Proctor Passages
Dear brothers and sisters in the Lord;
We have been back in Uganda now for 2 1/2 months, and have 2 months left to go before we move back to the states. It has been quite a whirlwind of activity thus far, and here are a few highlights and prayer requests.
We’ve been visiting each of the OPCU congregations that we have worked with over the past 8 years, saying “goodbye” to each of them. It has been both tearful and joyful. One particularly joyful experience was to be able to say “goodbye” to the congregation in Kama on the same day it was being particularized as a congregation. This little mission work had been developing for 2 years, and on the day that we visited, we were privileged to take part in seeing 10 adults make their public profession of faith, and two Ruling Elders and 2 Deacons ordained. A number of others have transferred from the “mother” congregation in Bukonde, to make a congregation of about 25 in a predominately Muslim area.
The Mbale presbytery of the OPCU held a “farewell” dinner for the Proctor family as well as Brian and Dorothy Wingard on April 2nd. This was an extremely sweet time of fellowship and a time of rejoicing in how the Lord has matured this group of men over the years. It is impossible to describe the enormous strides these brothers have taken, but suffice it to say that for the past two years or so, I have returned from each presbytery meeting encouraged and strengthened in my love for the brothers and my thanksgiving to Christ Jesus for His gracious work through and in them.
One particular evangelistic story, I simply must relate:
About a month or so, I met a young Muslim lady whose father is a very prominent businessman in town. In the course of our conversation, she told me “you know, there’s not much difference between Islam and Christianity – both tell you to do good things, and both tell you about angels and God and stuff like that. The only real difference is Jesus.” I responded “you are not far from the kingdom! You’re right – the only real difference is Jesus, but Jesus is everything!” I asked her what her favourite thing to eat is, and she replied “vanilla ice cream with chocolate.” I responded “That’s what the Gospel is! It’s the greatest news ever! It’s that Jesus Christ died so that you don’t have to. His righteousness is there for you, if you will only trust in Him alone!” I kind of left it at that, but encouraged her to come back and talk to me when she had thought over these things. Afterward, there was a lot of second-guessing. Had I said enough? Should I have pressed harder? Should I have pressed for some kind of decision and prayer at that moment? It didn’t feel right at the time to press her, but afterward I wondered if I had let an opportunity pass me by.
A couple of weeks later, she called me again. This time, she had a friend who also wanted to talk to me. Her friend was another Muslim young lady whose father is an extremely well-respected sheikh (sort of the Muslim version of a Bishop). In 2008, the friend had a dream which no imam (a Muslim “pastor”) had been able to interpret, and she wanted me to tell her the meaning. I immediately thought “uh-oh! This is going to be something about polka dotted bunnies on a tin roof!” but said “go ahead and tell me your dream.” In her dream, she had been walking with 2 Christian friends and they had come to a ladder which led to a beautiful land. Her friends climbed the ladder, but when she tried, it fell away. A voice came out of the sky with thunder and lightning, and told her “This is the last day” and then she saw a word written in lightning – “Revelation.” When she woke up, she found a Bible and turned to the Revelation and began to read. When she reached chapter 1, verse 8, she screamed in fear and threw the Bible across the room. In the morning, she burned the Bible, and began to ask her Muslim religious leaders what the dream meant. They told her that it must have been demons, but she had said her “suras” the night before, plus it was during the month of Ramadan, so she ought to have been completely protected.
I told the friend that I am not an interpreter of dreams, but that there were 3 elements to her dream which reminded me of Biblical passages. The first was Jacob’s ladder and Christ’s allusion to it in John 3:13. The second was the phrase “these are the last days” and I turned her to the opening verses of Hebrews – in these last days, God has spoken through His son, Jesus Christ. The third is the lightning and flashing, and I turned to Hebrews 12:18-29. This passage ends with the warning “Our God is a consuming fire” to those who would reject Christ Jesus. I then took both young ladies to Romans and explained the glorious Gospel from chapters 1 through 4, ending with Paul’s demonstration that Abraham (who the Muslims consider their father) was very clearly justified by faith, not works. We spent about 4 hours going through the Scriptures, I prayed with both of the young ladies, and they went away professing their faith in Jesus Christ alone – what a wondrous blessing!
Today, the crowd got even larger! The two young ladies returned, together with the second lady’s brother and 2 children. They wanted me to pray with them and specifically to pray for the children. Three very intelligent and articulate young people – college educated and the bright stars of their families sat in our living room this afternoon for 2 1/2 hours as we shared together in the Word of God and rejoiced in our common faith in Jesus Christ alone! I gave each of them Bibles and copies of J.I.Packer’s “Knowing God” and told them that when they finish Packer, come back and we’ll talk and I’ll give them another book (R.C.Sproul’s “The Holiness of God” is what I’m thinking). Thank you to the churches and individuals who have donated books and Bibles to us, so that I had a few choice ones to hand out!
This is a brief summary of the overall story. I don’t want to weary you, but my heart is bursting with praise to God for this opportunity to share the Gospel and to see such eager fruit. If all my ministry was limited to this one encounter, it would be enough for me to go Home to Christ with a joyful heart! Please pray for these young people. They face serious danger in the future, and difficult questions as to how publicly to make their profession of faith. The two young ladies, in particular, will be under danger of death and the young man will at the very least be disinherited and cut off completely from his extended family. What an honour to play a part in seeing heroines and heroes being born!
There have been other things going on – 2 sets of visitors, classes that I’ve taught, daily preaching sessions that I’ve been involved with, and a pastoral visit to Kenya last weekend (right after being treated for Schistosomiasis, by the way!). Upcoming events include a one week trip to the states in just a couple of weeks, for the purpose of finding housing and transferring my ministerial credentials from the Presbytery of the Southeast to the Presbytery of the Mid-Atlantic where I’ve accepted a call to a congregation just outside Washington D.C.
Please pray for the upcoming packing and travels of our family. Please pray for the comfort of the Gospel and the continued growth of the OPCU Please, please pray for these 3 young people and the 2 little children who have shown such fruit of God’s Amazing Grace! Please pray for their continued growth in the Lord and their protection.
Please do also keep our teammates in your prayers. The Wingards will be leaving Mbale shortly after we do to move to South Africa, and I know they will be deeply missed by the brothers and sisters of the OPCU (as well as by our family). Our teammates in Karamoja, in addition to the incredible work they are already undertaking, will now have the Mbale station to worry about and I know would appreciate your prayers in that regard. To that end, and finally (I promise!)…
Please pray that God will raise up 2 ministers and 1 deacon to continue the work here in Mbale. The work is at a wonderful stage of development, and it is my earnest plea to Christ that He will continue to sustain, bless, and grow the ministry here.
Yours in the bonds of Christ Jesus,
Phil Proctor
Rev. Philip T. Proctor
OPC missionary/evangelist to Uganda