‘We are so hungry for this kind of teaching – it is exactly what our country so desperately needs.’ – the words of a Ugandan student summing up the first-ever ‘Living Word Uganda’ conference, held over five days in January at African Bible University in Lubowa, Uganda.
And hunger there was. 143 students travelled from all over the country, many for over ten hours, to attend. Despite the lure of beautiful university grounds, it was in the hot lecture hall and in small groups where students were to be found, for over seven hours a day, delighting in the riches of God’s Word.
A partnership of service
‘The idea started when Stuart Creed and I studied at the Cornhill Training Course together’, Milton Tweheyo explained.‘It’s been so encouraging to see the Lord develop links between our two countries and begin to meet the tremendous need.’
Living Word Uganda is an interdenominational organisation committed to serving Christian university students by equipping them with faithful Bible handling and teaching skills. It is a partnership of the UK church supporting the Ugandan church, with official support partners Crosslinks and Langham Preaching in the UK and African Bible University and FOCUS, the local IFES movement, in Uganda.
The conference opened with a challenging address from 1 Thessalonians 1.4-6 pointing to the immeasurable value of Scripture, the ugliness of imposition and the beauty of Jesus Christ revealed through good exegesis and exposition. A Bible overview followed the next day, setting the context for good Bible handling. Each subsequent day started with a ‘model exposition’ followed by lectures on the different types of biblical writing given by a mixture of Ugandan and Western facilitators. Old Testament stories, Gospels and New Testament letters were all covered, leaving the students with plenty of tools to study the Bible for themselves.
Homework was then set for the students, who enthusiastically put what had been learnt into practice, leaving the team of 20 small group leaders plenty of questions and joy as they went over the study passages later in the day. ‘I had no idea the Bible was so amazing. This is where to meet Jesus!’ was a new, joyful, claim for many.
An ongoing work
To provide ongoing follow-up throughout the year, Sam Opolot, from Uganda, will continue the dedicated work he began before the conference, visiting over 30 universities and colleges across the country. A short leaders’ training conference is now planned for December 2014, before a further students’ conference in January 2015.
