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News | Christianity Explored trains 1000 pastors

23 February 2009

Craig Dyer, Christianity Explored's Training Director, has just returned from a two-week trip that saw the launch of the first ever African CE translation

A conference tour of Uganda and Kenya has equipped around 1000 pastors and church leaders to use Christianity Explored as a tool for evangelism, discipleship and leadership development, as well as launching the Luganda translation of Christianity Explored.
The training team, consisting of Craig Dyer, Training Director for Christianity Explored, Jim McAnlis of CMS Ireland and Stephen Sizer, pastor of Christ Church, Virginia Water, aimed to equip delegates to teach others how to use the course to lead people to Christ, build them in the faith and enable them to do likewise.

The main conference was held in the grounds of Kiwoko Hospital, about 50 miles north of Kampala. More than 800 church leaders gathered in an open field near the hospital, hosted by a 40-strong Hospital Mission Team.

Craig focused on equipping 50 pre-selected trainers who will take CE to churches throughout Uganda and beyond, while Stephen familiarised the general delegation with the CE study guide and related sections of Mark’s gospel. This builds on the work of the Hospital Mission Team, who have already taken 3000 people through Christianity Explored in the past five years.

Tour map of Kenya and Uganda

Kiwoko is at the centre of the infamous Luwera Triangle, the area of Uganda devastated by war in the 1980s. Between 1982 and 1986 over 250,000 people - one third of the population - was killed in the civil war between the forces of Milton Obote and the opposition leader, Yoweri Museveni. A further 50,000 people became refugees after being forcibly removed from their homes and villages.

The tour launched the Luganda translation mid-week and everyone present received the gift of a Christianity Explored Study Guide. The translation has been produced in partnership with the Kampala Evangelical School of Theology (KEST) and the Bible Society of Uganda. Further copies were made available to delegates at a substantial discount due to a generous grant from the Bible Society of Northern Ireland and the Friends of Kiwoko Hospital.

A second conference took place 100 miles north in Bweyale, near Masindi. This area has 56 affinity or ethnic groups and hosts refugees from Kenya, Sudan and the Congo. Delegates participated in a selection of praise songs and responded to a 'Two Ways to Live' gospel presentation.

Kibera, on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya, hosted the third conference. The venue was Carlile College, a Church Army training instituation with an extensive urban ministry training programme. Delegates were drawn from students and faculty, representing 14 different countries including Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Congo, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi, as well as many from Kenya and Uganda.

Cover of Lugandan translation of Christianity Explored Hungering for God's word

"Teaching in the open air on the equator, under a burning sun for six or seven hours a day, without slideshow presentations and cross-culturally through translation was exhilarating, if a little exhausting," said Stephen Sizer.

All in all, it took 10,000 Luganda translation CE Study Guides, 800 training conference attendees, 50 potential trainers, five years of work from the Kiwoko Hospital Mission Team, three church plants, three visitors from the UK travelling 10,000 miles each for a two-week conference tour, multiple gospel partnerships, and one unifying purpose – to equip hundreds to train thousands to rescue millions.

Thanks to Stephen Sizer

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