A step of faith is not measured by distance. Its value is derived entirely from its reliance on a reliable God.
In January, I was approached by a friend who requested I teach her child, who was entering the fifth grade, how to read English. In two weeks. The task was intensified by the fact that the girl doesn’t fluently speak English and I was already occupied teaching my own children at various levels of learning. I agreed, stepping out in faith before my brain could collate all the cons and obstacles.
The following few weeks were intense. Not knowing where to start I tested her ability to write to find she has excellent penmanship. She knew the names of the letters, but had no idea of any of their sounds. I fast tracked her along the same curriculum I was using to teach my four-year old. She was a good student and picked up the information quickly. Sometimes her brother or other boys from the neighborhood would join too. I felt like I was teaching three classes at once in three languages – English, Uglish, and Ngakarimojong. By the end of the few weeks (two extended to three while students waited for teachers to show up), she knew all the basic sounds of the letters and was beginning to read. I warned her there was still much more to learn and that she should come back to practice. I breathed a sigh of relief and sent her back to school.
Ugandan schools run in three terms with extended breaks between each. As the first break was drawing near, I thought of my student. I wondered how much she had learned and how many other students found themselves in her shoes. Memories of last year’s VBS outreaches spurred on ideas to improve our invitations to children to participate in the life of the church. The mission’s sponsored high school students would also return for a short break. Here was an opportunity to combine all these needs and ideas into one. We took another step of faith. The mission decided to test out a school holiday revision program. Initially we only invited the children of workers to come and practice their reading skills. We divided our sponsored young men into three groups – Lower, Middle and Upper classes, roughly along the lines of the children’s ability to read. We encouraged them to give to the children the help they wished they had gotten when they were young. As the young men asked me questions, I found my most frequent answer to be, “I don’t know. Let’s see what God will do.” How many will come? What if there are too many? Will they listen? How will this work? “I don’t know. Let’s see what God will do.” This is not my usual style of conducting an outreach. I prefer to have it organized and clearly communicated, planned with five contingencies in my back pocket. Here it was clear as things fell into place that the Lord wasn’t calling me to have it all together but to follow step by step to see where He would lead us.
The first week 18 children came, many straggling in as the morning aged. The second week about 60, and the third 80. Our teacher groups read stories, taught letters and reading in two languages, reviewed some sticky aspects of English, and welcomed the children beautifully. Carmel wanted to organize games, so with Tina’s help she set up and taught three different games over the three weeks to the growing crowd. After the games, we sang and then taught a Bible story. We lent out books for them to enjoy at home and bring back the following week. The first week was a bit rough. It went too long. The teaching was disorganized, the Bible story telling left much to be desired, but we learned together. The second week I was constantly adding seating to the higher classes. The teachers worked better as teams and came with ideas of their own. The third week, Tina directed the young men in how to tell the story of the fiery furnace in a way that would catch the attention of the young children. The men even acted out the drama with costumes and paper fire. My kids were eager to participate and got to blow trumpets for the king. We ended the day all smiles.
Honestly, I have no idea whether or not it was effective in assisting the children with their English comprehension and reading. It didn’t fix a broken educational system. There are numerous ways to improve. Some lent books never came back. But I can tell you that many of those children came to church on Sunday with their families. Our employees spontaneously jumped in to join the program, my kids are eager to do it again and the young men were proud of what they had accomplished. Where this step of faith leads is entirely in the hands of the God in whom my faith rests. The step is our act of faith, but any fruit belongs entirely to the Lord. He is the one who energized the step, carried it through and to whom belongs all the praise. Let’s see what God will do!