Telling the Story in Uganda

By Sue Sprenkle

International Mission Board

KAABONG, Uganda - Off in the distance, the Dodoth man saw a group of men picking their way across the dry, rocky terrain. He noted a stranger among the group of men, but went on with his daily chores.

A few days later, he saw the same group of men walking and talking. Again, the group of men with the stranger walked on the path. They walked as if they have a purpose.  

"Again and again and again I saw this group of men walking past my village," Longole said. "I had to know what their purpose was."

So, one day the Karamojong man went early to the walking path and sat waiting for the men to pass. When International Mission Board missionary John Witte and his two companions came upon Longole, they stopped to chat.

"What happens when you pass by?"the Ugandan asked. Witte told Longole that he walked from village to village teaching about God. Without hesitation, the village elder replied, "Is it so important that you should share with me and my village? We will listen."

Witte, together with other two men from the area, soon began teaching the Bible through Chronological Bible Storying in Longole's village of Kajiri. As the group began learning the Bible through oral stories, Longole said it was the first time he had heard Jesus' name. The Ugandan said the Word touched his heart, as well as others gathered in his village.

One year later, Longole and many others made their faith in Jesus known at a special ceremony drawing together surrounding villages to celebrate the end of the first round of Chronological Bible Storying. The small group was baptized in a makeshift baptismal - a canvas bathtub filled with water.

 The baptisms marked the special day when everyone gathered to eat and retell all of the Bible stories learned during the past year. The villages also performed songs, dramas and dances they made up depicting the different Bible stories.

Longole and others baptized say God sent His message to them through a messenger "on foot." Walking from village to village was one way to model to the Karamojong on how to plant churches. The goal is to model something that is specifically reproducible by the Dodoth people, who live in the remote northern province of Uganda. There are not many cars in this area, nor many bicycles. Most people walk from place to place.

"I learned earlier in my career that when I drove my car– it modeled that was the best way to plant churches. So, when I asked the guys I had been discipling to start planting churches, they couldn't do it because they didn't have a vehicle. They were not willing to walk-after all, the teacher never walked," Witte said. "When I started walking to villages, the people saw that they could walk to another village and teach them a story."

Witte admits that initially this method is slow in getting churches started. However, in this part of Uganda, the Dodoth are getting a vision for telling others about Christ. Longole explains that telling someone about Christ is as easy as walking down the path to the next village - anyone can do it!

"One time I went to visit another area. I walked there. I took a tape of Bible stories to listen to while I was gone for the night," the Ugandan said. "I sat outside playing the tape and people gathered all around me to listen. I heard them saying, 'This is true…this is true.'

"They asked me to come back and to teach them more truths," Longole said. "Now, I walk there to tell them the stories that I've learned in my own village. God changed my heart and He is changing their hearts. I will keep walking to other villages to tell them about the Word of the Lord."

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