Empowering church leaders to help traumatized people in Africa

1
Empowering church leaders to help traumatized
people in Africa
2
The Need

• We need your help. We have suffered too much and
  have lost many family members. We are terrorized
  by the war. We have to cancel all our plans. We
  are troubled. Many people dont want to go back
  to their homes, and they cant sleep. They think
  about what they experienced and are losing their
  faith. How can we face this terrible situation?
  (Pastor, Cote dIvoire)

3
Typical problems

• After the war in DRC
• A lot of women in my church are depressed. Why
  is that?
• My 6 year old son still crawls under the table
  when strangers come to our house. How can I
  change this?
• I feel angry, and I dont know why.

4
Development of some answers

• Most church leaders do not have the option of
  seeking help from mental help professionals, and
  they asked for training
• We held a Consultation between our counselling
  department and African organizations.
• Materials developed that teach good mental health
  principles within a Biblical framework

5
A ministry developed on the field with multiple
inputs over time.

• East Africa 2002, 2003

West Africa 2004, 2006
6
Seminar Goals

• To teach the materials.
• To allow participants to experience healing of
  their own trauma.
• To translate the materials into the mother tongue.

7
Seminars also include Art Therapy
8
Writing laments

• Psychology tells us we must grieve.
• The Bible shows us how to lament.
• Participants wrote their own lament.

9
Taking our wounds to the cross

• By His wounds we are healed (Isa 535).
• With this verse as a reference, participants
  wrote down the things that were causing them pain
  so that they could bring them to the cross

10
(No Transcript)
11
Country coordinators

• Most recent workshop was to train key leaders to
  run seminars in their own countries. Follow-up
  planned for July 08 IF funds are available.

12
Spin offs

• Mercy ships use our manual to train Gov, clinic
  workers to be able to distinguish between
  physical and emotional problems.
• One man trained at a Sudan workshop is now
  training Christian university students at two
  universities.
• Some church leaders in Uganda and Burundi are
  running courses for present and retired military
  personnel.
• Two of the DRC Congo leaders are teaching this
  material on regular radio broadcasts.

13
Challenges

• Need some thorough evaluation of the
  effectiveness of this type of church leader
  training.
• Need funds to help transport leaders to central
  workshop, funds to help them run local ones, and
  funds for manual printing in areas of poor
  economy.
• Need more people and more time!

14
Distinctives of this ministry

• Scripture-based
• Teaches good mental health principles
• Using local languages large or small
• Materials designed to teach others to teach others

We bring our pain to Christ and find hope for the
future