During the last week of October, I (Darrell) was able to be
a part of an exciting example of international cooperation.
The Timothy Project is an effort which is
currently training 100 church leaders in the western part of Rwanda called
Kibuye.
Our Rwandan partner, the AEBR,
also work with the Danish Baptists (BUD), and Timothy is one of their projects
that comes out of that partnership.
When
the project began, since its focus was church leadership development in the
AEBR, I was invited to be a part of it (with CBM’s blessing).
The first Timothy Project ran in the southern
part of the country from 2015-2017.
The
next phase (which in the office we like to refer to as “2
nd Timothy”
J)
is in the western part of Rwanda on Lake Kivu, in a village called Bumba in the area called Kibuye.
It is wonderful to see Rwandans, Danes and
Canadians all joining hands and working together to build up and encourage the Baptist
church leaders in that part of the country.
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The church in Bumba, Kibuye (yellow building) nestled high up in the hills
(the edge of Lake Kivu on far right) |
Each time they meet, there is a different emphasis on leadership.
The third module, which just took place, was
focused on communication.
We discussed
such things as “Why is Communication Important?”, “Communication and the Bible”,
“Conflict and Difficult Communication” and “The Five Love Languages”.
Besides myself, the other faciliators were
Jonas Mortensen (BUD) and Nathan Ndyamiyemenshi (the project manager from AEBR).
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| Leading a morning devotion |
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| Jonas (BUD), Nathan (AEBR) and Enias (Sub-Regional Pastor for the area) |
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| Teaching about the 5 Love Languages |
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| Jonas teaching about adapting your communication style |
Each church that participates sends four or
five leaders as a team.
Usually that
includes the pastor and the heads of women’s ministry, youth ministry, and
deacons.
For two-and-a-half days we
sang, learned, discussed, danced, shared and prayed.
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| Enjoying a moment of fun |
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| A spontaneous dance of joy by some of the women |
It is always so rewarding to see people who
are willing to travel long distances (often walking), stay in less than ideal
accommodations, and sit and learn for many hours in order to take advantage of
an opportunity to grow as a leader.
They
are always so incredibly grateful.
And
it is so exciting to hear how they are taking what they are learning back to
their churches and using it as they seek to be faithful leaders of God’s
people.
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| Practicing some new communication skills |
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| Everyone taking a few minutes to try new techniques |
The only thing that makes training leaders more exciting is to join with others to do it! One of the great blessings of serving internationally is the
opportunity to be reminded of how wonderful it is to be a part of God’s family
which extends around the world.
