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LOS ANGELES, Calif. /California Newswire/ — At an open house at the Church of Scientology Amsterdam earlier this month, held in commemoration of World Civil Defense Day, Volunteer Minister Jan-Maarten Kruijt introduced those attending to the Scientology Volunteer Ministers program. He shared how he and a Christian priest worked together to help Uganda communities overcome challenges and increase sustainability.
The Scientology Volunteer Ministers program is a religious social service founded in the mid-1970s by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard.
Kruijt recently went to Uganda to help Rev. Samuel Richard Sembuya establish and train a new Volunteer Ministers group.
Last year, Rev. Sembuya came across the Scientology website on the Internet and enrolled on one of its free online Tools for Life courses.
On completing the first course, Sembuya felt so empowered with what he learned, he continued taking one after another and rapidly learned all 19 subjects.
The priest formed a local Volunteer Ministers group and reached out to the international headquarters of the Scientology Volunteer Ministers whose website offers on-site seminars.
Rev. Sembuya and his team confront many challenges. UNICEF estimates that 55 percent of children in Uganda age 0-4 live in poverty and 24 percent in extreme poverty. Some 20,000 people are crowded into eight slum areas around Jinja.
“A Volunteer Minister does not shut his eyes to the pain, evil and injustice of existence,” wrote Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard in announcing the Volunteer Ministers program. “Rather, he is trained to handle these things and help others achieve relief from them and new personal strength as well.”
The courses Rev. Sembuya completed are the backbone of this training.
Jan-Maarten Kruijt always wanted to use his Volunteer Minister skills in Africa. So when he learned from a friend about Rev. Sembuya’s request, he volunteered to go.
Kruijt told those gathered for the Civil Defense Day open house of his adventures in Uganda, where Sembuya had booked three weeks of daily seminars and meetings for his new friend. First Kruijt trained the priest’s new disaster response group in each chapter of the Scientology Handbook, the textbook of the Volunteer Minister. There was plenty of practical experience in each of the skills they learned.
Kruijt went out with the group to supervise them as they used these tools in their community outreach until they were confident in the application of the technology and able to train others in its use.
The Jinja fire and police departments worked closely with the new Volunteer Ministers group, calling on them to help at fires and traffic accidents.
Kruijt also provided a seminar to teachers at a school where he trained them on the Technology of Study developed by Mr. Hubbard.
“In Uganda, I saw a lot of conflict among different religious and political groups,” says Kruijt. “People are looking for something that can connect them across these lines – something they can believe in, regardless of what else they believe. More and more people are finding this now in the technology of Scientology.”
The Church of Scientology Amsterdam provides open house events and other programs where community leaders, officials, nonprofits and other religious groups can work together to overcome challenges and provide service to the greater community.
The Church of Scientology Amsterdam is an Ideal Scientology Organization, configured to provide ideal facilities to service Scientologists on their ascent to greater states of spiritual freedom and to serve as a home for the entire community and a meeting ground of cooperative effort to uplift people of all denominations. The new Church was dedicated by Scientology ecclesiastical leader Mr. David Miscavige in October 2017.
LEARN MORE:
https://www.volunteerministers.org
https://www.volunteerministers.org/solutions/
https://www.scientology-amsterdam.org/
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Learn More: https://www.scientology.org/
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