Every year is different, and every year is the same. Every year brings challenges, but what those challenges are can be different each month and week. Every year brings celebrations and successes, but we never know what that will be until they come. This past year has been a GREAT year in ministry, though it has been moving at a back-breaking speed. The stories of transformation and Holy Spirit impact continue to pile up, but so do the challenges and the work. We find ourselves continuing to pray as Jesus instructed: “Lord send your workers to THIS field!”

Here is a recap of some of the things we’ve been doing as a family and mission here in Eastern Uganda. Warning: This is a long post, but praise God – He has been moving!

Disciplemaking Groups – In 2023, Gina and I continued meeting and pouring into the disciplemaking groups that began in 2022. Gina and her co-leader, Agnes, have been meeting with the nine ladies for almost a year-and-a-half now and they are really finding openness and transformation happening. They began visiting the ladies in their homes in 2023 and that opened the doors for further conversations and deeper discipleship. Leland and his co-leader, John, have found it harder to crack the tough exteriors of the 10 men in the group. The group members seem very closed-off and resistant to transforming their lives around the Word of God, which is obviously frustrating. Leland finds it tough to know exactly who will be meeting each time they gather because the consistency and commitment isn’t there. Our prayer is that in 2024, God makes it clear which people are truly open to being discipled and allow Leland and John to pour into them.

Messiah Theological Institute – We had another great year at MTI, finishing with 28 graduates in November. The students were exceptional this year, each expressing genuine interest and commitment to learning the Bible AND applying it in the difficult parts of their lives. Through the disciplemaking groups at MTI, we were able to see the Holy Spirit begin transforming minds, hearts, and lives. We were also encouraged to see how committed the students were to their Practical Ministry Assignments of starting DBS and D-Groups in their home communities and churches. We had several new teachers help us throughout the year and were pleased with all the efforts made. It was the twenty-second graduation of MTI and a true celebration!

Conferences – The Mbale Mission hosted three great conferences in 2023 and participated in the National Churches of Christ conference, and you can see some pictures above. In June 2023, the Mbarara Region (far Western Uganda) hosted church of Christ leaderships from all over the country to gather for fellowship, encouragement, unity, and teaching. The Mbale Region sent 15 leaders to participate, and the group really enjoyed the time of spiritual unity with brothers and sisters from various parts of the country. In August 2023, we hosted the second Leaders Conference for Eastern Region churches of Christ. We had over 180 leaders come as we examined what it means to Lead Like Jesus (Read more HERE). Then in December, we hosted our annual Women’s and Youth Conferences. The Women’s Conference was exciting because it involved new, younger women in leadership, which brought important and evolving voices into the mix. We had 178 women participate from 51 different churches. The Youth Conference was another good gathering of 323 youth from 55 different churches in Eastern Uganda. The focus of the Youth Conference 2023 was “Fruitfulness” and they taught about being fruitful in service to the Lord by remaining close to Him. Beyond these, we were also blessed to host three one-day trainings on the Lord’s Supper in different areas. In all, we taught over 210 church leaders from 51 churches the relational, Biblical, and practical aspects of taking the Lord’s Supper together as a church family.

Travel – We visited the churches in Lira in February 2023, where we did leadership training with seven churches. After a day of training, we visited the churches and prayed with the believers of each congregation. Though these churches have been working with the Mission for many years, they seem to struggle to make growth and progress in any tangible way. It was a somewhat discouraging visit, though we were able to recruit two students from that area to join MTI. We are praying their involvement will have an impact as we continue to try and equip the leaders of that area for disciplemaking.

Discovery Bible Studies – One major hurdle we continue to work through is that most Ugandans do not read the Bible. DBS continues to be a major tool in equipping churches to read and study the Bible. We trained six more churches on how to form small group Bible studies, and visited nine previously trained churches in 2023. In addition to these groups, we also helped the 18 Basic MTI students to begin DBS groups, meaning we helped begin 24 DBS groups (that we know of) in different churches. These groups meet weekly to examine Scripture and how the Word of God is calling them to act on what they learn. This reading, study, sharing, and accountability can be the beginning of life-transformation and an introduction to relational disciplemaking. Through DBS groups in 2023, we distributed over 200 Bibles for people to study!

Community Development Projects – As we began the year of 2023, we were determined to refocus some of our energy on community development projects – those projects that focus on financial and physical growth within villages and churches. With that focus and the help of several partners, we were able to start three separate projects AND grow in our preparation for upcoming trainings in Village Savings & Loans groups. After successfully managing their own group for the past three years, the Busumbu Church of Christ helped us begin a small business savings and loans group at one of their neighboring churches. Not only did Busumbu help give the new group business loans, but they also led the training on how the group should operate. It was a great show of Christian unity and supporting one another. In April, we helped another church, the Kapuwai Church of Christ, begin a sheep project. This project will multiply year after year until each member of the church has received nine sheep to help provide school fees, nutritional food, and basic medical care. (You can read more about the sheep project HERE.) In June, we had the privilege of attending AND hosting training events on Village Savings & Loans groups, which will allow us to help local church form small, independent, and sustainable groups that help families grow in their abilities to provide. (Read more HERE). We pray this will be a HUGE blessing in 2024! Last but not least, the children’s ministry of Harpeth Christian Church helped us to start goat projects in three rural communities in the mountains. The Kids Goat Project will help these churches to provide each family with one high-quality goat and eventually provide goats to the neighbors of the church. Over the next 3-4 years, we will see the impact of this project.

New Staff – The past several years we have had one major prayer request: Lord, send your workers into the field here in Mbale! And while we still continue to pray this prayer (and ask you to join us), we have been blessed to add Mwalye Peter to the Mission Staff in 2023. He is a LivingStone International University graduate who grew up in one of the village churches. He has been serving the past five years at Mbale Church of Christ and we decided to bring him on in April 2023. His energy, enthusiasm, passion, and willingness to serve have been a great blessing to us this year. We are still praying for more staff and leadership, but we are thankful for Peter.

Sustainability Projects – We are always looking for ways to make the ministry more sustainable here in Uganda. In 2023, we began two major steps towards this goal. First, we developed a water well that can provide the ministry with free water from underground water, along with storage and pumps to go with it. Secondly, we have worked with a local architect and engineer to help make plans for constructing an apartment building on the mission property. When these apartments are completed, we expect the income provided to greatly impact the long-term sustainability of the ministry. More on the Apartments in 2024!