07664
October 17, 2007
Mission co-worker couple say leadership training is critical issue in Africa
Ted and Sue Wright are itinerating as part of Mission Challenge ’07
The Rev. Ted Wright and Sue Wright LOUISVILLE — The biggest problem in Africa isn’t HIV/AIDS, widespread poverty or gender equity, said two Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) mission co-workers assigned to the continent.
“The most important issue is the lack of sufficient numbers of well-trained local leaders,” said the Rev. Ted Wright, the PC(USA)’s regional liaison for south-central Africa, where he also serves with his wife, Sue.
Once the skills are in place, it’s then more likely those critical life issues can sufficiently be addressed, he said.
That’s just some of the knowledge the Wrights have gained during their tenure as mission co-workers for the denomination, and information they hope will ultimately make a difference in the lives of those in Africa with whom they work most closely.
The two are currently in the United States as part of Mission Challenge ’07, an month-long effort by the PC(USA)’s Presbyterian World Mission office to spread the denomination’s global witness story in at least 144 of the 173 presbyteries in the U.S. and Puerto Rico.
The Wrights answered the call to mission service in 2005, with Ted Wright leaving his post as pastor of Langhorne Presbyterian Church in suburban Philadelphia, a position he’d held for more than 20 years. Now, the two call Zambia home, and proclaim, “We feel like we’re right where we belong.”
With a focus that includes evangelism and church growth, the Wrights actively liaise with PC(USA) partners and projects in Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Angola. Their work runs the full spectrum of ministry, and involves providing workshops and consultations, preaching and teaching, facilitating mission teams coming to the region and raising scholarships to train African leaders.
“So much of what we are doing is building relationships,” said Sue Wright, who holds a master’s degree in social work and was a child therapist prior to becoming a mission co-worker. That’s with people both in the U.S. and Africa, she said.
Among the key relationships Ted and Sue Wright say are essential are the ones between those willing to help train leaders and those yearning for education.
There are people in Africa “waiting in line for the opportunity to go to school,” Ted Wright said. “All they need is the money to train.”
A trained pastor can more effectively lead a congregation in its role as the “main community developer,” through which various projects can flow, he said. And every congregation is “pregnant with baby churches.”
“With a well-trained community leader, a lot of good things are going to happen,” Ted Wright said, adding it’s about “building capacity.”
During Mission Challenge ’07, Ted and Sue Wright are itinerating in the presbyteries of Albany, Donegal, Elizabeth, Middle Tennessee, New Brunswick, Philadelphia and Scioto Valley. |
