Christian Love

The Greek word for Christian love is “agape” which means “sacrificial action for another person’s good”.

Many years ago when the Roman Empire was spreading throughout the world, King Tigranes of Armenia was taken captive. While standing before the conquering Roman general waiting for the death sentence to be passed, Tigranes fell on his knees before the General and pleaded for his family saying, “Do with me what you like, but I beg you to spare my family.” The conquering General was so impressed with the love of the king for his wife that he released the king and his family.

As they left the presence of the General, King Tigranes asked his wife what she thought about the General. She replied, “I never saw him.”

“What do you mean ‘you never saw him?’”, Tigranes asked. “You were standing within a few feet of him. You could not help but see him. What were you looking at?”

With tears now sparkling in her eyes, the queen gently replied to her beloved husband, “I saw no one but you. My eyes only saw the one who was willing to die for me.”

“But God demonstrated His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8, nasb).

Pastors' Conference on HIV/AIDS

In August 2009, ACTION Zambia missionary Steve Allen went to a pastors' conference out in the Zambian bush. It was solely focused on HIV/AIDS training. The CROSS curriculum was taught to 23 pastors. CROSS curriculum is a 16-week course touching on the following: domestic violence, medical facts of getting the disease, and how Christians can fight. He also taught a lesson on counseling!

This curriculum is critical for these pastors. In the discussion times, one pastor opened up about his struggle to move away from the cultural views of women and adapt a more Biblical outlook. His views changed over the weekend as we looked at passages like Ephesians 5:21-33 which speaks of submitting one to another out of love (not just the wife submitting to the husband and in essence being his slave). It is vital that these pastors get this training as they are the key to reaching the Christian church of Zambia with HIV/AIDS training that is Biblical and changes people's hearts and actions.

--ACTION Zambia PLD Missionary, Steve Allen

Book Review: "Reproducible Pastoral Training"

All of us (I hope) would like to “go therefore and make disciples”, but sometimes we do not know how.

Reproducible Pastoral Training is a timely and easy to read book written by missionary Patrick O’Connor.

Do not let the title fool you. This book is user-friendly, hands-on, and practical in making disciples who then reproduce themselves.

While the title suggests a focus on starting new churches and preparing leaders for the harvest, it also offers a practical look at how to do this. The book is an excellent biblical resource that is not a “new fad” or hard-to-replicate program. It is written from a perspective straight from the field and has been tried and tested. It is a required “must read” for every missionary and disciple who hopes to leave a mark - a mark which is hard to erase.

When I first saw this book and heard about the movement in western Honduras, I bought ten copies. I recently bought ten more! If I could get the book for $1, I would buy 1000!

O’Connor has spent nearly two decades as a missionary in Honduras. He cut his teeth in western Honduras, where he pioneered a brand new movement of churches in rural off-the-map locations. He calls them “chains of churches” and the Lord gave birth to many of them. Indeed, before the church planting movement genre became popular, these indigenous and nationalized cluster of churches, daughter churches and granddaughter churches were taking root.

O’Connor now ministers with Action International Ministries (ACTION), on loan from Missions Door, and we are thrilled to see him serve as Facilitator for the Church Planting Movement (CPM) worldwide. He was raised in India, and now returns often to train nationals in India for reproducible pastoral training.

O’Connor did not learn these concepts in a vacuum. For two decades, O’Connor learned and applied these concepts through his mentor George Patterson. Reproducible Pastoral Training presents Patterson’s model of outreach. It presents 68 biblical principles for action-oriented multiplication. The following are few of the 68 guidelines:

-Watch out! Here come wolves!
-Dramatize biblical events.
-Apply God’s oil to rusty organization.
-Spy out the land.
-Bond with the people and their culture.
-Permit the setting to shape your methods.
-Find pointers to Christ in pagan lore.
-Lead humbly and firmly.

Whether you are a pastor, academic, lay practitioner, housewife or a missionary on the field, I would encourage you to buy and read this book.

Gene Daniels, Author of In Search of the Indigenous Church, said this of the book “O'Connor has accomplished the missiological version of crossing Niagara falls on a tight-rope while blindfolded; he has written an organized presentation of the principles for building up indi¬genous churches without turning it into another fad system. Bravo!”

