And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.
2 Timothy 2:2
Dear Friends and Family,
As the church grows not just in size but in maturity, it seems to be a natural result that ministry and the responsibilities of doing the ministry increases as well. To help keep the ministry flowing and to keep the leadership from being spread too thin, it is important to train up and share some of that responsibility with mature church members.
Recently at Arise Christian Fellowship we announced we would like to train up more volunteers to help with the ministries at the church. We were pleasantly surprised with the amount of interest that was shown. To my delight, the majority were interested in children’s ministry. This was a huge blessing because our children’s ministry can go from 65 when school is in session to 200 when school is on a break. The next largest interest group was worship. Our worship leader was happy about this because recently she lost 2 of her team members due to their having to relocate because of their jobs. The new worship volunteers are quite young but very motivated. It is a great discipleship opportunity for us with them as well as training them in worship. We also had interest in ushering and cleaning. One man who Brian has been discipling expressed the desire to present announcements for the church services.
With all of this interest we held a volunteer training for anyone interested. We also had a specific Sunday school training for those interested in teaching, with some practical, hands-on workshops. The training for the Sunday School teachers was done by a co-laborer of ours, called Paul. He serves with an organization that trains Sunday school teachers all over the world. He travels all around Uganda training Sunday School teachers. He also has gone to our compound in Nimule to train the teachers there. Some of our Christmas and Easter productions have been directed by Paul as well. He is very gifted with children.
“Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord.”
James 5:14
One of the biggest ministries we have had as of late is helping the many sick chaplains who come through the Far Reaching Ministries. Most of the chaplains have common tropical diseases but have not been able to receive the proper medicines where they are deployed deep in the bush. We had one chaplain who had been shot seven times up near the border of North Sudan. We praise God that he was not killed. The doctors here even were amazed at how every bullet missed vital organs or arteries.
Another chaplain was in a car accident that was caused during a rebel attack. He had many injuries but the worst was that his left arm was broken in several places. The doctors put in a metal plate and screws and it is now healing very well. We have another chaplain who is recovering from a broken back. There have been many typical sicknesses you would expect to find from age and a hard life. It is such an encouragement when you see their health improving and they are able to come to church and testify of what God has saved them from and how they have been healed.
This year I am still homeschooling the children. I homeschool Liana fully and Luke and Laylee are in online school as well so that they can have permanent records for highschool and eventually university. For extra curricular activities the girls are in ballet and Luke takes karate as well as playing basketball.
Thank you for praying for our family and for the ministry in Uganda.
In Him,
Brian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana
PRAYER REQUESTS
- We are so thankful for the many ways the Lord has blessed us and for everyone who supports us and the ministry in Uganda.
- Please pray for all the volunteers at Arise Christian Fellowship, both old and new. Pray for them to be filled with the Spirit and gifted for the ministries they are doing.
- Pray for all of the chaplains who are ill or injured. Pray for their healing and for the testimony they are to so many.
- Pray also for Scovia who works for the FRM guesthouse as she just had surgery to remove a large lump from her neck. Pray all the biopsies come back negative.
- Pray for Jill and the children as they continue homeschooling. Pray for patience for Jill and a desire to learn for the children.
- Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship
- Pray for the Kanyike children to get called for their citizenship interview.