Our Mission Goals

As we have prayed and considered the part we will play in ministering to the Ugandan people, God has helped us develop both short and long term operational goals for the mission:

1) Work with a veteran missionary.

First, we will be spending much, if not all, of our first term in Kampala, and will be working with the veteran missionaries based there. While in Kampala, we will have access to tutoring in the Bantu dialects of Fort Portal, as well as French, the unofficial trade language of that region due to its proximity to the Congo. We will be assisting in training nationals, planting churches, and in ministering to the 3 million residents of Kampala, the capitol city of Uganda.

2) Learn the language.

Our second goal, and our highest priority for the first term is to be able to teach and preach without an interpreter in the Luganda dialect of Kampala and the Tooro dialect of Fort Portal before leaving for furlough the first time. Since faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God, the Ugandan people cannot hear if we cannot speak their language, and as English is limited to the educated classes, the majority still require the use of their native dialect.

3) Adapt to the culture.

As Paul became "all things to all men", becoming a Jew to the Jews, and a Greek to the Greeks, so must we become Ugandan to the Ugandans, as much as a six-and-a-half foot tall, blond, white guy and his wife can. We must learn to eat their food, wear their clothes, and learn their customs and manners, in order to avoid any inference that we believe their culture to be inferior to ours.

1) Establish a church in Fort Portal.

As we gain the needed cultural experience and language training, we plan during our second term to go to Fort Portal, in the southwestern corner of Uganda where there are no Baptist churches. We intend to start a local independent Baptist church in this former British consulate that is nestled in the beautiful Rwenzori mountains, which means the mountains of the moon. The people of Fort Portal had been praying for someone to come and start a Baptist church in their city, and God has answered their prayer by burdening us to go there and do just that.

2) Train nationals to establish churches.

In keeping with our mission verse, we want to train "faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also." As God raises them up, we are going to train men who have answered the call to preach, who will then return to their villages to establish churches among their own people.

3) Produce accurate translations of the Bible.

Although Uganda is not without Bibles, most of these are less accurate translations of a translation. As we gain mastery over the principle dialects of Uganda, beginning with Luganda, the largest dialect, spoken in and around Kampala and much of the country, and Tooro, of Fort Portal, we will endeavor to translate the Bible into these dialects, from the original Greek and Hebrew texts. In order to prepare for this task, we are currently attending language school at Baptist Bible Translators Institute in Bowie, TX. This ten months of intensive training focuses on learning non-written languages, creating a written language, teaching the people to read and write, and translating the Bible into that language. The primary benefit of this ten month course is that it will get us to the field quicker (most missionaries attend language school for 1 to 2 years following deputation, while we are able to continue doing deputation while attending classes during the week). The language skills we are obtaining will enable us to learn the obscure dialects of Uganda more quickly and efficiently once we get there. It will make us more effective ministers of the Gospel as we communicate the Word of God in the heart languages of the people to whom He has called us to minister.