Victor Choudhrie of India put it this way: “Reproductive Pastoral Training is an impressive, up-to-date manual on Church Planting that should be studied by all who are involved in church planting movements. The principles laid are universal and scriptural.”

Reproducible Pastoral Training can be ordered by phone or online:

Order by phone: William Carey Library (1-800-MISSION; 1-800-647-7466)
Order Online: http://missionbooks.org/williamcareylibrary/product.php?productid=533&cat=70&page=1

2009 Book and Literature Distribution

2009 Book and Literature Distribution
by ACTION missionary, Jim Robinette

Thanks to Christian Salvage Mission of Ontario, Canada, ACTION Kampala received a sea container with about 600 boxes of Christian books, Bibles, teaching materials, children’s Sunday school materials, audio tapes, tracts and various kinds of literature in March, 2009.

We estimate that each box contained about 50 books (totaling about 30,000 books in all) and innumerable pieces of literature, tracts and Bible study helps. At the time of this writing, almost all materials have been distributed.

The materials were received with enthusiasm by our Ugandan friends in churches, ministries, prisons, Bible Colleges and Universities, schools, and numerous individual Christians.

Primary and Secondary schools in Kampala and all parts of Uganda received books and materials, as well as Bible Colleges in Kampala and Rwanda.

We distributed materials (books mostly) to pastors in several meetings and “pastor training times” including Congolese refugee pastors in Kampala on two occasions.

A Christian radio station operated from the African Bible University benefitted from the books and materials. The radio announcers often quote from the books during their radio teaching and ministry time.

Ministries also distributed many thousands of books to their evangelists who serve country-wide and in prisons where they serve.

We encouraged schools and ministries to begin libraries and lending libraries. Several churches and ministries have done this. Some churches have made books available to their church members by setting up book shelves in the church. One church plans to open up a special room to serve as a church library.

The children’s materials are especially helpful as children’s ministries are much in need of materials. We have distributed hundreds of Bibles and New Testaments, some of these have been used in existing Bible studies.

A group of about 100 secondary school students will receive Scriptures upon the completion of a discipleship Bible study. Pastors particularly have thanked us and expressed how they have been helped through the books and materials. I’ve included a letter of thanks and encouragement from Vincent Otucu of Youth Evangelistic Team, a ministry from Apac, Northern Uganda:

Dear servants of God, Jim & Kappy,

Praise the name of the soon coming King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ. Amen! Your wonderful Scriptures, magazines, books, booklets, tracts and Bibles are very useful to us. We are indeed thankful to you all for your precious gift to equip the churches for mini-library and to spread the gospel and win the lost and dying souls in our unreached areas. Your rewards will be great in heaven when our Lord comes again. Much of the tracts, booklets, magazines are needed, but the demand for Bibles and books is high in churches, prisons, hospitals, offices, lodges, etc. Press on my friends."


Please continue to pray that God will use the books and materials He has sent us to fulfill His glorious plans which are surpassingly wonderful.

“The Lord gave the word; Great was the company of those who proclaimed it.”
(Psalm 68:11, NKJV)

For our Lord Jesus in His harvest work,

Jim & Kappy Robinette
Action International Ministries in Uganda

Container Bound for Uganda is for God's Servants!

ACTION, in partnership with Chapel Library (Mt. Zion Publishers; literature@mountzion.org ), has been collecting study Bibles and bible materials to ship to Uganda, Africa for needy pastors, Christian workers, and Bible school students over the past six months.

On August 28-29, Brother Clarence and a team of approximately 25 men in Pensacola, Florida worked for a total of 7 hours loading boxes of donated Study Bibles, Gospel booklets, books, and children’s literature (valued at $250,000) on to a 20-ft. container bound for Uganda on September 4.

Over the months, many individuals and publishers have assisted in this great task with donated literature and books. We praise God for His provision and funds through His people.

The container is scheduled to arrive in Kampala by October 24, 2009. Please pray with us for the safe arrival of the container to Uganda and that there will be no problems with customs.

We look forward to October when these Study Bibles, wonderful books and literature will be placed in the hands of those ministering the Gospel throughout Uganda. Praise God for the opportunity to partner together with others for His glory!