A group of our top church leaders and their wives were recently blessed by a marriage seminar that was taught by Fielden and Janet Allison. The Allison’s are seasoned East African missionaries who are now traveling around the region (and beyond) to teach about strengthening marriages… and the seminar was a HUGE encouragement and blessing to our folks who were able to attend. We are so thankful for the way that the Lord worked through Fielden and Janet!

Please pray for the marriages among all the people here, and that these leadership couples can spread the good things they have learned to others in their churches…

Scott and I (Shane) had a very good meeting with some of the Ankole church leaders last week, a meeting that may well provide a glimpse into some of the practical “how to’s” of this mission, at least for the next few years.  I’m going to try to summarize it here in this post, because I think it gives a good picture of the direction we believe God is leading…

We met with these six leaders in order to form a group of “Advisors” (“Abahabuzi”) that will, along with the missionaries, serve as a kind of “steering committee” for this movement of churches.  The two major topics of discussion for the day were:  1) Churches that are struggling and need help, and 2) Setting a “movement ministry budget” for 2008.

(1)  Struggling Churches…  We identified four churches that are having some particularly difficult struggles right now, and discussed how we could be used to strengthen and encourage them.  Scott and I were very pleased with the plan that these guys came up with:  Over the next few weeks, we will visit each of the four churches during the week, dividing up the visits with Shane or Scott driving two from the Abahabuzi group.  The purpose of these mid-week visits will be to meet with the church leaders (in most cases to work through some leadership problems) and to make house-to-house visits.  Then, on the following Sunday, two of the Abahabuzi will visit the church in order to give some teaching and encouragement to the congregation as a whole.  In fact, the four struggling churches are in two separate “clusters”, and these visits are going to be held on “Super Sundays”, or meetings of all the churches in that cluster.  (To learn more about church clusters, go to:  http://www.ankolemission.com/village-clusters.htm.)

(2)  2008 Ministry Budget…  Another big topic was the very practical issue of how the various ministries of the Ankole Mission will be funded over the next year.  (As American team members depart, their working funds go with them.  However, one of the purposes of the town building we are constructing is a source of income generation to fund the ongoing ministries of this mission.  To learn more, go to: http://www.ankolemission.com/town-building.htm.)  Here are some of the ministries that were given a high priority (and top funding) for 2008:  Ankole Bible School, Leader’s Meetings and Advisor’s Meetings, Church/Cluster Visitation, and Benevolence in the Churches/Clusters (including financial help for roofing new church buildings).

Friday’s meeting also provides a nice example of how all this works together.  The income generated from the building’s rental shops provided the funds to transport these leaders, the “Advisors”, to and from the meeting.  It will also provide the funds to pay for their Sunday visits to the struggling churches mentioned above.  And getting together with these men to discuss and pray about the future of this mission is definitely time and money well spent!  Finally, as we go with them to these villages over the next few weeks, it will be an invaluable time of working together and increasing the effectiveness of the partnership between missionaries and national leaders.  (I was going to write that this is a good “fringe benefit” of the whole plan, but as I think about it, that might be the best thing of all!)

It was a good day, and a great meeting.  We look forward to the next few weeks, to see how it all fleshes out in real life… and we look forward with great hope.  It is our prayer that we can meet together in a true partnership, and work together to do the things that will best build up this movement of churches!

It has been a wild and crazy few months for the Ankole Mission!

Teammate departures, baby arrivals, preparing for new teammate arrivals, and some very significant changes in the way “things are done” around here…

With the departures of Jay and Nick, we all knew that things would change, and missionaries and Ugandans alike have felt the uncertainty of the “unknown.” These next few months – indeed, the whole of 2008 – may well be the most trying time in the history of the Ankole Mission. We don’t say that lightly. It is sure to be a time of testing, and a faith-stretching time for the missionaries and the Ankole churches. In one sense, more responsibility must be shifted onto the national church leaders than ever before. In another sense, we hope and pray for a different reality…

Hopefully, this will be a time where more faith and trust will be put in the Lord, as we all learn to depend upon HIM more than ever before.

