THE TRAINING OF PASTORS; SOWING SEED June 5

Yesterday morning was spent sitting in a course on evangelism with African pastors. The teacher was Dr. Kromendom , a retired professor from Covenant college who has spent many summers in Uganda over the last 20 years. At 70 years old and 6"5' tall, he is a Dutchman who's most notable characteristic is his fervency and zeal teaching the theology and practical aspects of evangelism. His heart is in this subject matter because he has seen the "revival fires" of the Holy Spirit at work in East Africa. These are the sort of men who are training pastors in a simple, open concrete floor room, doubling as a church, with a little building next door as a school for the community, and another for a health clinic. It is a good work going on here.

The evangelism course ended at noon and the 20 or so African pastors went out with the muzungus (us) to preach the gospel door to door in the village surrounding the church. Breaking up into pairs or trios we scattered throughout the skinny dirt streets and alleyways of the town. MOst homes would have a young woman (avg age in Uganda is 15, life expectancy 45) scrubbing clothes or tending to children, most of whom were partially clothed and covered in flies. This is not something completely new to my eyes, but nonetheless troubling. The men were to be found in certain sections of the town making large red clay bricks. Others travel to different parts of the city to run little stands. The typical worker makes about 500 shillings an hour ($0.40). It appears to be hard labor that they mainly do. In spite of the poverty, these are industrious people for the most part. The corruption of the government seems to be the primary cause of poverty here.
The way evangelism went was something like this: I and the African pastor would approach someone on the street or in their doorway (people are everywhere here!) The native pastor would start up a conversation with the person in Bugandan and eventually say "ok, share with them," at which point I would beging to essentially explain the gospel. They are very interested and willing to hear what we have to say. The vast majority of them have not heard the good news of the Jesus Christ. Although many speak English, often it is poor, so we still go through the translator (pastor). It is very difficult to tell the effect of the message, but the greatest hope of a true reception of the seed of the word is found with those who agree to come to the church (Zana community church). It is a great comfort and hope to know that pastors are being trained now to shepherd their congregations all across Uganda. It has been very encouraging to get to know some of these men and see their hearts