The mission of Reaching Africa's Unreached (RAU) is to reach Africa’s unreached people groups with the glorious Gospel of Jesus by planting Christ exalting churches in their midst. It endeavors to strengthen local churches and their leaders through careful exposition of the Scriptures in word and deed that they may be strengthened to plant churches in nearby villages with no church and unreached peoples in their geographical regions.
How did you initially get involved this ministry?
Jacob’s and my life together centers around “a call” to missionary life. When we first met, Jacob was keen on being a missionary in India (which happened to be the place of my birth into a missionary family). We met at church in Seguin, Texas, and were involved in ministry together and fellowshipped a lot with the same group of believers. Not so long after, Jacob proposed and we were married. Our plan (about 6 months after marriage) was to sell/give away everything and move to India to work with some friends in the State of Maharashtra. Three months later, our first son was born in the Hill Station, Kodaikanal, where I attended school for 18 years.
Just a few weeks after Joshua’s birth and several months after going to India but having no funds or visa to stay, we were on our way back to the USA, lesson learned on the difference between faith and presumption in God’s provision for ministry. We settled into home, work, community and church in Seguin, Texas. Missions was always on our minds and in our priority from afar as we stayed and worked and raised a family and matured in our faith in the context of our local church, Lifegate.
Fast forward 31 years (a few degrees later—Bachelors and Masters for Jacob, Nursing Degree for me—and a lot of learning and experience) and we were on our way to northern Uganda to birth a ministry of Pastoral leadership training, evangelism, and agricultural enterprise and training.
How has your faith been tested in your current work?
These last 7 1/2 years have been the hardest of my life (our lives). It was a process of praying, reading, dying (to self) before I was willing to come alongside Jacob in his desire to move to Uganda on a more permanent basis; he had been coming here for many years on short term trips but felt he could be more effective if we lived here. I was working as a nurse, enjoying my immersion in church community and friendship, looking forward to being a grandmother, and just feeling very connected and secure in my community and identity.
We moved here with my full support, knowing it would be a difficult change. I thought I was well prepared for “mission life” in a new culture, having grown up overseas. What I failed to take into account was the impact of community and identity in work and other roles and the sudden cutting away of them from my everyday life. I floundered, having a difficult time finding community locally (language and culture), my spiritual footing and finding my hope and joy in the Lord.
Our marriage has been tested as many are on the mission field (without the “sweet frames” and supports that are taken for granted in one’s home place). I didn’t realize how much of the weight of my happiness I had put on other things and people rather than the Lord—until they were gone. Desperation and prayer and humbling have been the path back to hope and joy in the Lord.
Briefly describe the impacts of RAU on everyone affected, including those serving, partnering, and being served.
RAU, by the grace of God—and only by that grace—has been, in a few particular ways, a pipeline of hope, especially to some of the most remote areas of Uganda. When Jacob and I first arrived in Uganda, a sentiment among the Ugandans with whom we met and fellowshipped in the south (Kampala) was that Gulu was as far north as they could imagine going and few wanted to go even that far. This was partially because of Uganda’s recent history (2006) when Joseph Kony and his brutal and rebel “Lord’s Resistance Army” were terrorizing the northern region of the country.
Even to this day, the northern portion of Uganda remains underdeveloped with a few exceptions. Jacob believed that the best place to settle was where there were little to no resources—human or otherwise. If you were to look at a map pinpointing all the foreign ministries (Christian and otherwise) that have set up in Uganda, you would see a great disparity between north and south as to where resources and support have been injected. A common, heart-breaking phrase we heard on many occasions upon visiting villages and towns in the remote north was, “We thought God had forgotten us.” It was a particular joy to affirm to them that, indeed, they were not forgotten.
RAU’s primary purpose from the beginning has been to come alongside the existing churches and to strengthen them by strengthening their pastors and leaders through training (largely unavailable to them), resources (Bibles, books, tracts) and then, additionally, “Farming as a Business” training (to encourage socioeconomic improvement). It has been a busy 7 1/2 years of retreats (held on campus) and outreaches to villages, towns, and market places (especially in the Metu Mountains and the predominantly Muslim district of Yumbe).
Describe a "walk by faith and not by sight" moment in your life.
To those of us working “on the ground” here in Afoji (near Moyo)—just a mile or two from the South Sudan border—RAU ministry has been a team effort, not only in the spiritual work, but very notably in the physical, as what is visible on the 20 acres of property was cut into and built up from the thick and thorny bush with much blood, sweat, and tears.
Jacob used to encourage local community members with whom he worked side by side by urging them to imagine “this land” filled with mango trees and other vegetation and structures. Now he reminds them of those days and can say, “Look at what we accomplished!” Building and living here has impacted the community by making it clear that we are not a “briefcase NGO” or a “here today and gone tomorrow” ministry, but that we are here to stay and, by God’s grace, to make a lasting difference in the communities here.
RAU ministry, with the technical help of the internet, a good camera, and some writing, has impacted partners by giving them a ‘front row” seat to see and then even participate in (financially, prayerfully and, in some cases, short term visits) the works which God planned in advance for us to do. Teaching retreats (and some medical outreaches) have offered a great way for churches to connect in short term ministry with long term missionaries.
What is the most important thing to keep in mind when serving others?
One of the most important things to keep in mind when serving others is to see that you are doing “whatever” as “unto the Lord”. I can think of a thousand times when good things were ruined by my sinful desire to be seen and known and appreciated. A God-centered motivation is key to being happy when you are called to mundane and routine plodding or when your job description is not particularly “missionary adventure-ish” or seemingly eternally noteworthy!
What role does prayer have in your life?
Prayer (as John Piper puts it) is a war-time walkie-talkie, not a living room intercom: “The number one reason why prayer malfunctions in the hands of a believers is that they try to turn a wartime walkie-talkie into a domestic intercom. Until you believe that life is war, you cannot know what prayer is for. Prayer is for the accomplishment of a wartime mission. It is as though the field commander (Jesus) called in the troops, gave them a crucial mission ("Go and bear fruit"), handed each of them a personal transmitter coded to the frequency of the general's headquarters, and said, "Comrades, the general has a mission for you. He aims to see it accomplished. And to that end he has authorized me to give each of you personal access to him through these transmitters. If you stay true to his mission and seek his victory first, he will always be as close as your transmitter, to give tactical advice and to send in air cover when you or your comrades need it." Prayer has been that urgent, desperate plea for God’s help, presence, strength and comfort.
The most important thing that a woman can do to strengthen her marriage is to place all her hopes and expectations on the broad shoulders of Christ. Do all things “as unto the Lord”—as unto the Lord—as unto the Lord. “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” Ephesians 4:31-32
How can we pray for you and the RAU ministry?
Prayer for us and RAU ministry: Grace to joyfully endure separation from family for the sake of Christ, grace to serve the Lord, not man, deep, Jesus-love for the people we serve, wisdom to navigate cultural differences without prejudice and with discernment, perseverance for the long-haul, development of local staff for leadership in the ministry, other long-term partners on the ground, insight and inspiration as both Jacob and I work on curriculums for trainings—Jacob: a condensed, pastoral module curriculum for pastors/leaders and, Carol: a meta-narrative of the Bible for women who have never read the Bible or had access to the Old Testament.
Please submit any questions or comments for Carol in the contact form below.
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