Learning in New Haven

Hello, friends! We are nearing the end of the Institute portion of the NEGII project. It’s been a whirlwind of activity as we have begun to familiarize ourselves with some of the historical, social, political, and spiritual issues surrounding this type of cross-cultural work. Already the team is being knit together in partnership, and we have felt incredibly privileged to hear from such a top-notch lineup of speakers. Here is a very brief overview:

Jim Tebbe, Urbana director and InterVarsity’s VP of Missions, spoke to us about the changing context of world missions. He helped us to think critically about some of the common pitfalls of various missions paradigms—long-term missions that concentrate power in non-local leadership, the “new mission compound” of short-term American teams, etc.—and provided us with a thoughtful (and challenging!) framework with which to think about the project that has remained with us through the week.

Betty Bigombe—who, among other highly distinguished credentials, has been the chief mediator and peace negotiator in Uganda’s ongoing northern conflict—helped us to understand more of the 20-year history of this war and the extremely complex issues involved. She also detailed the psychological manipulation of an estimated 88,000 children who have been abducted from the region and forced to fight for the Lord’s Resistance Army, as well as her role in peace negotiations with LRA leaders over the past 10+ years. The region has been in a ceasefire since early 2007, though formal peace negotiations have recently come to a standstill.

Jeff Neal is the co-founder and president of World in View, a grassroots capacity-building organization that supports indigenous leadership and community development programs in several African nations. Jeff introduced us to some of the stark realities of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa, and the thoughtful, sustainable work that organizations like World in View are doing. He also talked about meeting Christ in the midst of two-thirds world poverty—he described being “born again, again” when he discovered God’s heart for justice and the poor—encouraging and inspiring us from his unique and transformational experiences overseas.

I will not likely have time to blog about our final speaker, Lamin Sanneh, before we depart the country, but we are very excited to hear from him tomorrow! He is a world-renowned author, thinker, and Christian leader who has written extensively on issues surrounding missions, gospel translation, and the relationship between the West and the global church. It is an incredible privilege to meet with him face-to-face. He will be speaking on the topic of “Current Issues in Global Christianity.”

For your viewing pleasure, here are some other snapshots from the week:


Next up: We depart New Haven around 3AM (YIKES!) on Thursday and head for JFK. We will spend a brief 24 hours in London studying the impact of colonialism on Africa before traveling on to our final destination. The first portion of our time in Uganda will be a week in Kampala working alongside Come Let’s Dance, a ministry serving street children and families in underprivileged neighborhoods of the city.

Thank you so much for your prayers and your interest in our journeys…Much more to come!