Life-On-Life Disciplemaking

We are regularly asked what curriculum we use for making disciples. Many people are eager to know (and try) a curriculum that we use here, with a set of lessons and a timeframe. But that question is always a tricky-one for us to answer because we try NOT to use a curriculum; instead, we try to build relationships. When we look at the example of Jesus, we see Him calling men and women to follow Him. Then He is intentional in those relationships; working in the relationships to grow them spiritually and into His image. This is central for us: If we want to make disciples of Jesus for Jesus, then we also want to make disciples like Jesus; in the same ways he did.

While it is true that over the past several years we have created a Disciplemaking Workbook for us to use, we also try to draw a distinction between a curriculum and our workbook. A Curriculum has a clear start and stop; certain benchmarks through exams, essays, or assessments to ensure students are learning; a set order of lessons to follow, usually in a sequential order; and it has a limit in scope to what material is in the curriculum itself. But the workbook we have created has no clear start and stop points. It does not limit us to the material written in it, but instead opens conversations in the relationships. We regularly do not use the workbook in our gatherings or times together because we are focused on the relational needs at hand, and we do not always “finish” the workbook in our groups. We use it as a guide to start conversations that open doors into the lives of group members. While the workbook has a finite amount of words and chapters to help with foundational teachings, the conversations that come out of the workbook have no limits in their topic: marriage, parenting, cultural expectations, finances, and church leadership are regular topics of discussion but are not addressed specifically in the workbook.

And the coolest thing about relational disciplemaking is that it can happen anywhere. There isn’t a place for it…we create a relational space for it. Once we intentionally create relationships, then we have the opportunity for intimate conversations. And because we share life with the people we are discipling, we have the opportunities to speak God’s Word into their lives.

Sometimes a ministry based around curriculum can be too limited in focus and scope because the goal is quick and efficient ministry results. It’s common for us to want to know that with a twelve-week course we have made disciples; we want to know with a seminar that we have trained 50 people to make disciples. If I’m honest, that’s appealing to me, at a basic level. But I also know that I was not discipled in a class or seminar. And while I learned a lot about scripture and God’s teachings in classes, I was discipled through intentional relationships when people created the relational space to pour into my life in intimate ways.

It was Robert Oglesby having an open door to students and having us at his house for exams; it was Brian England who showed us how to be a husband and father; it was Mickey Blanks and David Hardwick who shared life stories and lessons over coffee and bacon; it was James Fung-A-Fat who nurtured a young minister while teaching me about Worcestershire Sauce; it was Steve Gampp who loved me enough to talk about responsible finances; it was Josh Jones and Rob Duncan who let me share a lot of frustration over ski trips and camping; it was Jane Anne Cox who showed me patience as she accepted me for who I am; it was Jordan Hubbard who listened to my anger while also directing me to something better; it was Bill Nabers, Tommy Bever, Dave Jarratt, Scott Meyer, JP Robinson, Dennis Okoth…and the list goes on. Those are the intentional relationships that have helped form me into being closer to the image of Christ (please know that I am nowhere close to a finished product).

It wasn’t a program, class, curriculum, or seminar. Jesus-style disciplemaking has ALWAYS been about life-on-life relationships. Look at the intimate conversations he had with his disciples; the close relationships he shared with them. They knew his mom, brothers/sisters, his hometown; He knew their wives and families; He was at weddings and showed up at their workplaces. He created intentional relationships which gave him the space to make disciples.

We want to make disciples the way Jesus made disciples so that we can be and make the kind of disciples that Jesus made. Life-on-life relationships is Jesus style disciplemaking…it’s not new; not a fad; not a tool. It’s Biblical, Godly, and true. And we continue to seek Him in this journey.

For additional resources, I encourage you to check out Discipleship.org, a network of churches and church leaders who are dedicated to Christ-like disciplemaking. “Disciple Shift” by Jim Putman and Bobby Harrington is a great book on shifting current ministries/churches towards making relational disciplemaking central (which we affectionately call “Turning the Ship”). Enjoy the journey!

Things That Make You Smile

Throughout life, there are always things that make you smile. Hopefully, you smile often. Every day life gets busy, but it’s the little things throughout the day that often bring us joy. Someone wise told me that we should put things in our home that bring us joy. When we see those items, they make us smile. I have some colored glass and sun catchers hanging in windows; I love little succulents; we have family and friend photos (and Christmas cards) as well as artwork on the wall reminding us of where we’ve been; we have rocking chairs that my dad made for us on our back porch, and so many other little things that make our home “home“. These little things are always there, but when I take the time to remember to look, they make me smile.

Pearl of Africa

Uganda is nicknamed the “Pearl of Africa” and that name suits it well. I never realized living on the equator and having 12 hours of sunlight would be so great! I love the consistency of the weather and the rhythm of every day life…year in and year out. While it can get very hot and dry for about 2-3 months out of the year, we live at 3,700 feet above sea level and in the rainforest at the foothills of Mount Elgon, so it’s never as hot or miserable as a Texas summer. Uganda is truly a beautiful place!

Not only do we have beautiful scenery in Mbale with sunsets on the mountain, early morning clouds hovering in the valley, waterfalls that we see from our neighborhood, but we also have the beauty of the Nile River only 2 hours away, Lake Victoria just beyond that, the ice-capped Rwenzori Mountains in Western Uganda, and so much more. We have a plethora of beautiful trees and flowers, exotic birds and interesting animals. I never cared about birds until we moved to Uganda, and now it’s every day life to see birds flying around our compound that we used to only see in exotic pictures. If you are a bird person, message us and we’ll give you a list of the many exotic birds we have seen here in Uganda. (Leland has an East African bird book because we have seen so many cool birds and it’s actually worth identifying them.)

