Meet Stephen & Robert, PTC students from DRC & South Sudan

The purpose of the Living Stones Pastor Training Center at Abaana’s Hope is to create an abiding network of gospel-centered, Bible-saturated, African-led churches. To do this, students attend the three-year training program to be equipped with gospel knowledge so they can be sent out to strengthen and establish churches not only in Uganda but also in surrounding countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and South Sudan. Stephen Beba and Loro Robert are two PTC students taking the gospel to tribes outside of Uganda.

Stephen, 56, is Kakwa by tribe from the DRC. English is his fifth language. He also speaks Kakwa, Bangala, Swahili, and French, which is the national language of DRC. He and his wife, Cecile Beba, have been blessed with six children.

Stephen grew up in a Christian family and his parents led him to a saving faith in Jesus Christ. He remembers the Lord calling him to ministry in 1979 through his Sunday school teacher and a former pastor of the church.

“Since that time, I was next to them, and they were giving and providing me with advice how to serve the Lord during our youth age. Those advice were helpful to me to the extent that I didn’t expect. One, that I could be a pastor. But through that, God moved me forward,” Stephen said.

Stephen believed God was calling him to one day become a pastor. Eventually, he began working with the youth ministry in his local church and he joined the choir. In 2005, he attended a discipleship training school in Kampala, Uganda, and once he completed it, he became a secretary of his church then an elder. Two years ago, he was ordained as a pastor.

“It’s really an amazing thing which is happening because I think of their advice to me and the way God’s taking me through,” Stephen said.

He also worked as a secondary school teacher until he met PTC lead trainer, Pastor Moses Maliamungu. Stephen shared with Moses his desire to learn more about the Word of God, and Moses encouraged him to apply for the PTC program at Abaana’s Hope no matter how difficult it might be. While Stephen was nervous about the language barrier, since he is not the most confident in English, he believed the Lord was leading him to the PTC. Stephen was accepted into the training program after his interview, and for the past three years, he’s made the 10-hour trip to Abaana’s Hope.

“Starting from the beginning, the first day we came up to this time, we have learned a lot,” Stephen said. “We can open our minds and our knowledge of the Word and see how maybe we missed in some areas to interpret the Word correctly. But through the teachings that we got here, we are now well set to the truth of the Word. Now, it has challenged us to go and correct those mistakes and help others to follow what is now known.”

After graduation in September, Stephen plans to use every opportunity he can to share what he’s learned with others to start a ripple effect like Paul instructed Timothy, “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others,” 2 Timothy 2:2. Stephen is also praying that the Lord will open a door for him to continue learning more. 

“I cannot keep quiet,” he said. “We are four people who have come from Congo to this to get this teaching, but there are many many pastors behind who lack this. Our prayer goes to everyone who will, to come. If not here, then to help the pastors, help the churches with teaching sound doctrine, so that people get the correct Word of God.”

Please pray for Stephen as he takes the gospel to his local community. Pray that the people will be receptive to the gospel and that they will share the good news with others. Pray for Stephen, his wife, and their children. Please also pray for peace in DRC, specifically in regions where militias fight over minerals and timber. 

Robert, 28, is Bari by tribe from South Sudan. At the age of 16, he fled to Uganda when war broke out in South Sudan in 2013. He was separated from his parents, and to this day, he does not know if they are alive or not. 

“Up to now there is no peace, so things are going worse,” he said.

When Robert ran for his life, he left all his possessions behind and settled in Swinga Camp, a zone within the Bidibidi Refugee Camp in Uganda. Life in the refugee camp was also a struggle because there was not enough food to go around and there was no education. 

“Currently even, people are not getting their rations,” Robert said.

Eventually, he and his wife, Viola Gere, decided to leave the camp with their two children and find land to rent so they could grow their own food. Some of his brothers and sisters decided to return to South Sudan to see if conditions have gotten any better there.

Robert remembers hearing the gospel for the first time in 2010 while living in South Sudan. He heard a pastor preaching from John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

“That eternal life that I heard about, I said, ‘I need that eternal life.’ Then I gave my life to Jesus Christ,” Robert said. 

After he asked Jesus to save him from his sins, his pastor began to teach him more about scripture and invited Robert to join him on hospital visits to pray for the sick. Robert felt the call to spread the news of the saving grace and salvation offered through Jesus, but he knew he needed to learn more. With this desire on his heart, he heard about the Pastor Training Center at Abaana’s Hope and was invited for an interview.

“I did not have on my mind that I would be here because I’m considering my education is a bit low, but fortunately by God’s grace, I find myself here,” he said. Robert only had the opportunity to attend school up to primary 5, which is equivalent to fifth grade in the U.S. Writing is a challenge for him, but he speaks six languages – Bari, Arabic, Lugbara, Kakwa, Swahili, and English. 

Since joining the PTC three years ago, Robert said he’s seen the work of God through the Training Leaders International trainers and the African lead trainers. He’s seen firsthand how the Lord has used them to equip disciples who will make disciples. 

Now, Robert pastors a church on the border of Uganda and South Sudan called God’s Blessing Baptist Church. After graduating from the PTC on September 13, he plans to go and teach others who do not know the gospel.

“If I do not go and speak to them the gospel, it means my being here was useless. I need to speak to them the truth of the Word of God. Then, it is now on God to work in their hearts to make the decision,” he said. “Pray for me, so that God will open for me a way of taking His Word to the lost ones.”

Please join Robert in praying for peace in South Sudan and for the gospel to spread throughout the country. Pray for the displaced refugees living in refugee camps, that living conditions will improve and that they will be exposed to the gospel. Please pray for Robert’s church as they are in the process of raising funds to construct a building. Also, pray for Robert’s family, that he will find his parents, that conflict with his in-laws will be resolved, and that he and Viola will continue leading their children to follow Christ.