Seeing God at work in Uganda
I am just coming to the end of my first term serving with EMI in Uganda. I have been amazed at all that has happened in that short space of time. God has been teaching me a lot through the experiences I have had here. My work here has been a mix of things. I have been using my structural engineering skills to serve EMI’s partner ministries in Uganda, as EMI works to design and construct facilities that serve the church here. I have been involved with the design of a ministry centre for Wings of Refuge. Their mission is to see “ALL people to encounter the full revelation knowledge of the Cross, live Kingdom minded and walk in the identity as a child of God”. This new facility will not only be a place of worship, but a space for counselling, outreach, and a base for serving the needy in the community. I have had opportunities to lead Bible studies and a morning devotion at the EMI office and I have also been involved with the local church, particularly in youth and worship activities.
Something I have seen in the church here is just how willing people are to get involved and serve. It seems everyone in the church is involved with one aspect or other of church life. The work of the church feels like an “all hands on deck” approach and that is so encouraging to see. Community is so highly valued in Ugandan culture and this has fed into the way they do church. This is a beautiful reminder of the sort of community all Christians are called to. Outreach comes so naturally from this place too. People are delighted to invite people along to their church, longing to share their gospel community with those around them.
I think one of the ways we can pray for Christians here is for the truths of the gospel to be taught and shared well. I am no expert on the Ugandan culture and the church here, so bear with my incomplete and short-term observations. From some of the interactions I have had with people outside the church, many people would call themselves Christians, but don’t have a firm grasp the gospel. It reminds me of Apollos in Acts 18 who proclaimed the gospel with enthusiasm even though he didn’t have the full picture. “[Apollus] had been taught the way of the Lord, and he taught others about Jesus with an enthusiastic spirit and with accuracy. However, he knew only about John’s baptism. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him preaching boldly in the synagogue, they took him aside and explained the way of God even more accurately,” (Acts 18:25-26). So pray that people here would continue faithfully proclaiming their faith and testifying what God has done in their lives, as they do so well, yet also that mature Christians and local churches would accurately explain the full truth of the Bible to younger Christians, so that the mission of God here would thrive all the more!
A story I can share of the last couple of weeks is from the youth club I help at. It is a very new club, started by KIC Lubowa. We have had a mix of kids from church and not church backgrounds, and we have been taking time to open the Bible with them at each club. I was encouraged the last couple of times I was there by how much more open and willing to participate the young people were, compared to the beginning of the club when they were very shy. This is exciting, as it will no doubt lead to deeper gospel conversations in the coming months. Please be praying for the youth club, that the leaders there can faithfully share the gospel, and that trust would develop in the young people to ask us about Jesus and who he is.
