Meeting with UCLF leadership in Kampala, Uganda.
This past week, Aaron and Andre have been traveling together in Rwanda and Uganda to meet with our CBM team and partners as we launch a new year of ministries.
It has been encouraging to see Andre step confidently into his new role as deputy team leader. He has been instrumental in both helping the AEBR's new director of development and by working with Gato and the leadership of UCLF to position CBM in the most effective way to contribute to the peacebuilding needs in Uganda.
Please remember Andre and his family in your prayers as they adjust to the new level of responsibility and the travel demands of giving leadership to CBM's ministries across Africa. We especially pray for health and safety as he serves in difficult areas.
Along with praying for the dramatic shift in Andre's responsibilities, we remember our colleagues Gato and Anne Marie who are establishing a new life for their family and ministry in Uganda. During our time together this past week, Gato shared an interesting perspective on God's calling.
“It is the refrain of my life, to serve as a missionary,” shared Gato. “As a young man, I was moving from village to village, house to house, sharing the Gospel. And then I moved to teach in the school. And then I was ministering again. And then administering a school. And back to serve the church. And then CBM. And then the role as legal representative [of the AEBR]. And now I have returned. It is God’s calling, it does not let you go. It is the refrain, it keeps coming back and we all must listen and follow.”
As we pray for Gato and Anne Marie, we also remember their children. Please pray for their daughter Ruth who has returned to Rwanda for studies. As a family, they have decided to have Ruth complete her last three years of high school in Rwanda in the same community as her aunt.
We also pray for our local partner, UCLF, as they will be confirming their new executive director in the coming weeks.
Andre with the AEBR's new director of development, Ernestine Kamarora.
In Rwanda, we have witnessed amazing progress in the AEBR, which will be bringing major reforms before its general assembly on February 14, 2019. Most of the changes are intended to radically enhance the governance of denomination, but there is one change in particular that stands out. The AEBR leadership is calling the denomination to embrace the ordination of women.
If the vote is successful there are already about ten theologically trained women leaders prepared to go through the ordination process this year. This movement towards recognizing the equality of all people in Christ is rippling throughout our African partners. God’s calling is a sweet refrain indeed!
Rev. Emmanuel Ndagijimana with Laura Lee and Darrell Bustin
in the construction site of the new AEBR guesthouse in Kigali.
Finally, we are thrilled to welcome Carla Nelson as the newest member of the CBM Africa team. We are praying for Carla as she prepares to join us for the next Africa Leadership Exchange in March 2019 and for her support of multiple education and training programs here.
It was Carla and her husband, Gary Nelson, who first welcomed us into CBM back in 2004 and 2005. Since that time, they have been great friends, supporters, and encouragers to us both. Seeing the Lord leading Carla into this new role with our African partners is such a gift.
Carla Nelson greeting teachers
at the ABC college in Mitaboni, Kenya
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