Connecting with the Local Church

“Joseph, how did you think today went?” [Pause. Big smile.] “Amazing!”

This was the one word that Joseph was able to say for a couple of minutes Friday afternoon once we got back the office.

Friday morning we put on a conference for local pastors to reach out to them about the possibility of domestic adoption and the role that the local church can play in the orphan movement. To put it in Joseph’s words, it was pretty amazing! To add my description, I would say it was so incredibly encouraging, awesome to be a part of, and a great start to something we would love to get off the ground.

There were twelve pastors from churches in the surrounding Jinja area who attended. I primarily put the resources together, and Joseph, our social worker, did an awesome job presenting, with Sam, our counselor, translating in Luganda. In the presentation we explained a bit about Ekisa’s ministry: our heart in working with kids with disabilities and trying to find them each a forever family. We then talked about our desire to reach out to the local church, examples of other African countries pushing for deinstitutionalization of orphans, such as Rwanda and Ethiopia, and then connected it back to ways that these pastors could be encouraging and teaching their congregations here in Uganda. Afterwards we had about an hour Q&A, and lots of good questions were asked in regards to adoptions, as well as Ekisa and helping children with disabilities in their communities already.

It’s hard to say what impact this conference had specifically on the people who attended, but I think it was a good start and a great platform established for us to continue to follow up with these pastors. Please pray for them as they have gone home, that God may continue to bring to light ways that people here can care for the orphaned, the abandoned, and the least of these. And pray for us at Ekisa, that we are able to continue reaching out to the community here in Uganda, and trust in His plan for each and every one of our kids!

"Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause."   Isaiah 1:17