Ministry in Cairo and Lusaka, February 2020

I spent much of my time with one-to-one appointments with the ETSC faculty including Medhat, 

I was invited to share my presentation of “The Transforming Power of Coaching for Christian Leaders” to the school’s monthly Scholar’s Seminar for faculty and staff.

The gathering was held in the school’s beautiful, brand new Center for Middle-Eastern Christianity. We often forget that the Middle-East was the highly populated center of the Christian faith for the first 9-10 centuries.  This Center will help us to preserve and better understand and appreciate that heritage.

Justo Mwale University (JMU) invited Presbyterian pastors and Elders from churches all over Lusaka to attend this three-hour morning workshop. They originally printed 50 copies of my handout and scrambled to print more and more as people kept arriving!

This was the first time the University has offered such a public lecture/workshop for all their supporting churches in Lusaka.  Everyone at JMU was surprised and encouraged by the unexpected turnout–especially me!

Most encouraging to me was the great diversity in the audience–young pastors fresh out of seminary and seasoned pastors and elders, men but also lots of women, ages ranging from early 20’s to 70’s and above. All participants were key Zambian church leaders: Elders, Chairs of their Men’s, Women’s or Youth ministries, Pastors and Presbytery leaders.

The majority of participant evaluations shared that the workshop had a positive impact for them. Mentoring and especially coaching are still very new ideas here, especially since the culture prioritizes  “telling” over “listening” or asking questions. But many participants seemed to resonate with the need to invest in equipping current and future leaders.

My workshop included learning and practicing practical skills of listening and asking open-ended questions. Participants practiced these skills together in pairs and small groups.

Many said they left encouraged to begin using these basic coaching skills in their families and churches.

On the evaluation, participants could indicate if they wished to “learn more” about various items. Amazingly, 61 checked at least one item, including the following:  

• 48 checked: “Learn more about how I can coach other leaders on my team or in my church.”
• 48 checked: “Learn more about how to specifically nurture youth through coaching.”
• 46 checked:  “A future in-depth workshop on how servant leaders can equip other leaders to succeed.

Just as in Ethiopia, a few people even asked about how they could begin earning a professional coaching credential with ICF, the International Coaching Federation. In 2020, I hope to build a training program that will meet this need for professional training in both countries.

It’s exciting to see so many church leaders of all ages interested in investing in other leaders! In the months ahead, I will be developing ways to work with individual pastors and congregations through long-distance coaching.

I had the pleasure of again spending time with Dr. Lukas Soko (left) , the Vice Chancellor of Justo Mwale University.  We discussed ways in which I might become a longterm partner supporting JMU’s mission in southwestern Africa.

I again enjoyed spending time with Dusty and Sherri Ellington and their son Chris (right).  Dusty and Sherri are PC(USA) missionaries and longtime friends since our time serving together at First Presbyterian Church, Visalia, CA.  Dusty is Professor of New Testament at JMU and Sherri coordinates PC(USA)’s Young Adult Volunteer program in Zambia.

A Final African “Slice of Life”
Soon after I arrived in Lusaka, I had a local woman do some laundry for me.  To my surprise, I discovered she even ironed my underwear!

Commenting on such “royal treatment” to friends, they replied that ironing is actually needed when laundry is dried outside in this part of Africa. A certain type of fly lays its eggs in the waistbands of underwear; the heat of ironing kills them. The woman described in more detail than I needed to hear how the larvae hatch and can bore into your skin!  Unfortunately, I found this out only AFTER I had washed my own laundry and dried it outside (left).  I guarantee you I checked it carefully! 

Many thanks to all of you who have sent me encouraging notes throughout my African journeys and prayed for my welfare.  I deeply appreciate your partnership in increasing the capacity of African leaders to share the good news of Jesus Christ!

God’s blessings to all,
Rich

P.S.  If you missed my earlier update about my three weeks in Ethiopia, please read it here.