By Angela Wright, October 30, 2018 — Reaching your 60th birthday is a cause for special celebration and gratitude to God in itself; but to celebrate it while enrolled as a full-time student at Kampala Evangelical School of Theology is unusual, to say the least. More surprising still is the fact that I celebrated it while working as an American Missionary to Uganda.
After 8 years experience working in the Ugandan youth Ministry with my husband Eugene and 23 years before that in similar work in Philadelphia, I would forgive those who expected me to be standing in front of a classroom instead of sitting at one of the desks taking notes. I believe that in the Christian Ministry, we have little excuse not to do what those in secular walks of life have to do, namely constantly upgrading training and skill levels. There are always more things to learn and skills to improve. This is never truer than in Christian life, even if you are 60!
I started theological training here in the U.S. many years ago but I stopped because of the demands of raising a family of three children. I renewed my opportunity through the KEST Programme and this time, the cultural context was different. I was studying alongside nationals from the country where I had worked as a missionary. The benefit was that I could understand Ugandan culture much better through this experience and my ministry would be more effective. At my age, I am comfortable in student life even when I have to sit in classes that my husband teaches. Eugene teaches New Testament Survey (and has done so numerous times). I don’t mind but the rule is that we don’t discuss class and school when we go home.