“Very positive” was the overall consensus for the pastors’ conference, or as our host pastor commented: “We can attract ‘quantity’: we need ‘quality.’” Whether or not our pastors’ conference of Monday and Tuesday was “quality,” I will leave for others to determine; but that we had “quantity” is accurate. Prior to the conference, we had indicated that we preferred a group size of twenty-five to fifty; the reality was a group of ninety-two. This group size did not allow me the personal interaction I so enjoy when teaching; nonetheless the ninety-two were able to interact relationally and personally, and they responded well to the challenge of thinking and questioning more deeply.
Using The Sent One, we were able to focus upon five incidents: the wedding at Cana (John 2:1-12), Jesus’ “cleansing” the Temple (John 2:13-22), the feeding of thousands (John 6:1-15), His walking on water (John 6:16-21), and Martha’s profound declarations (John 11:17-27). Given the group size and the cultural difference between this American and the Ugandans seated about eleven tables, from 9am – 4:30pm we engaged, probed, and wrestled with the text of John … including a moment, when this a-rhythmic American began to dance a little. (When in Africa, one will begin to do as Africans.)
Yet to be determined, but clearly we will have follow-up discussions regarding the possibility of further pastoral retreats. From my perspective, the synergy between present pastoral need and the gifts we bear is great. Although informal, the invitation to return is without doubt – and to my great delight, the conference’s lead pastor would like to learn Greek.
Within this blog space, I have centered upon those moments of my own engagements, but to do so gives a skewed picture; for we have been a team of ten, the nine have been fully engaged in their relating to the children of the orphanage, as well as the house mothers, teachers, and staff. One of us has spent a number of hours counseling, instructing the teen girls vis-à-vis sex and their sexuality, and appropriate responses to in appropriate behaviors. Another has effectively used music with the children, but also sang and spoke before a live radio audience of one million. Still another has spent many hours organizing and leading volleyball games, face painting, chalk drawing, and playing duck-duck-goose; and yesterday three of our number joined Dr. Hurry at a local hospital (the three were appalled by the conditions they saw), where they observed surgery.
Tomorrow we travel to Chobe, known for its hypos.
Hopefully,
Stan