TEE - Holy Communion

This weekend's Theological Education by Extension (TEE) class focused on Holy Communion.  Since I took over the meat of the presentation last weekend, fellow missionary Reverend Gillard was going to take the majority this weekend.  We had carefully orchestrated this since Krista's good friend Beth was going to be visiting this week and Rev. Gillard's parents and sister were going to be visiting during our next TEE - when I would do the majority of the teaching.  Unfortunately, Rev. Gillard had a little last-minute business to take care of at the central police station that ended up taking him away from class on Friday AND most of Saturday!  All I had prepared was an introduction to Holy Communion - as far as Luther's small catechism goes and no farther!  I suddenly was all on my own, starting class, doing the "housekeeping," introducing a grading system for attendance, administering the test on baptism, giving my little prepared presentation, answering questions, and getting the guys into some translation work.   It wasn't the best weekend to go solo - I would have been able to swing it on my own last weekend when I'd done all the prep work for baptism.  But I managed.  And when Rev. Gillard was able to join us finally late Saturday morning, he tried to cram as much of his prepared lecture into the time we had left.  We already knew we would cut class short by one hour so we could get on the road to Ibanda for the dedication of a new church building on Sunday.  Some of the communion material will have to be presented at our next TEE. 

The good news is that we had our final 3 students show up!  So now we have a full roster - 24 men from across Uganda who come to Kampala (some by overnight bus) the first and third weekends of every month for intensive training on Friday from 9am to 5pm and Saturday from 8am to 3pm.  Most of these men then immediately board busses back home to serve in their congregations on Sunday morning.  Our roster is full, our classes are underway, and the future looks bright!  Praise the Lord for His lay leaders here in Uganda!  And please keep them and their travels in your prayers the first and third weekends of each month. -Shauen

Update on Saturday, May 23, 2009 at 5:17PM by Shauen & Krista

Here's the Holy Communion test we administered and the answer key.  Good luck! -Shauen

TEE - Baptism

This weekend was our second Thelogical Education by Extension (TEE) class.  We had some new students, so our numbers are rapidly approaching the expected 24.  Never having taught like this before, I felt that I wanted some of those tools that my own teachers have had over the years, like an attendance roster, a grade sheet, and a nice picture roster so I could learn our student's names.  The picture roster has proven to be especially popular since the TEE students come from all over Uganda and the vast majority of them didn't know each other before this class.  We're doing more than teaching theology here!  We're uniting the lay leaders of the LCMU and bringing another level of cohesion to this great church body. 

Since fellow missionary Reverend Gillard took up most of the teaching at our first TEE, I had the honor of presenting the meat of baptism theology this weekend.  All told, it was probably about 5 hours of presentation on baptism.  How in the world would I try to convey baptism to this group?  I started with my own research using Pieper's "Christian Dogmatics," a 3-volume work (plus volume 4 - the index, which, by the way, I asked for for my birthday in April) that we use extensively in Seminary.  I paired that with Luther's small and large catechisms and the remainder of the Book of Concord.  From that solid (very solid - in fact downright heavy) theological background, I tried to approach baptism in a practical and logical way (according to my western ideals of logic).  My actual presentation of the theology of baptism didn't include any of those heavy resources, of course - those just helped me formulate my thoughts and solidify my understanding.  For references during my presentation I used only the Bible.  Our teaching style for this class has to be interactive, dynamic, and practical.  We're meeting in a tent, after all, with guys who may be taking all-night busses back to their home town to reach their congregation on Sunday morning.  No quoting from Pieper in my class! 

I'd love to be skilled enough to adopt the Ancient Greek method of teaching, where the teacher leads his students to the intended conclusion through questions he asks - the students discover the truths through their own thought processes that way.  Maybe someday I'll be able to do that.  But for now, I ask plenty of questions of them and when they ask a question of me I encourage them to work out the possibilities out loud.  Finally, I concluded my instruction with some case studies that the students worked out for me.  Their responses were promising - I think I managed to convey something of value!  We'll find out at our next TEE when they take the test!  -Shauen

Update on Saturday, March 7, 2009 at 5:00PM by Shauen & Krista

I write all of the tests administered in our TEE class - sometimes well and sometimes poorly.  I figured you might be interested in seeing the Baptism test that our TEE students took.  I don't have a key for this test, but I do have a Baptism Test Answers and Explanations handout.  Good luck! -Shauen