Why the transition?

Greg and Margaret and just back in Africa from a short visit to family and friends at Christmas. Learn about their journey home...some surprising insights...and, plans for the future move back to the USA. All of this can be found at Greg's Africa Thoughts blog.
To read more news from Greg and Margaret Fisher CLICK HERE. Or, go to http://africathoughts.blogspot.com

Where Are The Leaders Of Good Judgement?
"A leader of good judgment gives stability; an exploiting leader leaves a trail of waste." (Ancient Proverb)
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I have just set the telephone down. Once again I am being asked to participate in a meeting concerning the HIV-AIDS crisis in East Africa. I will go, of course. Since this meeting is being called by an evangelical organization, he meeting will not be held in one of Kampala's more luxurious hotels. ...

Margaret and I are busily making arrangements for our transition back to the USA. We'll be heading back at the end of January, 2006. How does one close out nearly 16 years of life and ministry in Africa? How does one re-integrate into a culture that is now foreign?
Those are key questions for us to consider. After all the American culture has re-invented itself at least four times during the time we have...

Another e-mail petition has hit Greg's computer this week. That e-mail raises yet again the question of importance. Just how important is Jesus Christ, anyway? Does He belong in the public domain? Or, should Jesus Christ be reserved for the church building and the privacy of the home? Since the church in the western world seems to have lost its impact on--and, place in--society, should Jesus Christ be consigned to the same scrap heap as...

For the past 10 days Uganda has been going through a time of insecurity. This comes following the arrest of Col. Kizza Besigye the main opposition leader. Dr. Besigye returned recently from exile in South Africa where he fled after losing a court decision challenging the outcome of the 2001 elections. He is accused of treason under Section 23 of the Penal Code Act, and concealment of treason. Dr. Besigye also faces one count of rape under...

Today I am in Abeche in the eastern side of Chad, and doing a bit of recovery, actually, from my last two days at the Bredjing Refugee Camp.
Getting to Bredjing for a two day visit requires not less than ten days of travel. We

Margaret and I have invested more than one-third of our working life living in Africa. For all of that time we have been "foreign guest workers" living as aliens in countries not our own. Just saying that much about our work as missionaries can let you see the huge "emotional overhead" that this task carries. Missionaries so commonly return to their home countries as broken people, that a number of counseling services dealing with the aftermath of...

At first I was a bit surprised.
I opened an e-mail from someone who wanted to respond to my blog. That note was filled with hate and venom so powerful that I wanted to delete it quickly from my hard drive, lest some unsuspecting person accidentally find it there.
Sometimes blogging like this--in the open--is like standing up on the street corner preaching in the open air. You find a few well wishers...and, you find a few hecklers. ...

Eritrea and Ethiopia prepare for war, meanwhile the mainstream press studiously ingnores an interesting aspect of the war. Nearly 2000 evangelical Christians have been imprisioned just since the 3rd November! One Christian leader has said that the government of Eritrea is trying to eliminate all evangelical and pentecostal Christian expression in the country. Information and links to this story are posted on Greg's Africa Thoughts blog at: http://africathoughts.blogspot.com

Recently, my article about Hyde Park Speaker's Corner was quoted on another blog...and, the writer who quoted me was saying that blogging is like having a soapbox in cyberspace. (In fact, that article and its photographs showed up on several other blogs...none of them overtly Christian in content). I like that!
This week I have been thinking--and, writing--about Darfur, refugees, and the "evil" that evangelical Christians are credited with doing. All of this is now available at...

The weblog is updated this week with another audioblog posting. You can hear the report on your computer at http://africathoughts.blogspot.com ... Thanks to all who "tuned in" to our first audioblog last week.
GREG FISHER

This past two weeks have been a whirlwind of activity for us. At the age of 85 years old, my mother came to visit us in Africa for the very first time. She had a great visit.
I have updated the blog with something very new: a sound bite of my office in Kampala. Take time to visit the Africa Thoughts blog and listen a short message about an opportunity we have to build...

Question: Can the Christian gospel still be effectively announced in a public setting in a post-Christian society? That is a question I have been thinking about recently. Can the Gospel be proclaimed and given a hearing in this setting? Last Sunday I visited Speaker's Corner at Hyde Park in London to see what happens there when people use a public forum to present the claims of the Christian Gospel.
My observations (and, photographs) of the experience are posted on the Africa...

This past week has been a very busy week for Foursquare Gospel Church in Uganda. We had our 7th annual national convention. We have nearly 70 churches planted in Uganda now...over a space of just eight years. That is nothing short of miraculous.
Photo snaps and the story of Foursquare Uganda's convention are posted on the blog.
Thank you for your continued love, support, and prayer for our ministry in East Africa.
GREG FISHER