Hey friends welcome back to another episode of theology in the rod this is going to be a different sort of

podcast we are going to hear from several people who work for an awesome ministry in Uganda

it's called Cherish Uganda which is a faith-based nonprofit

organization dedicated to fostering hope and a promising future for families in need.

The mission of Cherish is to transform our community spiritually through

education, health care, and family strengthening. Originally an orphanage,

Cherish has grown to engage in better, more holistic ways of caring for orphans and their families

and also provides health care, maternity care, education, and discipleship and counseling for the local community of Garuga. and friends visited Cherish last June. We actually went to several different places in

Kenya and Uganda and one of the places we visited was Cherish and if I'm totally

honest I have grown skeptical of the ways in which white Western Christians have historically engaged in ministries in in Africa in

particular but also other cross-cultural context. I think I think there is a place for ministry partnership, but I think there has just been a lot of damage that has been done.

Oftentimes because we don't pay attention to some cultural differences.

We don't realize how sometimes our well-meaning help

can actually lead to long-term harm.

And the list goes on and on.

I've talked about this on the podcast before I'm also a bit skeptical of the

limitations or even again unforeseen harm that short-term mission trips can do. Now before you protest that statement, I have engaged in many short-term

mission trips and I will continue to do so. I don't know if we should call them mission trips.

I like cross-cultural

ministry experience might be a better way to frame it. But I've been skeptical

of again some of the unforeseen damage that short-term trips can do.

So what do we do?

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