After decades of war and genocide from the hands of Idi Amin and Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army, it’s hard to find a pastor or church leader in northern Uganda who doesn’t have scars. In a literal sense, many of the men and women we train have machete scars on their bodies. As you talk to them, you begin to hear stories of kidnappings, murders, child soldiers, pillaging, raping, and all sorts of other atrocities. It can be overwhelming.
TLI began partnering with Tutapona Trauma Counseling in August of 2015 to train pastors and church planters in northern Uganda. But for the good of these new believers, the church in northern Uganda needs gospel-centered strengthening. As we taught our second course, Hermeneutics, in November, one of the pastors came up to an instructor and said, "I think I need to repent of much of my preaching." This was the first time he was being taught to read the Scriptures with an eye toward the original intent, and the powerful authority of God’s Word rightly handled was being taught to him.