Our team from elementum with Ugandan and Kenyan leaders from University Discipleship Movement (UDM). UDM is an African campus ministry with a presence on more than 40 university or college campuses in East Africa. It was founded by Dr. Kennedy Kirui (top row, far right), who recently struck up a friendship with Andy Abramson (third from left), founder of elementum, a U.S.-based ministry that coaches and equips young adult ministry leaders. That friendship has since resulted in Kennedy taking part in elementum gatherings in the States—and now our team from elementum visiting Uganda to work with some of Kennedy's leaders!

Each day of our multi-day theology intensive, I and two other teachers led rich discussions based on inductive study of the Gospel of John and the writings of classic theologians such as Augustine, Luther, Calvin, and Jonathan Edwards. The focus in our times together was to explore the topic of "relational faith"—how God's identity as Trinity radically changes the way we think of the Christian life and Christian ministry.

Our topic for study was relational faith—and our times together were very relational! A big part of our format was creating space for conversation, in both structured and unstructured environments.

Conversation inevitably spilled over into mealtimes! I learned so much from the faithful lives and ministries of the wonderful African leaders we got to work with.

This photo gives you a pretty good idea of what our format was like. Instead of a conference format with a single speaker dispensing knowledge from on high, we spent most of our time in a living-room-like setting creating conversation around the riches of Scripture and theology.

Our team got to attend a Friday evening service for young adults. Let's just say there was a lot of dancing during worship. :)

Our team was asked to participate in a Q&A panel as part of the Friday young adult service. Their topic for the evening was marriage and relationships, and I was particularly struck by how similar the questions were to questions that young adults in America would ask.

A post-service photo op with UDM young adults. I learned on this trip that despite differences in culture, young adults in Africa are hardly different from young adults in America.

A rhino! Believe it or not, I took this picture—but (confession time)... it was at a zoo.