Questions…and More Questions

A good friend of ours from the Balangao tribe in the Philippines, who is now with the Lord, once told us a guideline he used when he was teaching…he stopped teaching when the questions stop. For him, questions are the ultimate proof of someone’s interest and desire to learn. We tend to agree, this is a good “rule of thumb” as to whether we should continue teaching or not. If we proceed when there are no questions, we may be guilty of “casting pearls before swine.”

We gained some excellent insights into Ugandan culture through our being with the Scripture Union Uganda (SUU) Regional Coordinators and key volunteers during the first day of the 3-day VOICE Orientation and Training of Trainers. The very first official session went 1½ hours beyond the planned time. Why? Questions and more questions and more questions…and still more questions! The SUU Director, who is an amazing communicator, shared the background of VOICE and the reasons behind the decision to take it on as one of the mainstream SUU ministries. He carefully and patiently answered each of the wide variety of questions and stopped when the questions stopped. Actually almost all of the initial sessions elicited numerous questions. Praise God for such keen interest and for a growing understanding and “owning” of the VOICE program by all of the participants. Later in the day, it was so encouraging to hear them practicing sharing VOICE with someone who hadn’t heard of it before…the enthusiasm and passion were evident! Praise God with us!