COMPASSION MOVEMENT
Matthew 9:36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them
The word evangelism I am told means: the presentation of the gospel with the purpose of bringing that one to have faith in Jesus Christ. Anyone who knows Hesed knows that evangelism has been at the heart of all that we have done over the past 16 years.
We have been spending sometime looking over our mission, vision, strategies and yes accomplishments and even the lack there of. One of the things that we really want to fend off as an organization is complacency setting in. Hesed managed to hone our method of evangelism, so much so that we are able to say that over the past years we managed to reach in the range of 50,000 – 60,000 new converts with the Gospel.So we asked the difficult questions: is 50,000 – 60,000 a number that we should be comfortable with on an annual basis; how can we expand our base so that we can make a great impact; how can we rally supporters, pastors, teachers, preachers to this high, noble and most privileged cause; how do we approach evangelism with the same urgency that we felt when we started off with a lack of resources and personnel but with a passion to fulfill that greatest of commissions?That’s when we were forced to consider what have unfortunately become clichés in society; HIV/AIDS infection rates among teen and the youth are on the rise, as a result teenage pregnancy is on the rise and as a result abortions are on the rise. Our young adults continue to struggle to get ahead in the business and corporate world which is seemingly asking for more and more of them, asking them to give up more and more so they can get ahead. Many may say we cast too much blame on society but truth is isolationism and individualism are setting in, depression is setting in, grief is no longer restricted to loss of life, there are so many that we know, so many that are among us and even many more that we need to reach out to, truth is the world has been and still is crying out for help. Here comes another difficult question: what could possibly be the unifying solution if such a solution actually exists?Mission, vision, strategies, accomplishments and yes even the lack there of, that is what we have been thinking about. Can we do more, can we keep up with the same, can we make a greater impact, and can we continue to rally people to this cause? We look out and our gaze comes upon people, real people with real problems, some may say clichés but real problems nonetheless. Scripture says in Matthew 9: 36: when Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were bewildered and helpless. That is what we want to do.Sixteen years and running we approach 2014 with this simple and yet impacting notion that Jesus Christ is the answer, we seek not only to share His love and His wisdom but share the Gospel and the good news that we have a saviour, we have a man! Evangelism has to be more than at the center of any church, ministry or organization, evangelism must be in the hearts and minds, evangelism must be at the inner most part of any believer. And evangelism will be at our heart this year, we will reach all that God will bring our way, we will help every one that we come across, we will give in everyway that we can, giving all that we can, giving all that need and never forgetting that they need Christ most, in evangelism, we will move with compassion.
Rightly Handling The Word Of Truth
2Timothy 2:15: who correctly handles the word of truth
So much in life is out of our control: the things we want, the things we need and even our heart’s desire. Too many things almost never come easy and it is not just money that should be mentioned here but even the emotional, like peace, love and warmth. We as a people are in desperate need for assurance and certainty. Assurance that this life will not over come us. Certainty that the “way” however murky it can get will always eventually become clear.
The Bible has been called the Good News; the good news for so many who did not know that salvation arrived when Emmanuel was born. The Bible has been called Sacred Scripture to a world that needs to sift through so much and set itself aside for a higher calling. The Bible has been called and correctly so: the truth.
In a world with so much financial woes and people using the Bible as a get rich book; the truth is needed. In a world filled with so much pain and people using the Bible as a wipe everything away book, the truth is needed. At a time where security cannot be guaranteed and people using the Bible as a nothing can go wrong book; the truth is needed. The truth is needed to remind those grieving that this life on Earth is not the end. The truth is needed to remind those in need that faith can move mountains. The truth is needed to remind us that however hard we fall we can always get up. The truth is needed to remind us that however high the mountain we can scale it, however deep the hole we can climb out of it and no matter the difficulty we can have peace as we go through it.
That is why this year as we go out to disciple the world for Christ we will endeavor to teach people to rightly handle the word of truth. We will put this not just in different Bible studies and pulpits but also in a book. Teaching people about context and how it impacts a passage. Teaching people about the basics in Bible doctrine. Teaching people the principles of interpretation and illustrating to them proper exegesis. Teaching them so that they may know the truth and so that truth may set them free, for the one who is free is free indeed.
THE DISTRIBUTION The Program To Effectively Distribute The Book
“A Guide To Interpreting Scripture”
Acts 2:45: selling their goods and possessions, they gave to anyone as he had need
We do not often speak of the origins of Hesed International and yet it is important that we do. Not just for the staff, or the supporters and donors and benefactors but especially when we speak of where we are and where we believe the living Lord intends to take us. It has been said in many varying forms when speaking of the importance of history and background, that who we are is in essence because of who we were. Allow me to write to you about where Hesed came from.
Like many great things in this world it would be fair to say that Hesed began as an idea. Michael Kyomya had been ministering in numerous churches and Christian gatherings and one of the things that struck Michael at the time was just how horribly incorrectly the Bible was being interpreted and used. Having the opportunity Michael used the pulpit to engage believers in rural, town and city settings to address this malpractice. Yet the gains hoped to be achieved were not being made. Michael set out to get education in Theology and from Nairobi International School of Theology to Dallas Seminary; a world class education was obtained.
Michael returned to East Africa and was teaching pastors and church leaders in the hope of affecting the problem on a broader scale and we trust that he did. It was when Michael was called by our Lord and given the privilege of becoming Bishop of Busoga Diocese in the Church of Uganda that the stage that took a couple of decades was finally set. With Busoga covering approximately 4,000 square miles with over 2,000,000 registered Christians to shepherd, having obtained the necessary education, gained the invaluable experience and given just the right amount of time one aspect of the idea that brought about Hesed was realized.
