Echoes of Atrocity

Back into the tenderizer we went, for a 4 ½ hour journey to Oyam District to teach. We stopped along the way to visit with the district supervisor, a government official somewhere between our mayor and governor. The church in the town of Oyam does not have land, and our presence allowed the Baptist leaders to get a few minutes with this official. He was very receptive to our visit, and the Ugandan Baptists made a compelling case for him to donate land for the church. He went so far as to say that if the district did not give them land, he would give them some of his own! We were thrilled and asked Jackson (the main leader for the Apac Baptists) if this official would follow through. Jackson’s response was, “He is a good politician—telling people what they want to hear!” They were hopeful, though, and should they get land, that might be the most important result of our trip. From there we continued on our journey on ever smaller roads, getting stuck in the mud three times. Our arrival was less than grand as we could see the church gathered ahead in the road, singing and clapping for our arrival, and about 50 yards away we got stuck again! The reason, I believe, we made the trip to teach at this church is in the area’s history. This was an area deeply affected by the insurgents of the Lord’s Resistance Army—surely one of the most vile and depraved groups on earth. Over the last 10 years they have terrorized northern Uganda, killing, raping, burning, and kidnapping children to serve as child soldiers. While the Ugandan army and mediators have calmed the situation and pushed the LRA into hiding, this area bears the scars. We drove past one of the refugee camps, and many of these pastors and leaders had lived for years in the camps, in constant fear of attack. Jan Cannon, who worked with the children, noticed a sadness in their demeanor. Many had been born in the camps and really hadn’t known peace until now.

One of the great blessings of the day came at the end, as several pastors from the association who had lived in the camps, stood and thanked First Baptist for helping pay their seminary tuition. They will be instrumental in helping this area back to some kind of normalcy.

Donny Mason taught the men today about obstacles to following God. Our group was certainly taken about by their response to his opening question: “What keeps you from being able to serve God.” The answers included:

• Poverty of pastors—pastors must stop working in ministry to go and plant fields so that their children can eat.
• Illiteracy of pastors
• Land—when leaders go to plant churches in another place, their relatives take their land from them!
• Insurgents—The LRA had burned several churches which had been constructed over time and through the sacrifices of members.

When we got back in the van, Donny commented that our problems at church—like do-nuts brought late to Sunday School or coffee not ready—don’t quite measure up!

Please pray for energy for us, as this was a very long day. And please pray for healing in the lives of those in Northern Uganda!