Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our LORD, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever Amen.
Hebrews 13:20-21
The importance of thorough discipleship stuck out to me last weekend. It was my daughter Emma’s turn to go on an outing with me, and before getting ice-cream we spent a few hours evangelizing door to door with our church, Calvary Chapel Gulu. Emma, myself and our head pastor, Fred Latim, sat in the yard of a local political leader with the gentleman and his Muslim friend. The politician is a Christian who publically claims Christ and was very eager to talk to us about Jesus, but he didn’t know that Muslims worshiped a different god, he didn’t know the difference between any of the groups that proclaim the name of Jesus, and he couldn’t tell me why God allowed Jesus to die on the cross! The darkness of ignorance is vast when even sincere Christian leaders are severely underdeveloped.
Jesus reached the world through 12 disciples, three of whom stood out as His inner circle. We have followed His example in our school. Although we have 40 students between two classes who will study through the whole counsel of God’s Word, the real discipleship happens with the 6 alumni who have been appointed as Discipleship Group Leaders.
Our group leader’s development comes through teaching, modeling and coaching. As graduates from the program they have already been taught through the whole Bible. On top of that, as I mentioned in our January update, we meet for one week of every month to prepare for class by studying the upcoming text together, and praying together. During the class weeks they are busy guiding devotions and leading discussions on the passages we are covering. They also practice teaching and receive feedback during one-on-one meetings.
The impact has been tremendous. Every month I receive testimonies from these six men of how their development is effecting their lives, their families, and their churches. I was taken back two weeks ago during two meetings I had with one of them who is old enough to be my grandfather. In both meetings he couldn’t hold back his tears as he thanked me for being in his life. He told me that I was the first person to “father” him, the first person who took the time to direct, correct, teach, and mentor him. Another of these men has doubled his influence through leading the School of Ministry at his church! I believe that these testimonies are a result of the bond that we have formed as we pursue the LORD together. As we delight ourselves in Him, the LORD continues to give us the desire of our hearts.
Please pray for these six men who have given their lives to disciple others in Christ.
- Walter Owor
- Peter Ocaya
- Mark Olak
- George Acaye
- Denis Olara
- Richard Okot
