education & discipleship

In my last post, What will have a lasting impact?, I pondered why I am here and doing what I do and where I think the Lord is leading me within His work at Noah’s Ark. To follow up, here is what it looks like broken down: 

Education

I think it sounds a bit stupid to say I moved to Africa to become a librarian, but I spend a good deal of time running the primary and secondary school libraries on the compound. Both libraries have the simple goal of giving students the opportunity to practice reading because it is such a necessary skill in life. I have been a bookworm my whole life and love seeing children and teenagers here developing the same habits. It brings me joy to see a student come check out a book during lunch and bring it back to me completed before supper (though it does make me worry a bit about whether they actually attend class). If they are able to read well, they will be able to learn more in class and from their books, they will do better in school and doors will open up for what they can do after finishing their education at New Horizon. Even if they don’t have academic aspirations, at least if they can read well then when they read the Bible they can focus on the information without stumbling over the words. 

The remedial reading program at the primary school has the same goals. Unfortunately, because of my schedule I can only work with a handful of students per term. It only scratches the surface of all the students who need reading help, but at least it is something. If they can read, they will improve in all their subjects and they can do more self-initiated learning. 

We have a book in the library called “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.” It is a true story about a boy from… oh, somewhere in Africa, though I can’t remember where now… who used scraps of rubbish and old bicycle parts to make a windmill and bring a small amount of power to his home, and then to the community. Do you know how he learned to make a windmill? He went to the library and read books!

Even the holiday program is a form of education. On the surface, it may look like a heap of games and crafts and movies, but here are some things they can learn from those: From craft projects, they develop their fine motor skills, creativity, and ability to stick with something even when it doesn’t turn out exactly how they want. From games they can learn how to be a good sport, how to play fair, and how to lose gracefully, and once they learn a game they can play it with their friends whenever they want. When the older children visit jjajjas in the village they learn more about the traditional Ugandan way of life and they have a chance to develop their sense of compassion by helping others. Of course when we go swimming they get to learn how to swim which will get them far in life if they fall in a fish pond or river. The point is, we don’t do those things so we can complete one activity and be done with it. We do them so they can learn a skill they can take with them and use in other areas of life. 

Discipleship

Before coming to Noah’s Ark, I never gave discipleship too much thought. Sometimes I did it, but since we never called it discipleship it didn’t quite click with me. 

Why should we disciple others? First off, Jesus commands it. If anyone can say “because I said so” it’s Him. Beyond that, He demonstrated that discipleship is the best way of spreading Christianity, and history has proven that. Here on the Noah’s Ark compound there is no excuse not to disciple others—when we live in such close proximity the possibilities are endless. This is how change will happen in Uganda: bring people more Jesus. 

The structured way I disciple others is through a Life Group. The teenagers on the compound (of which there are over one hundred) have the option of signing up for Life Groups, which are basically interest-based discipleship groups. Last year Christian and I started the Good Samaritans, a service group focused on helping those in need. We currently have twelve students in our group, which meets once a week at our house. Every week we have time for Bible study led by ourselves or one of the students, and then we discuss and plan which service projects we as a group want to undertake. The projects themselves usually happen on the weekends when the students are out of school. We have fed babies in the children’s home, made success cards for students taking a big test, written encouragement notes to people on the compound, made and sold food at youth events, and used the money to buy food for a local jjajja (grandfather) who is in poor health and two lame brothers who live down the road. 

How do we make disciples through that? We demonstrate how to serve in the love of Christ, both by serving our group and serving with our group. We teach them about the Bible on Tuesday nights. We get to know them—each week a different two members of our group come over for supper so we can get to know them on a more personal level. They tell us about their families, their pasts, their dreams for the future and how they came to know Christ. We pray together as a group and we pray for our group. Basically, we do bits and pieces of life together. 

Besides the teenagers, I disciple the other children in less structured ways. Again, it comes down to doing life together. When I am around the younger children, I have the opportunity to address conflict from a biblical perspective. When they see the way I live—my attitude, how I make decisions, the way I talk, how I use my time—they can see what the life of a Christ-follower should look like (I hope). They are young, but I know they pay attention, whether or not they realize it. Most of all, I try and love each one unconditionally, remembering that each one is a beloved child of God and if the God of the universe can love them well, there is no reason I cannot.

Jesus told His disciples, “You will do even greater things than these.” It sounds crazy to hear Jesus, Son of God, tell people that they will do greater things than what He has done. However, if each one had the Holy Spirit living in him, it was like twelve Jesus-es walking around doing great things! Sometimes I get discouraged by the limits of what I am able to do, but if Jesus can say “You will do even greater things than these” to His followers, then surely we can also say that to the people we are discipling. And then imagine the possibilities!

Awhile back, I was tasked with writing my own vision statement for what I am doing here. Or perhaps what I am doing with my life. At the moment, it’s the same thing. This post and the last one were simply my thought processes in figuring it out. (Apparently my thoughts require a lot of processing.) So, to sum it all up, my vision for my time at Noah’s Ark and in Uganda is this: 

to share God’s love with children in Uganda 

through education and discipleship

It will both describe and guide what I do, programmed and unprogrammed, structured and unstructured, in work and free time. What will have a lasting impact? Hands down, these kids. I get excited thinking about the potential, and I thank God that He has counted me worthy to be a part of it.