Update: Kaberamaido Church Leaders Conference

We at Refuge and Hope International are excited to report that last week we led a successful training conference for about 75 pastors, lay leaders and other regional church leaders in a rural district of northern/central Uganda called Kaberamaido.  Participants came from all across the district to take part in the 3-day conference focused on spiritual leadership.  We are extremely grateful to Jerry and Dorothy Hubbard, who came out from Alabama to help lead the conference.  Jerry led the main teaching on spiritual leadership and Dorothy led a workshop on prayer and provided invaluable assistance for the rest of the conference.  Along with Dorothy’s session on prayer, Refuge and Hope staff members led additional workshops on various topics including counseling, youth, chronological Bible storytelling, stewardship, and HIV/AIDS (taught by a local Ugandan expert). 

I cannot tell you how encouraged our Refuge and Hope team was by the whole event!  The participants were a joy to be with, and our local committee of people who helped coordinate the event was well-organized.  The pastors and church leaders who participated in the conference were SO grateful for the opportunity to receive Bible training – something they say they can't get enough of out in the rural areas - and we were able to leave them with some good resources, including a copy of the New Testament in the local language of Kumam (see photo). 

We also made a point to give participants some down time, including opportunity for recreational games (volleyball was a favorite) and a showing of the Jesus film.

For me, one of the highlights of the entire conference was a workshop on engaging youth in ministry that I led along with my Ugandan colleague, Harriet.  The first day we had a good group of pastors who work with youth, but the second day we decided to pull in some youth who had been hanging around and helping out to join us and have an honest discussion of what youth need to get involved in church ministry.  We had such fun laughing with them and exchanging ideas.  It makes me excited about going back to engage these youth again; in fact, we’re planning to hold a conference for youth in Kaberamaido in June, so please be in prayer for that! 

All in all, the conference was definitely a hit, and I am grateful that I was able to be a part of it.  I really believe the Lord spoke to these church leaders through the teaching, and I pray that He would continue to mold those people into the leaders He's called them to be in their churches and communities.  Please join us in that prayer!

-Jennifer Wilmore, Special Projects Director (Volunteer)

Jennifer is a volunteer serving with Refuge and Hope in Uganda over the next several months through CBF’s Student.Go program and the generous support of her family and friends.  She enjoys traveling, eating beans and rice, and hearing Ugandans clap and laugh when she uses simple Kumam phrases on them.