The idea was that God could take one man and one woman and from very humble and small beginnings give them the grace to garner the necessary people to set up and run an organization. And from the use of this organization the lives of millions and millions to come could be changed. That was the idea! And one aspect of this idea was realized when Michael Kyomya completed the book: “A Guide To Interpreting Scripture.”
There is a great need in Africa and indeed all over the world. We live in a world of widespread and monumental problems. There are so many inside and outside the church that hunger and thirst for life and yet God gave us Scripture so we may hunger and thirst no more. There are so many weighed down by pressures and uncertainties yet God gave us Scripture so that we may know where to find rest. There are so many that feel that problems and circumstance have driven them to their end and yet God gave us Scripture so that we may know and have eternal life. Widespread and monumental problems and yet the solution is right there and is being horribly mishandled.
As an organization we can confidently testify that we have seen the Hand of God move us and move the lives of many in so many ways. Our request is that God would help us realize this dream of a lasting impact through our book as we start off by setting our sites on Kenya and Uganda. What may be new to you is the fact that we have expanded operations to Kenya and different parts of Uganda. While Busoga will always be Hesed’s home we want to heed that call to go forth into all the world and spread our wings as far as the Lord will Guide and enable us.
To make an impact with the book we want to put the book into the hands of leaders and influential people that are in a position to not just use it, but hopefully also promote it in their different spheres of influence. That is why we hope to distribute the book to the entire clergy in the Anglican church of Uganda. The Anglican church of Uganda has an overwhelming majority in terms of registration and membership of Christians in Uganda. Outside from influencing the members of the Anglican Church this would translate into breaking into the market for Christians in Uganda for the book.
Michael’s classroom teaching began in Nairobi, Kenya and a good number of year’s ministry was focused in Kenya primarily. Hesed through the Hesed Extension Program began working with like minded organizations, churches and individuals to offer our experience and help to the people of Kenya. The reading culture in Kenya is very good and by targeting just 28 strategic churches and their congregations we have the potential to reach out to 70,300 people by distributing the book to pastors and strategic church leaders in those 28 churches. We should also mention that the 28 churches were selected not just from previous or current relationships, but also because they expose the book to different demographics and members of society. We would hope that through this distribution in Kenya we would again see the influencing of the minds and marketing of the book to these 70,300 people but also a breaking into the market for the book in Kenya, so as to have a greater impact.
We stand up and believe that God can take one man, one woman, give them the grace to garner the necessary people to set up and run an organization to impact the lives of millions and millions to come, we believe that through the distribution of the book: “A Guide To Interpreting Scripture” this will be done. There is a great example we draw from the church in Acts 2:45, they gave as people needed, we have seen a need and hope that we can gather together as many people as we can to give, so that we in turn can give to those that need the most.
YOUTH CLINIC
Proverbs 22:6 Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn away from it
The children, the youth are our future, this is a statement that may be as old as time itself; echoing in all our minds as we heard the different songs and speeches throughout history that have told us so. The obvious thing is this ageless statement is true and if you really believe it to be true then read on.The youth among any culture and any generation are the ones that question those things in society that the elderly or those in power have always kept as the status quo but are detrimental to all. Often when civil rights were violated world over it was the young people that braved the tribulations in order to have that changed. When women were being locked out of corporate positions and the business world it was young women across the world that stood up and demanded to be noticed as intellectually and qualitatively equal to their male peers, proving sometimes to be better than their male peers in certain jobs in fact. When countless Presidents, Prime Ministers and leaders of different countries sought election they turned to the youth in their respective countries as the constituency of hope. The youth are our futureYet in most parts of Africa and many other countries in the world the highest unemployed age group is the youth. So many young people come out of university hoping to use their training and their knowledge only to be met with endless unemployment lines and many grapple with turning to questionable means in order to get by and cutting any corner to get ahead.Teenage pregnancy is still on the rise, so many governments have tried instituting many policies but it seems like their efforts are not seeing fruit yet. One government actually put in place a policy where teenage girls were banned forever from school if they got pregnant. This policy obviously discriminated on the girls, as it needed a partner in order to get her pregnant. The really sad statistic is more often than not these teenage girls were impregnated but a teacher or elderly relative.Recent studies have shown that the hardest hit demographic of the HIV/AIDS pandemic are young women, most programs ran to alleviate the spread focused mainly on the youth only to have the other age groups drastically go down, and have the bracket of the youth go up.More and more youth in many churches feel disenfranchised from church leadership and church ministry. Many programs are ignored or worse many churches do not have an active program for the youth in their church, who are then forced to either attend a service they feel does not cater to them or disengage from church altogether.A lot of the crime in so many towns is committed by gangs mainly composed of young people that are looking to belong to something, looking to associate with someone or a group of people that will accept them and care for them.The youth are the future, we at Hesed believe in this and that is why this year we are going to run a Youth Clinic. A clinic that addresses alienation, sexuality and sexual practices; a clinic that speaks of morality as well as ethics and community development; a clinic that goes beyond teaching Bible basics but seeks to engrave them in hearts and minds, a clinic that reminds people of hope and such things as faith and what can be accomplished with them; a youth clinic. So that we can train them in the way they should go and when they are old they will not turn from it. Yes the youth are the future.