Uganda, Day 4: Church to Church Relationships

On the fourth day, we worshiped at PAG Kabale. What does a sister church relationship look like? Read on . . . 

In late July I had the privilege of accompanying a delegation from Bethany Christian Reformed Church (Bellflower, CA) to Kabale Pentecostal Assemblies of God in Kabale, Uganda. For the past couple of years Bethany CRC has been financially supporting Kabale PAG’s HIV and AIDS work through CRWRC, but after reading The Hole in the Gospel and When Helping Hurts, the congregation wanted to develop a deeper relationship with the church in Kabale.

I’m often asked what a church to church partnership looks like. My standard reply is, “it depends on the churches.” My reason for going along was to experience firsthand the delegation trip, which is usually the first step in forming a partnership.

I was impressed by the planning and creativity that Bethany CRC showed in their preparation for the trip. Most of the credit apparently goes to the young women Lianna and Michelle (for that reason, I definitely recommend that churches send young people on delegation trips!) In preparation, the team

• Produced rubber bracelets that had the colors of the Ugandan flag, plus Kabale – Bethany CRC and a Bible verse on it. These were sold as fundraisers at Bethany and then also distributed to the pastors and church members of Kabale PAG.

• Printed and framed a photo of the team standing in front of the congregation of Bethany CRC to present to Kabale CRC as a gift, along with a painting by one of their church members.

• Invited their congregation to write letters of encouragement to the members of Kabale PAG and attached photos of themselves. These were distributed at Ka bale and many of the Ugandan members responded by writing notes of encouragement in return.

• Brought along face painting supplies for the children’s church. This was an activity that had recently been done at Bethany’s VBS and went over equally as well in Kabale.

• Purchased soccer balls and collected children’s books to be distributed by the community development office.

The hospitality shown by Kabale PAG was almost overwhelming. The pastors took turns hosting the group each evening for dinner and fellowship; they allowed us to be part of worship on both of the Sundays we were there; accompanied us to the community where we learned more about their HIV and AIDS ministry; welcomed us into their men’s, women’s, and youth group meetings; and provided a farewell banquet with gifts including a photo of their congregation as well as a videotaped message from their senior pastor to the congregation of Bethany CRC.

Towards the end of the trip, during a debriefing session, I asked the Bethany team what similarities and differences they saw between their two churches. The similarities outnumbered the differences by a wide margin, and included

• Youth groups with a passion for music

• Involvement in community

• More women involved in small groups than men

• Differences of opinion over traditional hymns vs. contemporary music

• Challenge of enfolding new members

A key difference identified was Kabale PAG’s emphasis on evangelism. Bethany was challenged by their mission statement:

A healthy discipled church, doubling in number each year, deeply rooted in God’s word, showing love to the community and committed to carry out the great commission.

I wonder, what would happen if every church in North America adopted that vision?

Towards the end of the trip, Keith asked me what I, and what CRWRC, hoped would come out of this experience. First, I hope that Bethany CRC will continue to support the HIV and AIDS work that PAG is doing in Kabale. Secondly, I hope that through this partnership, lives and communities—both in Kabale and in Bellflower—will be transformed.

Lianna and Michelle joined the Kabale praise team on our final Sunday. Watching them together with the choir, I realized that this was a foretaste of what we would experience in heaven. Though many from the Kabale congregation would never see California, and many from Bethany CRC will most likely not travel to Uganda, there will come a day when each will be singing together before God.