Attendance: 38 participants (including 5 pastors) from 5 churches registered to attend. 34 participants of these received Certificates of Completion for attending the entire workshop.
Our host, Pr. John Mwesigwa Isanga coordinated with the churches and participants for the workshop and handled logistics throughout the five days. All participants commuted from their homes while the facilitators stayed at a nearby guest house.
Workshop Leadership and translation
The workshop was run in Luganda and Lusoga. The two facilitators (Simon Nyaika and David Balage) used Luganda and one used Lusoga. The participants also helped to translate from Luganda to Lusoga where it was necessary.
Even though the workshop sessions started late on some days due to the late arrival of participants since they were all commuting on a daily basis. Timekeeping during lunchtime, however, was commendable thanks to our host. This helped us redeem time lost when we would start late and 89% of the participants attended at least four days of the 5-day workshop.
Pastor John was a source of encouragement to the facilitator team due to his eager participation and involvement during the lessons. He was willing to emphasise key points during the lessons that he thought the participants would benefit from.
Participants were engaged through questions in group discussions and presentations. Adult education principles were employed throughout the workshop giving both the participants and facilitators the opportunity to dialogue and learn from one another.
Transformational Development Principles
TD principles were covered under several topics including:
- The Four Relationships God Created For Us At Creation
- Made In The Image Of God
- Shalom – Holistic Health
- Basic Principles Of Sustainable Development
- Choosing A Community Open To Development
- Sunday-Monday Christian
- Appreciative Inquiry
- Beginning An Initiative
- Choosing A Committee
- Monitoring
- Setting People Free To Be All That God Wants Them To Be
- Poverty
- Sustainability
- The Role Of Donors
- Income Generation
- Responding To The Poor
- Building Trust
- Culture And World View
- The Change Cycle
- A Living Holistic Church – The Body Of Christ
- Mobilizing The Church For TD/Holistic Mission
- Implementation Of A Simple Program Without Outside Donors.
Initiatives planned
The participants that were present on the final day of the workshop formed groups based on the church they belong to and discussed the following simple model initiatives:
- The Worship Centre Ndokose: Piggery project to raise funds to buy sound equipment for the church
- Kyomya Miracle Centre: Piggery project to raise funds for ceiling and floor works for their church structure
- Walugogo Lugolo Miracle Centre: Roofing project for their church structure to provide shelter from rainfall and sunshine
- Church of Christ, Kyomya: Finalizing construction of their church structure through saving together as a church
- Kagera ELM 4² Gospel Church: Completion of floor works, as well as installation of windows and doors for their church structure
Follow Up
David Balage in conjunction with Pr. John Mwesigwa Isanga will keep in touch with the participants and we will try to get them together within 6 to 12 months to share experiences and stories of change. TD-2 will be done at an appropriate time.