We've now had two days of training with the group of around 12 Turkana pastors (Saturday and Monday). They have come in from their villages to learn how the study the Bible better along, with the process of putting together exegetical messages which really reflect what the text says.
These are some really great guys. They love the Lord and his Word and have come from all over the Turkana region as far as the borders of Ethiopia, Southern Sudan and Uganda (there are a million Turkana spread over a wide region). And these guys are sharp. Most of them are trilingual. Many of them speak excellent English.
And they minister in the most austere situations: villages surrounded by very little vegetation, often no toilets and very limited access to water. It's winter here and it's been 90 - 100 degrees each day. Many of them are sleeping on mats on the ground.
The first day when we each introduced ourselves, they would say in the lilting tones of African English: "I am Moses, husband of one wife. I have seven children.” ”I am Joseph" (we have for Josephs in the class), husband of one wife... " And they're serious about the one wife deal. Turkana culture has traditionally been polygamous. Old men accumulate wives of different ages, even as young as twelve. You can imagine the abuses. This has been progressively changing as the gospel has advanced. While there is a long way to go in this very patriarchal society, the dignity of women had been hugely elevated.
It's been such a blast to work with these guys in the text -- to hone in what it is and isn't saying, to wrestle a passage down to its essential core that faithfully summarizes the message in a single statement. We gave them each a small whiteboard and markers as a gift to use as they train other pastors, and for use with their congregations. They clapped when we told them.
Dalmas, the leader of the ministry here, says this training is exactly what the pastors and their churches need. The African (and Turkana church) is growing and passionate, but not at all grounded in the Word. It is the systematic and accurate teaching of God's Word that is needed to take people deep and root them in their faith, to combat the false teachers who snatch people away, and the witch doctors that spread such fear.
