The methodology of White Fields causes us to always look for the next village to plant a church. Our team on the ground analyzes how to move us toward the farthest fringe where people do not have a witness for the gospel. The local leadership finds the avenue to introduce the gospel to these needy people.
Fantastic News
We have fantastic news from our ministry in Uganda that illustrates this principle. Three years ago, our team reached out to a group of impoverished people suffering from starvation due to a severe drought. No relief organizations were helping them, no government assistance available, but our hearts were burdened to reach these people. Our team registered the families, so we knew how many people needed assistance. Our partners provided funding so we could bring relief. Our local pastors enlisted the help of over seventy-five church members to bring the gospel and the bags of maize and beans to the starving people.
That series of outreach events yielded fruit. Multiple families came to faith, and by God’s grace, White Fields purchased a property in Kikarara. Kikarara was about a two-hour drive from our base headquarters in the town of Rukungiri. Then, we brought Bryan and Elizabeth into full-time ministry at that church. The outreach expanded, and hundreds of people began attending church. We built a duplex that could provide housing for Pastor Bryan’s family and another young man in the leadership of our churches, Able.
This year God moved us forward again. With the assistance of Able and Brighton, the outreach expanded beyond Kikarara to the next trading center in Garuka. Near the end of last year, we began to hold evangelistic campaigns and conduct house to house visits. In November, we had a dozen adults that gave their lives to Christ at a campaign held in the Garuka Trading Center. God was moving in this place. A donor provided funds to purchase a property for the church—a property right on the main road leading from the trading center across a bridge that goes deeper into the fringes of society.
Pastor Able was walking two hours every day from the house in Kikarara to Garuka. He would then visit families of the church for Bible Study. He would instruct them on how to live righteously and how they needed to care for their children. He would also visit neighbors that had not yet received Jesus Christ sharing the gospel with them and praying with their family. Then each evening, he would walk two hours back to the house.
Now there is a thriving church in Kikarara and Garuka—with a property. I am also thrilled to share that a donation was given to buy Able a motorbike. He can now get to his target area in about fifteen minutes. Having a motorbike expands his ministry and makes his outreach much more efficient.
We continue to look at the bridge. We are praying for God to provide so that we can cross that bridge with the gospel and establish a church. The people living on the other side are living in spiritual darkness. The religious cult leaders and witchdoctors have those people living in bondage.
Pray with us that God will provide the resource to move us to the next village. Together we can answer the call we are hearing from those living there. Will you bring us a church like you did in Kikarara and Garuka? We pray that soon we can tell them the answer. Yes!
Delivering Relief
During these days of quarantine and lock downs required by the governments of all our countries, our pastors have been the frontline servants providing relief. The poorest and weakest people were stuck at home, unable to leave even just to go to market. In some communities it was illegal for people to leave their home without a certified pass from the government. Widows and elderly were in deep struggles. We are thankful that through some generous gifts we were able to send funds to our field directors to pass along to the pastors in the hardest hit areas.
We may not always be available to travel and deliver the food and supplies ourselves. That is why scripture teaches us that when we participate by praying and supplying the needs, we become partners with our co-workers on the ground.
New Opportunities
God continues to give new opportunities to share the Good News. Sometimes we are moving into rural villages, but in this instance, Stephen Wheeler was invited to speak to the university students in Cebu, The Philippines. The Sustainable Development department at the university had been helped in a project by counsel through White Field’s Poverty Solutions. They put into practice some advice in their agricultural project for innovative irrigation in arid and dry soils to grow crops more efficiently. They entered the project in a national competition and won second place, with a sizable cash prize for the university department.
As a result of that input, the Dean of the University heard that Stephen Wheeler was going to be present and extended an invitation to speak to the students in their weekly conference on Financial Literacy. Our President was able to present the biblical record for economics. The topic was the Causes of and Solutions for Poverty. The students were eager to share their feedback and ask questions after the lecture. This opportunity has developed into a new outreach for a Bible Study among college students. Please pray as this ministry grows.
