Kenya & Uganda

Jesus’ Unique Requirements—Part II

Leave a Comment / Death & Dying, Great Commission (Mt 28), Kenya & Uganda, The Missional Church / By /

A recurring theme in the gospels, particularly in Jesus’ instruction to his disciples, is the attitude required to pursue God’s purposes. Here are a few samples: When the ten heard [about the power squabble between the sons of Zebedee], they were angry with the two brothers. But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among […]

Jesus’ Unique Requirements—Part II Read More »

Casting a Wider Net

2 Comments / Kenya & Uganda, PCUSA, Personal, The Missional Church, The Pastoral Call / By /

Ministry transitions are sometimes difficult to navigate. There is always the pesky need to “make a living” while following Jesus into the unknown. In the hour-long Q & A with almost 200 Ugandan pastors last August, one of the dominant themes was financial support for the pastors who desired to work in the ministry full-time. They were frustrated because the overwhelming demands of pastoral care and the need to work a job that would pay their living expenses clashed. The deep poverty of their parishioners—a pastoral care issue in its own right—meant that the community did not have the funds

Casting a Wider Net Read More »

Retrospective on Normal vs. Transformed Life

Leave a Comment / Kenya & Uganda, Leadership and Spirituality, Lung Cancer, People, Personal, Theological Reflection, Uncategorized / By /

Alene was my senior year roommate at Stanford, and our friendship has been renewed by visits in the last few years, most recently last summer in Bomet, Kenya, where she and Steve are missionaries. Thankful for the blessing of Internet contact, Facebook, and my Caring Bridge site chronicling medical adventures since my diagnosis, Alene and Steve have been keeping up with Naegeli news from afar. Yesterday I received in the mail a hand-made card from Alene. It touched me very deeply and suggested the entry point for my next series of blogs. On the cover is a rather fanciful elephant—known,

Retrospective on Normal vs. Transformed Life Read More »

The Eighth Day of Christmas: The Multitude of Angels

5 Comments / Christmas, Kenya & Uganda, Lung Cancer, Personal, Romans 8, Theological Reflection, Uncategorized / By /

A person with cancer often becomes isolated; I have observed that my world has become smaller since November 4. Before I got sick, I was traveling to Kenya and Uganda on vacation. Now it is a major field trip to walk twenty minutes around the block surrounding my house.  Pretty much anyone I see now has come to where I am, since circulation in public places during flu season poses an unnecessary but very real risk to immunosuppressed people. One gets lulled into believing that reality is very small and even quiet, but the Eighth Day of Christmas carries a

The Eighth Day of Christmas: The Multitude of Angels Read More »

How Much Money Is Enough for Fruitful Ministry?

Leave a Comment / Kenya & Uganda, PCUSA, The Missional Church, Theological Reflection, Uncategorized / By /

 In our American economy and within our church tradition, money in support of Christ’s mission is typically disbursed for personnel, facilities, program, and mission. A new church plant starts commonly with a designated pastor whose financial support is provided to give him or her time to invest in gathering people. There is usually some investment in facilities, a place the church can call home (although this is changing out here in the West, where many church plants rent commercial or educational space and keep their “stuff” in trailers during the week). Program costs typically start with what happens on Sunday

How Much Money Is Enough for Fruitful Ministry? Read More »

Reflections on Kenya and Uganda: Two Musings

Leave a Comment / Kenya & Uganda, Leadership and Spirituality, People, Personal, Sermon Illustrations, Theological Reflection / By /

Two unrelated observations today . . . Lots of Children. One thing that strikes you as you drive the countryside of both Kenya and Uganda is that there sure are a lot of children around. Schools both public and private, day schools and boarding schools, dot the landscape. You can’t help but notice the kids in their school uniforms walking along the highways and byways, acting as young people do everywhere. After making this observation, when I got home, I looked up the statistics provided by the Central Intelligence Agency, of all places:  Uganda’s median age is 15.5 years (birthrate

Reflections on Kenya and Uganda: Two Musings Read More »

Reflections on Kenya and Uganda: Raise the Roof!

Leave a Comment / Food, Kenya & Uganda, Leadership and Spirituality, People, Personal, Theological Reflection / By /

Our second full day in Uganda was dedicated to exploring ministries to children at risk in both Makindye (a district of Kampala) and a rural village. Surprises awaited us, all of them delightful and encouraging! First stop was to visit St. Mbuga Primary School adjacent to Gospel Messengers Church in Kampala at 8 a.m. Six hundred twenty-five students and about twenty faculty were gathered in the central patio of the school, arranged by class and therefore by age and size, from the teeny-tinys to the right all the way to the upper grades to the left. They greeted Andy and

Reflections on Kenya and Uganda: Raise the Roof! Read More »

Reflections on Kenya & Uganda: Gospel Messengers in Kampala

Leave a Comment / Kenya & Uganda, People, Personal / By /

A long day of road travel, through construction traffic and a border crossing into Uganda, we arrived late and weary to the Imperial Royale Hotel in Kampala. Pastor Moses Semanda awaited us there in the lobby; he was also weary after his return from Rwanda where his church group was completing a week-long mission trip. We agreed to call it a night and rejoin in the morning, when we would come to Gospel Messengers Church. I was scheduled to preach two services there. Andrew our driver picked us up at at 8:30 after a rather rough start to our morning.

Reflections on Kenya & Uganda: Gospel Messengers in Kampala Read More »

Reflections on Kenya & Uganda: Village Enterprise

Leave a Comment / Kenya & Uganda, People, Personal, Uncategorized / By /

After our 5:30 to 8 a.m. hike above the rainforest canopy, we switched gears and climbed into the safari van for a trip into Kakamega to meet the Kenya team of Village Enterprise. VE was started in 1987, the year I was ordained in the PCUSA, by Brian Lehnan and Joan Hestenes Lehnan, Presbyterian friends of ours. They had graduated from Eastern College (now University) with the hope of becoming overseas missionaries. A medical condition prevented their call from becoming a reality, and so after prayer and an assessment of the needs, they founded an organization to address deep poverty.

Reflections on Kenya & Uganda: Village Enterprise Read More »

Reflections on Kenya & Uganda: Above the Canopy

Leave a Comment / 2012th General Assembly (Pittsburgh), Kenya & Uganda, PCUSA, Personal, Sermon Illustrations, Theological Reflection / By /

Next stop on our great Africa adventure itinerary was Kakamega, Kenya. Two features drew us to this city in the west:  the Kakamega Forest Nature Reserve, home to many unique birds, and the Kenya office of Village Enterprise. I will cover VE tomorrow, but for this Sabbath, let me share some thoughts evoked by the experience of walking through a rainforest before dawn. The Kakamega Forest is an equatorial, tropical rainforest of about 250 square kilometers. It used to be the eastern end of a vast forest that stretched uninterrupted all the way to the Atlantic Ocean. But over time,

Reflections on Kenya & Uganda: Above the Canopy Read More »

Scroll to Top