CIMS (Comfort International Ministry School) is a project of vital importance providing pastors, many who have received no formal education in any field, in Burundi and Uganda, with accredited training and equipping them to lead their churches with sound theological and practical skills. There has been significant progress in both Burundi and Uganda and we are grateful to God for all He is doing to bless this work. Please find below an update of how the training has been progressing in both countries, along with our sincere thanks for your support in this incredible work.
Burundi
In Burundi we are delighted that the first group of students have now completed all their studies. It has been a challenging programme, firstly with Covid closing down the programme and then because of the border closure with Rwanda. However, the final teaching week took place in May this year when Callum (CI Director) was able to find a way through Tanzania to get to Ngozi and teach Healing and Reconciliation and then Preaching and Teaching. It is fair to say that during the early stages it was difficult to impress on the students in Burundi the importance of working hard to pass the assessments. Our assertion that students would not receive a certificate unless they passed the correct number of assessments did not really break through in those early teaching weeks. There is therefore going to be an opportunity for some students who clearly had the ability to pass but had not applied themselves to the assessments in the early stages to do some resits. Those will take place shortly and then we will review and look at a graduation.
The Healing and Reconciliation teaching was a special time with a real sense of God’s presence and grace teaching and healing hearts, minds and souls. The Preaching and Teaching is also a crucial module. In an oral culture close reading of the text and context does not always take place and the two pitfalls of missing key information and taking verses or words out of context are ever-present, so we do a lot of practical reading and interpretation and it went well.
Uganda
The CIMS programme in Uganda continues to forge ahead. The programme is now taking place in two locations – Busia, on the border with Kenya, and Mbale, about two and a half hours to the north. The pastor who helped organise the teaching at Mbale had been praying for over thirty years for a proper training programme in his region that would allow poor pastors to attend. He is deeply grateful to God for providing this and it was so moving to see how they valued the training. As with Busia this training takes place with a mixture of in-person visits, training of local oversight to do some of the teaching, and online video conferencing.
In May there was a graduation in Busia. Seventy-nine students graduated at Certificate level and thirty-six at Diploma level. It was a very special occasion with over eight hundred people present. It was a joy to see how highly the students valued their training.
Wejuli Fred, who heads up LEMA (Life Edifying Ministries Africa), continues to pursue his vision of training Ugandan pastors and is now looking at doing the training in Kampala. Fred regularly sends us updates of how the training is making a practical difference in the lives, families and churches of the pastors attending and in the wider Ugandan church. Please do pray for God to be at the centre of every CIMS development, that He would be the One directing, leading and providing. Pray also for Phil Arbon (CIMS Director) as he continues to dedicate his time to leading the work.
In our last CIMS update we mentioned that whilst ministering in a local church, Lea Shaw from the evangelism team had encountered a group of street children and come back with a burden to help them. The children are now getting on well, being looked after at the LEMA Hope Centre and around half of them are now sponsored. It’s been great to see those lives being transformed as a result of the CIMS ministry. Likewise in Burundi, the work among the Batwa which has recently seen the purchase of land, seeds and tools for agriculture, also came out of the CIMS partnership with Gerard Rukerandanga. The gospel does indeed bring good news to the poor in every way!
We would like to take this opportunity to once again, thank every individual, church and team who have sown into the work of CIMS and made it possible for low-income pastors to access the training course. The students continue to make a difference in their communities and churches, often as a direct result of the training. Please continue to partner with us in this area. For more information, please get in touch.