A small team of Western Canadians have arrived in East Africa. Our very own Anzac Campus Pastor Neil Scott and Rev. Samson Ntambara are part of the team. Samson follows the footsteps of his father who was a church-planter in East Africa. The full, three-week, schedule includes speaking at conferences in two locations in Uganda and one location in Kenya. Mornings in each place include training approximately two hundred African Christian leaders. Late afternoons and early evenings the gospel of Christ shall be proclaimed to approximately fifteen hundred people under large, open-sided tents. What an awesome responsibility. Much prayer is needed! Although I had planned up to the last moment to be part of this team, it was not meant to be. The doctor’s pronouncement of ‘pneumonia’ changed my personal plans but not the mission of God.
We truly are “a family of nations loving God together”. The family of God is diverse yet we are one in Christ, who loved us and gave Himself for us.
My last ministry visit to East Africa was seven years ago. More recently I have been in West Africa. The African brothers and sisters are so kind and appreciative that it makes the long journey well worth it! Their exuberant worship, love for the Scriptures and burden for the spiritual and physical needs of their villages always leave me impressed and humbled. We receive more than we give. We learn more than we are able to teach.
I am privileged to speak each Sunday to our own congregation here in Northern Alberta, many of whom have family and friends living in African countries. We truly are “a family of nations loving God together”. The family of God is diverse yet we are one in Christ, who loved us and gave Himself for us.
Paul, the Apostle, while speaking in Athens, Greece, reminded us all that “from one man (Adam) He created all the nations throughout the whole earth.” We are more inter-connected than we sometimes acknowledge. Furthermore, we have the remedy for the whole of humanity as written by John, the Apostle. “He Himself (Jesus) is the sacrifice that atones for our sins – and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.” Pray that many will come to Christ and for African leadership to be encouraged and equipped.