Shane and Scott are working with church leaders to envision new ways to practically accomplish this mission, and continue the growth of this movement of churches with less missionary help than ever before. It is a leadership challenge, and we pray that a trusting partnership will develop that is equal to the task (a partnership between the missionaries and the Ankole leaders, as well as a sense of trust and teamwork between the Ugandans). It is also a financial challenge, to work out new ways that this movement can sustain itself with a significant drop in foreign-donated income. And of course, it is a spiritual challenge… and a time of great opportunity!

Please pray for the Lord’s guidance, provision, and teaching! Pray that everyone’s faith will be taken to new levels of trust in God as we work through this time of transition. Pray for growth, especially spiritual maturation among the Ankole churches and leaders.

For all we know, the wild and crazy months may just be getting started. Whatever the future holds, we rest in the assurance that the Lord of all creation is with us, leading this mission to what He has envisioned long before we answered His call!

2007 continues to be a very transitional year for our team and the Ankole Mission. The Bakers and Terri returned to the U.S. in May, and Beth in June.

We have welcomed new teachers/teammates Betsy and Desarae, and Theron and Sara Hutton – the “U.S. Branch” of the Ankole Team – just made their move to First Colony Church in Houston. They are still on track to arrive in Uganda in early 2008.

We’re also bracing ourselves for another tough goodbye: The Fouts depart in just over a month, ten years after the original team’s arrival. Please pray for this work, and for the team, as we make the necessary adjustments with all the people coming and going.

Finally, there are two very happy and exciting team transitions on the horizon:

* Baby Gage is due to arrive on September 7th. You can check out her “baby blog” at: http://omwana1.wordpress.com

* The Huttons are also expecting a new baby boy on January 14th.

Please keep these “new teammates to-be” (and their parents) in your prayers as well!

Our team has been / is / will be in the midst of some major transitions. Last year, Danny and Amy Naramore moved back to the United States in September after five wonderful years of service here in Mbarara. Then Lori Earles went for an extended furlough in preparation for a move to Kenya later on this year. Already, they are all missed!

Now we are preparing for the next round of teammate departures, as well as some welcome additions…

* Original teammates Jay & Andrea Baker will be repatriating in May.

* Team teacher Beth Tunick will be heading back to the US in June.

* Original teammates Nick & Renee Fouts return to the US in October.

* Team teacher Terri Taylor returns to the States, also in October.

* New team teachers Betsy Glover and Desirae Smith will join for a year, beginning in June 2007.

* New teammates Theron and Sara Hutton will arrive in early 2008.

That’s a LOT of changes! And this is a very bittersweet, emotional time for our team, especially as we negotiate these teammate departures. It is a painful, but rich and beautiful thing, saying goodbye to these dear friends…

We ask for your prayers on behalf of our team – everyone who is coming, going, and staying… And please pray that the Lord will continue to work through this team – and the Ugandans – to grow a healthy movement of churches here in Ankole!

We have been given our occupancy permit for the new town building!

We praise the Lord, because this could have been a very, very difficult and tedious process… but the inspection went well and the permission process took less than a week.  Thanks so much for your prayers!  God is so good!

The finishing work of the first two floors continues to go quite well, and the town church members will hold their first worship service in the new place this coming Sunday morning (25 March).  The second floor (church level) will not quite be finished at that point, but it will be far enough along to be functional enough to use.  Please continue praying for the construction and good use of this building, and for the Lord to provide the funds needed to complete the building.  (Though the building is functional now, there are some very important things that still need doing, and we are still seeking funds to finish the job…)

Here’s a photo from 13 March, click it to see a larger picture…

Pray for Occupancy Permit!
We may be able to move into the first two levels of the new building within the next couple of weeks… if the town council approves our occupancy permit.

Please pray that permission to occupy is granted quickly, so that the town church can move in soon, as we must move out of our current rental facility very soon!

Go to www.AnkoleMission.com/town-building.htm to read more about the building that is being constructed in Mbarara town.

(Click photo to view a larger picture)

(Front view of the building, 30 January 2007)