Islam or Christianity, the Battle for Ugandan Hearts and Minds

Alfred Olwa, the Dean of the School of Theology and Divinity at the Uganda Christian University, was the speaker at this week’s breakfast meeting. Alfred spoke on the challenge to Christianity in Uganda and using examples from his personal experience highlighted the need for continue prayer for Ugandan Christians and ongoing support for sound Bible based teaching.
The next breakfast meeting is on Tuesday, 13 April when Joanna Ryan, our Program Manager, will talk on her recent trip to East Africa. For further details please contact Bettina Tong at btong@abau.org.au.

Update from Richards in Berea, DR Congo

Dear Friends

The seminar held in the first week of March for last years Bible School graduates was a great success. We spent the first two days just listening to each of the participants as they told us what has happened since last July when they returned home. We were moved by stories of births and deaths, of amazing hardships, of false accusations against some of them. We were particularly amazed that despite all this they were continuing to work in their churches as best they could.

The system here is that when a person completes Bible School training they are sent home to work as an evangelist or full time lay church worker. If all goes well they would be selected to be ordained after a couple of years. The difficulty is that we are introducing something new. These graduates have had a higher level of training than previously and they have a lot more Bible knowledge and training in pastoral work. Consequently already existing evangelists are worried that there own chances of being ordained are reduced by these new evangelists on the scene. The reaction in some cases has been to make life as difficult as possible for the new graduates, in one case to the point of accusing someone of trying to poison the pastor.

This situation was not entirely unexpected but we are shocked at the level of opposition. Please pray for these 8 newly trained evangelists that they will have the courage to stand firm and to use what they have been taught.

Archbishop of Sydney's ‘Reach the People of Uganda’ Appeal

The Church in Uganda is desperately short of trained clergy for the future. Your urgent support through Achbishop of Sydney's Overseas Ministry Fund will help us fulfil our commitment by covering the theological tuition costs at Ugandan Christian University of 30 students: 10 students in Year One, 10 students in Year Two and 10 students in Year Three.
Donations can be made through the website www.abau.org.au/donations or on 1800 653 903.

ABAU Office Moves to the City

The ABAU team has now relocated to St Andrew’s House in the city. Our new address is: PO Box Q190, QVB Post Office NSW 1230 and the new telephone number is 9284 1406. The email address stays the same.

Wishing a Joyful 2010

As the new year starts we have a moment to pause and reflect on what the last year has been. Like most years 2009 has had its ups and downs. On the up side David was appointed as Director and has been able to visit many Anglican parishes to talk about our work. Another positive is that we maintained our funding commitment to the projects for the 2009/10 year. On the down side our donations have dropped which will mean that we will not be able to fund as many activities as we would like in 2010/11 year.2010 will be another interesting year full of challenges as well as opportunities. We are pleased that Bettina will be joining us as our Donor Relations Officer and it is likely that we will be moving into St Andrew’s House in the centre of Sydney. All positive!From the staff (Suzanne, David, Joanna and Bettina) we wish all our supporters a joyful New Year.

Your Support Leaves a Lifelong Mark on Africa's Bible Students

A message from the Archbishop -

Dear Friend

It is sad to know that many Christians in Africa have had very little exposure to the Bible. Even many of those serving as church leaders have only a rudimentary knowledge of the Scriptures.

Through my Overseas Ministry Fund we are supporting church leaders to be properly trained in the Bible and this can only be achieved through the generous donations from people like you.

Remember your support leaves a lifelong mark on Africa’s Bible Students.

Yours sincerely
Peter F Jensen
Archbishop of Sydney

To donate please visit: www.abau.org.au or phone 1800 653 903

Visit by Archbishop Ian Ernest, Bishop of Mauritius and Archbishop of the Indian Ocean

Archbishop Ernest has been visiting Sydney and had the opportunity of meeting with the OMF and ORAF Management Committees. We enjoyed learning more about the Diocese of Mauritius and the Archbishop’s desire to better equip the people in Biblical knowledge through running PTC courses. OMF is looking to assist with the funding of theological training.

Archbishop Ernest also gave a brief presentation to Synod at Mission Hour on Monday evening.