Kampala, the capital city of Uganda, a landlocked country in the center of Africa, is home to a vibrant group of disciples. This month alone, they have had 12 baptisms, bringing the total number of new brothers and sisters added to the family so far in 2011 to twenty one! That is more baptisms in 3 months than any one year total since the church was started. Several baptisms are a result of last year’s Women’s Day. However, the numbers are not the goal – rather it is the excitement of seeing people fall in love with and grow in their relationship with God.
Immanuel was first invited to church 10 years ago as a student by Richard Ahenda, the brother who with his wife Florence, lead the church in Kampala. Immanuel studied the Bible a bit, but his interest fizzled and he stopped coming. After university he married Susan and last year he was reached out to again. This time he came with Susan and on March 3rd at 3pm, they made Jesus Lord.Amina, who comes from a Muslim background, hadn’t seen her childhood friend, Rehema, in 8 years during which time Rehema (also from a Muslim background) had become a disciple. Amina accepted Rehema’s invitation to come to church and to start studying the Bible. Having never read the Bible, for her birthday the disciples gave her a Bible which she faithfully started reading. As a married woman with three children, her family wasn’t keen on the idea of her becoming a Christian. But she persevered and on March 3rd, she too made Jesus Lord and is excited that her 3 children are able to be part of the children’s ministry every Sunday.
Three baptisms (Immanuel, Susan and Amina) on the third day of the third month of 2011! Not only that, Amina is now the 16th disciple from a Muslim background in the Kampala church!Last week there were 4 baptisms on one day – one of those is Brenda. Lillian reached out to her friend Brenda who is from Jinja – a town 100 km away from Kampala. They studied the Bible a bit, but Brenda was not interested. Six months later she moved to Kampala to go to university. She and Lillian met up, started studying the Bible again and now Brenda is also our sister.
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Kayo had been coming to church a long time but wasn’t really serious about having a relationship with God. He thought just coming to church should be enough. The brothers shared that God is not interested in numbers or how many members a church has. Rather, God is looking for obedience to His Scriptures. This past Sunday after church, the disciples went to a local hotel swimming pool to witness Kayo make Jesus Lord. As the brothers were helping him into the pool (Kayo is physically handicapped), a man who was in the pool with his children came over and asked if he could help. He was so impacted by what he witnessed that he is coming to church and wants to become a disciple himself..jpg)
In the beginning of the year, the Kampala church launched its “Vision 2020” with a goal that each of the 27 Bible Talks will help one person become a disciple by April 1st and to help 104 people make Jesus Lord of their lives this year. An all night prayer was held (not an easy thing as they needed to get permission from the police and have police guards all night long as it was 10 days before the presidential elections). They are also praying to send out their first church plantings in 2012 to Mbarara and Gulu. Let’s remember the 150 disciples in Kampala, Uganda in our prayers and be inspired by how God is using them to help people in Uganda make Jesus Lord.