2024: What Lies Ahead…

Welcome to the NEW YEAR: new opportunities, new challenges, new faces, and new movements of the Lord! We are excited to start our 8TH YEAR in Uganda serving the ministry here, and we are looking ahead to the ministry the Lord has laid out ahead of us:

DISCIPLEMAKING GROUPS – As always, our #1 priority is making disciples that make disciples for Jesus. And we try to line up all of the ministry, resources, and time we have to accomplish that purpose. In the upcoming year, we know we need to update the Disciplemaking Workbook we use in order to make it simpler to access within village settings. This will enable and better equip men and women who we are discipling to use it more adequately in their disciplemaking efforts, further encouraging the multiplication of disciplemakers. This is one effort to continue to equip and empower Ugandan church leaders to form more discipleship groups, helping to grow leadership and spiritual maturity. We have already scheduled 10 churches for training on Discovery Bible Study and 15 additional churches to follow-up for encouragement and further teaching on how to use the Bible study method. This is also how we hope to distribute Bibles and DBS books in different languages. Currently, Leland meets monthly with a group of 6 men and Gina meets with 10 women. In addition to this, the Mission has helped another leader begin a disciplemaking group at LivingStone International University of 14 students. And at our monthly theological school, we have begun four new groups, and we will be discipling them throughout the upcoming year. So in all, the Mission is leading/coordinating seven disciplemaking groups ourselves, and we hope to add one more new group in 2024. We also know that many of the men and women we have discipled over the past decade are discipling men and women in their own communities and churches, which is EXACTLY the point: Disciplemakers making disciplemakers that continue to multiply disciplemakers for Jesus Christ! Amen!

2023 in Retrospect

Every year is different, and every year is the same. Every year brings challenges, but what those challenges are can be different each month and week. Every year brings celebrations and successes, but we never know what that will be until they come. This past year has been a GREAT year in ministry, though it has been moving at a back-breaking speed. The stories of transformation and Holy Spirit impact continue to pile up, but so do the challenges and the work. We find ourselves continuing to pray as Jesus instructed: “Lord send your workers to THIS field!”

Here is a recap of some of the things we’ve been doing as a family and mission here in Eastern Uganda. Warning: This is a long post, but praise God – He has been moving!

School Blessings

Leland and I have always been thankful for Tyler International Homeschool Cooperative (TIHC), the school Adalyn has been part of since she joined kindergarten. It was one of the aspects that helped us feel at ease when we made the decision to move to Uganda. To make the school even possible, we all rely on volunteer teachers, parents, and other missionaries to help, and we can’t take those positions for granted because they are not always filled. Every year, we are looking for teacher volunteers to come to Uganda to teach our kids. Every year, we hope that there are enough classes for the kids who need to be in school. Every year, we pray for the board members, school administrator, and other staff members who make the tough decisions and keep the school running smoothly. And every year, we are so THANKFUL for the school community and healthy learning environment for Adalyn.

Counting Sheep

The vast majority of the Ugandan people whom we disciple, train, and befriend with live an agricultural lifestyle. In fact, statistics say that 76% of the almost 50 million Ugandans live in rural areas and that 74% of Ugandans survive by agricultural means. This means that they live by what they grow in their gardens AND the livestock they are able to raise. In April, we were blessed to be able to help one local church start a sheep project that will multiply throughout the church and help improve the lives of church members, and the community they live in. Allow me to introduce you to the Kapuwai Sheep Project:

When we wanted to begin a project to help local Ugandans, we first started by asking the Lord to make clear a church leadership that we had good relationship with, and who we have seen growth in spiritual maturity – one that we could partner with. We thought of Kapuwai because we have discipled several church leaders from there who had an eagerness to grow in their own spiritual maturity, as well as a Christ-like leadership dynamic. When we sat down with them, we asked them about the lives of the church members: challenges, struggles, aspects of poverty that were more difficult for them, and ways that church members provide for their families. The prayer was that God would lead us into the RIGHT project for the RIGHT church…(We have seen and made the mistake of bringing a project that we think is good but doesn’t fit the area, and so it is doomed to fail from the beginning.) Through many conversations, we discussed several different ideas which did NOT work for Kapuwai, based on their knowledge/experience/desires or by our funds available.

Adalyn Turns 11!

Adalyn is now 11 years old. When we first moved to Uganda, she had just turned 3 years old. Time has seemed to fly by, but it has been a blessing to watch her grow physically, emotionally, and spiritually over these last several years. Each year, we ask her questions about some of her favorite things, so you can join us in watching her grow. Here are her latest answers:  

Checking in the Fields

At home, we have a vibrant and diverse garden! We grow all kinds of tasty treats and necessities (check out the details HERE). And we plant throughout the year because we have a way to irrigate. We love our little garden, but it takes a lot of work. It’s not as simple as plant, wait, and harvest. There are many steps along the way.

The same is true of sowing spiritual seeds in ministry. We can’t expect to plant the Word of God and wait around for the good fruit to come. No! We need to continue pouring into those people along the way (this is what we mean by relational disciplemaking).

Lead Like Jesus

The Mbale Mission exists to “train, equip, and disciple leaders in the Ugandan church” with the purpose that they may also train, equip, and disciple others; DISCIPLEMAKERS that make disciplemakers, all following Jesus in everyday living. While we are not perfect, we put everything we plan and do through the lens of making disciples who make disciples. That is why in 2022, we began a Leaders Conference to gather leaders from the many churches we work with in ONE place for a time of teaching and sharing, specifically geared towards Christian leadership. This year we focused on key scriptures regarding Christ Like Leadership: