Christ Methodist Church Memphis
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Christ Methodist Church Memphis
Hope in Bidi Bidi: How God Is at Work in Uganda
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What is God doing in one of the world’s largest refugee settlements? Robert Hunt and Kathryn Naifeh share firsthand stories from Bidi Bidi, Uganda, where Ebenezer Global is equipping refugees, sharing the gospel, and building relationships across religious and cultural lines.
This morning we have with us this guy right here. This is Robert
Mission in Uganda
SPEAKER_01Hunt. Robert is coming to share with us this morning our mission's moment. We recently took a trip to Biddy Biddy, Uganda, and visited with Ruth Lomo, who has a ministry there called Ebenezer Global. And so Robert's just going to share a part of his testimony with us about that experience. So, Robert, first question: what is Ebenezer Global?
SPEAKER_02Thank you, Nathan, and good morning. Ebenezer Global is a Christian-based nonprofit that's located in the middle of a refugee camp in a part of Uganda, Northeast Uganda, which is mostly Muslim. And they are an organization that not only spreads the gospel, but they also enable local residents and refugees through training in construction, tailoring, fashion, bakery, and hospitality. They also do pastor training, IT training, motorcycle repair. So they are not only spreading the gospel, but they're trying to equip people to be able to sustain sustain themselves in really hard, difficult situations.
SPEAKER_01Okay. And so, Robert, if you would please share with us maybe a God moment or way in which you experience God while on the trip.
Prison Worship Encounter
SPEAKER_02So I'm going to share two. There were many, but two really come to light. This was my fourth trip to Uganda, but I want to say it was probably one of the most special. We did for the first time, we visited a prison in Uganda. It's a minimum security prison that houses some refugees, but mostly local indigenous people. And there were about 70 prisoners there, many of them Muslim, some of them Christian, some agnostic. And the group, this was the first time that Ebenezer had done a visit to the prison, and I want to say it was probably one of the best worship services I've ever experienced in my life. It was a truly incredible experience led by Nathan and two of the others in our group that shared the gospel. We provided food for the prisoners, and at the end of that, we we had a soccer match with the local prison team. I didn't play, but we had some young people, including Zach Schmidt from our church, who played and just interacted with these people who were kind of the lost and the lonely.
Muslim Leaders Seek Bibles
SPEAKER_02And the second one I would say, as I said, this is a very Muslim area that the facility is located in. And Nathan was doing a pastor study, a three-day pastor study, and we had six local Muslim sheikhs that asked to come to the training, knowing that it was gospel-based training. And at the end of that, they all requested, and Nathan provided them all with Bibles to go read. So it's kind of a unique situation, and it was absolutely amazing. So thank you, Nathan.
SPEAKER_01Last question is how can we as a congregation support this ministry and get involved?
Ways to Support Uganda
SPEAKER_02So there are a number of ways. I always say you can pray for the people in Biddy Biddy every day. That that's always needed. You can give your dollars. We would love to have you support that ministry. You can do it through the church, through our giving, online giving. You can just denote it for Uganda. There's also a website, Ebenezer GlobalHub.org. You can give there. And lastly, I would ask that if you would prayerfully consider going with us next summer. We're tentatively plan to go back in the June-July timeframe. If you're unable to go, maybe you would consider sponsoring somebody to go in your place if you're not able to travel. Thank you. Thank you, Robert. Thank you, Nathan. Appreciate you.
SPEAKER_00Catherine Neffey is standing to my left. Many of you know Catherine. She's a very gifted Bible teacher in our church family and in our city. And I am thankful, as we've often prayed for God, to always activate the spiritual gifts that are present in you as the body of Christ. And so I'm thankful to stand next to an activated believer. And your gifts may not be teaching, it may be something else, but I encourage you to walk in them. You honor Jesus when you do. And so I'm going to ask Catherine a series of questions. She has been a part of the Biddy Biddy Uganda mission team and that journeyed the summer, ministered among one of the largest, if not the largest, refugee camp in the world where there's some
Ebenezer Global’s Origin
SPEAKER_00desperate needs. And so, first of all, I I want to ask you, Catherine, the ministry that we connect with is called Ebenezer Global. Would you share with the Christchurch family a little bit about Ebenezer Global this morning?
SPEAKER_03Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00Let's see. Should be on. There we go. Let's see. There we go. Testing. Go ahead, pardon me.
SPEAKER_03Technology is not my gift. Ebenezer Global, I just want to set it up first to tell you how it came to be. Ruth Lomo, who was the starter of Ebenezer Global, is a South Sudanese refugee that God made a way to come here in 2001 after South Sudan was experiencing war, and she became a refugee here in Memphis. And that was in 2001. And soon after that, she started the refugee empowerment program, which is still alive in our community serving refugees. She traveled to South Sudan back in 2016, and conflict erupted shortly thereafter. So she became a refugee once again. And she God moved her. I want to say God moved her because even though we feel like we're fleeing sometimes, it is God's purpose. And so she became a refugee in the Bitty Bitty refugee camp at the time, and now it's a settlement with 250,000 people there, and they have settled there. In those five months that she was there, as people were settling in, she the Lord enlightened her eyes to see the needs of the people. And she came back with those identified needs for skill training and biblical training of the refugees in the camp. And so she came back and had a conversation with her, one of her older daughters who lives here in Memphis. And Ebenezer Global was birthed out of that conversation. And so Ebenezer Global started in 2017, shortly after the refugees started to populate in Biddy Biddy.
Training Refugees and Locals
SPEAKER_03They really provide holistic training and care for the refugees and for the host community there. They open their training to the host community, which is the Aringa people who are mostly Muslim and mostly unreached people. And where I see God's favor is that there is no hostility there. They live in mostly peaceful terms. And so God has given favor to Ebenezer to be able to share gospel training to them. They provide biblical training, women's training in the Bible, which I was able to be a part of and so loved it. Pastoral training with Nathan Cook did youth training. They have lamphouse just pouring into the young generation, VBS. They did biblical financial literacy training. We had skills training such as well, we did not do this. They are actually learning to do these things on their own, which is so lovely. Carpentry, farming, mechanics, crafts, arts, tailoring, hairdressing, leadership development, and community outreach. Why give them the training so that they can be change agents in their community for Christ? Amen. It started as 11 dedicated volunteers, and now they have 61 staff members by the grace of God. And so they are they're there to be able to train people in their communities to be agents of change.
SPEAKER_00Amen. And glory to God. Glory to God on that. So this is something I have said many times about the Christ Church family. And I think the heart of what Jesus has done within our church family is that there's there's the heart, this will be a negative to say a positive. It's a a heart that's not indifferent to matters that are dear to God's heart. And when you when you're not indifferent and you join God in something God's doing around the world, you often experience God.
Seeing God on the Trip
SPEAKER_00So how how have you experienced God as you've been a part of this ministry, Catherine?
SPEAKER_03That question is so hard to say in one minute or less. It really is.
SPEAKER_00But I'm going to just say it had to be a minute or less?
SPEAKER_03I I heard two to three minutes, and that was, ooh, I thought, Lord, you're gonna have to help me on that. Is your breath in my lungs? So okay, so first of all, as any normal person who went on a mission trip for the first time, there were lots of fears. Some unfounded, some had to be prayed over. All of them had to be prayed over, but some more than others. And so it was my first mission trip, but I was so concerned about being away. Also, just I know I get jet lag a lot, and it was a tough, you know, a long trip. And then the there was Ebola. And so God was gracious in giving the wisdom to, I kept on going back to authority in my life. That Lord, you placed authority in my life. My husband, the pastor, the pastor of missions, Nathan, you, as our pastor, and for them to have wisdom to be able to make those decisions. And and the doors opened, and we saw that when we hit the ground running, it was we were all healthy.
