that so many of you are sacrificing for our family to be here. You labor with us in the forwarding of the Gospel.
May God bless you all with newfound intimacy with Christ and spiritual growth,
In Christ,
Matt & Noelle, Cynthia, Emma, Maddie, Noah & Charlotte
