Bible studies are forming in the villages of northern Uganda because of the water drilling ministry of Texans on Mission. Now, TXM is stepping up to provide training for local church leaders.
“As the congregations increase, more and more leaders need training,” said Mitch Chapman, director of TXM Water Impact. “In February, we brought people together from the area villages to be trained in how to better lead their new and flourishing Bible studies and churches.”
Last year, the water ministry in Uganda paved the way for 12 congregations to be started, with 910 professions of faith.
Texans and Ugandans on Mission, TXM’s ministry there, sponsored its first Church Leaders Conference to provide instruction in pastoral self-care, hermeneutics (biblical interpretation), Bible study methods and children's ministry. Ninety area leaders participated.
Doug Hall, a TXM donor relations officer, attended the conference. “Our ministry rented a bus and drove out to pick up all these people,” he said. “Most of them had never been to town before,” but they stayed the week in a Gulu hotel and attended daily training sessions at Kingdom City Church.
Chapman said: “We start Bible studies in every village, and some already have become churches. We also provide four weeks of discipleship training before a Bible study begins. But our pastors are really suffering from a lack of education about Scripture and how to apply it.
“Our goal is to educate our pastors and leaders so that we're raising up educated churches and, hopefully, we see more leaders multiply out of those churches,” Chapman said.
TXM has provided Bibles in local languages, but still church and Bible study leaders need guidance, Chapman (right) said. “Anyone who is new to Christian faith and the Bible needs help in understanding and applying Scripture, and these Christian brothers and sisters are no different.
“It has been exciting to see how they gravitate to the Gospel and how quickly they learn,” Chapman said. “And, while we teach them certain things, they help us understand more about how the Gospel is spread and remind us of the power in the Good News.”
Since the conference, Chapman has received feedback about its helpfulness. “We taught them hermeneutics and most of them didn't even know what the word hermeneutics meant when we started,” he said.
“Now, we have a couple of the more educated pastors that are talking about teaching hermeneutics once a month at their church and inviting the pastors that are close enough to walk or to ride their bicycles to come and participate in that,” Chapman said.
“So, we're already starting to see the impact of the conference stretch out to other church leaders,” he said. “We just feel like it's going to be very, very vital for us to educate church leaders as we drill more wells and start more Bible studies and churches.”