A Conversation with Teresa
SPEAKER_03We we didn't even think about Ebola. There was nothing there, you know. So I saw God in little ways, but in the big way that I saw him was that, as I said before, there is favor there, even among the Muslims there. And there are Muslims that work at Ebenezer Global. And when I first got there, there was a warm welcome. And there was one young girl who was in charge of food. I didn't know that at the time, and she introduced herself to me, and her name was Teresa Mary. And of course, all the names kind of ran together at first with the exuberance of being there. But I came back to her 10 minutes later and she said, Do you remember my name? I said, I don't, but tell me again. And she said, Teresa Mary, and she said, Remember me. And so that kind of wrestled in my heart. And I found out she's was head of the kitchen. So one day I had free time and I went and cut vegetables with them just to kind of be among them. And then Joyce, who is Ruth Lomo's daughter, told me, she said, I saw that you were talking with Teresa Mary. Do you know her? Do you know about her? I said, No. And she said, She is a Muslim and she is head of the kitchen. And so I said to her, Can we pray that we would have an opportunity that God would open up a door for us to be able to share the gospel with her and show the love of Christ to her? And so we were there for a long time, and towards the end, they were worshiping, and Mary Teresa was on the outside tending to food that was going to be served next. And she was holding her heart like this, and she was singing the song, Yahweh, Yahweh, Alpha and Omega. And she was just doing this, and she said, I love that song. She had heard it before because she'd been among the people there. And so I said, Do you know who Yahweh is? And she said, I don't. And I said, Let's have a seat and let's talk about it. And in God's perfect timing, we I allowed her to know that Yahweh is a personal God, the one that so longs to draw her in. And I said, I believe that he's drawing you in. I I see that you are holding your heart and you are saying, I love it, but really I think you love him. And so right about that time, Joyce, who I had we had prayed together about ministering to her, came with her Bible and we sat down and we were able to walk her through the gospel. And and Joyce was able to hand her the Bible and say, We're gonna get someone to walk alongside of you here. Amen. And so God was good.
SPEAKER_00Amen.
SPEAKER_03He was good.
SPEAKER_00Amen. Praise the Lord. That's awesome.
Join the Mission Work
SPEAKER_00So, Catherine, if if somebody wanted to get involved or connected with Ebenezer Global, what would they need to do?
SPEAKER_03The answer to that question is what drew me in originally. Gladys and Gladys Hunt and Ruth Lomo had come to my house to the Bible study that I was teaching at the time, because I wanted them to be aware of the various missions that they could be a part of. And one of our friends had already gone to Africa in that group, and she asked that question that you're asking now. And I'll never forget what Ruth said, or Mama Ruth is how she's normally known as. She said, Whatever God has given you, we have a need for. And then she began to tell about all the different things. And one of them was women's discipleship. My heart strings plucked. I said, Lord, I have no clue how I would ever do that. But if it's what you want me to do, I'll do it. And now we have a 6:30 in the morning, Zoom Bible study, teaching them the chronological Bible. Amen. So God is good.
SPEAKER_00Amen.
SPEAKER_03So I'm praying for your heart strings to be plucked maybe this morning as I go through this list. Not to get in the emotional part of it, but just God's calling. And so connection, that's the most important thing. Support the fundraising that is going on here. I know they have a Mahjong tournament coming up. If you like Mahjong and you're whether you're good or not, come and support Ebenezer. Invite Mama Ruth or Gladys or myself or anybody in to share the story. Mama Ruth does it best, and she's here two months out of the year. Come on the next missions trip if you feel led. I I I did not have that necessarily in in my in my foresight, but God did. And so within the year, within one year, He changed my heart and I went. And there's nothing more connecting than to be there with these people who are unbelievably, they have nothing, but they have everything in Jesus. Skill, if you have a skill to share, carpentry, farming, mechanical, medical, a craft, an art, teaching, spreading the word, anything like that. They have a need for it. And it's teaching them sustenance in a skill. And so I pray that you would pray about that. And it may not be that you have to go, but you may be part of the planning team that gives insight from your skill. The other thing is prayer, which is so important. Pray for Mama Ruth. She has a lot on her. I was able to see firsthand the weariness of the job, the weariness of the call. And yet she said to me, I will do this until the day I die if the Lord has me do this. Like that's commitment. And we gain from that. And then Ebenezer's staff pray for them. And then the bitty-bitty refugee camp in the Aringa community, who is mostly unreached. And then, of course, financial needs. They always have need for financially. There's uh trucks that need to go to the farm, which is 10 miles away, otherwise, they're walking there. Salary for the staff, just so many needs to seed money for those who are learning to start their own businesses. So there's just so many needs. So anyway, I thank you so much. Praise the Lord for that. So thank you, Catherine.