Steve and Gwyn Smith - Uganda |
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Prayer Letter March 2008
Dear Friends,
As many of you will already know we have all been back in the UK since the end of December 2007. After Gwyn’s dad, David, died Steve flew back to the UK. Time with family during this period of grief has been crucial on many fronts and we’re so thankful for AMG’s support and understanding throughout this. Wonderfully our second-born, Matthew David, was born on 3rd Feb weighing a robust 8lbs 15ounces and he continues to bring much joy to us and the family. We now look to returning to Kampala tomorrow very much trusting in God for the rest of the year ahead and asking you to stand with us in prayer for the work that God has for us amongst his people in Uganda.
Advancing Ministries of the Gospel
With now over fifty teachers to train in Bible teaching before the launch of a newly designed curriculum, we have our work cut out to finish designing and writing the first term of the children’s curriculum before a week of training in May 2008. The first three terms (1 year) will introduce the children to the God of the Bible, who we are in relation to God, and covers an overview of God’s saving purposes as they culminate in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Please pray for wisdom in designing the children’s curriculum and training curriculum so that:
- it serves the project teams well in leading children to mature discipleship of Jesus Christ
- all children hear God’s word and understand the significances and implications for their lives
- teenager children receive the teaching and discipleship that they are lacking presently
- teachers gain biblical motives and good interpretative skills for ministering the Word to people
- parents develop a healthy involvement in teaching children from the Scriptures
- collaboration with project staff is effective in teaching, assessing, and making adjustments
- AMG teachers and parents grow in spiritual discipline and devotion to Jesus Christ
- there is effective training of the Assistant Curriculum and Training Co-ordinator throughout
Kampala Evangelical School of Theology
The plan is now for Steve to teach two expository preaching courses from August 2008. The introductory course that was taught last semester, based in 2 Timothy, will be repeated. Preparation will now get underway for a more advanced course which helps the students think through what is involved in preaching Christ from all the glorious and varied genres of Scripture.
- Please pray for good times of reflection and learning in God’s word in preparation, and for productive interaction with resources, so that the next course will aid people in preaching God’s glorious purposes in Christ to people in a Ugandan church context.
Noah’s Ark Nursery
Gwyn runs Noah’s Ark Nursery from our home, offering children a loving environment which aims at being God-centred. Deuteronomy 6:6-7 describes how important it is for children to grow in Christian thinking from an early age. The primary place where a child will be learning these things will be in their own home; the nursery seeks to complement this by providing a sense of awe and wonder about the world around us and to encourage the children to turn to God in thanks and praise as they learn and discover new things in the Foundation Stage.
- Thank God with us that the three Ugandan staff have kept the nursery running well in Gwyn’s absence.
- Please pray for Gwyn has she adjusts to running the nursery with Matthew strapped to her!
The Titus Group
The Titus group was launched formally in Kampala on January 12th, after building up a core group of men from a range of churches. The purpose of the Titus Group is to establish and support local evangelical churches in their gospel ministries to men. The group’s desire is to disciple men so that they in turn will begin doing the same form of discipleship ministry with men in their local churches.
Please pray for the Titus Group network:
- to grow gospel-promoting partnerships between churches
- to encourage genuine gospel ministry from the Scriptures amongst men
- to be committed to doing a deep work with individuals
- for the newly written Strategy booklet and one-to-one notes to be well-used in churches
- for Chris Yikii to be wise in chairing the Titus Group towards serving the needs of the church
And finally…
Walking in wisdom: Bulomwa village stories
We have been writing short stories from Proverbs for children, set in an imaginary Ugandan village called Bulomwa. The next step towards publication is to approach a publisher after seeing the illustrations. It would be great if this process moved swiftly so that African children and their families to share in the excitement of learning to read as well as learn what it means to live wisely in God’s world.
What about the future?
We hope to hand over the training role at AMG to a Ugandan in 2009, God-willing. It would be wonderful if, in five years time, many churches in Uganda were able to say that AMG has been a source of equipping for their congregations to serve Christ by teaching God’s word faithfully, lovingly, and relevantly to all ages, to the glory of God.
Steve, Gwyn & Joshua Smith