Christ Ambassadors Church in Mukono, Uganda. This is one of the healthiest
churches I have ever been in. Pastor Joseph and his wife are incredibly humble
people, and he has such a right concept of leadership. The first Sunday when we
arrived, I was astonished to see the church run by young people. When we went
to the church leaders meeting, he started off with thanking and praising his
team of leaders, saying that people may thank him and say he’s doing a good job
but he knows that it’s because he has a good team. Then later he mentioned that
the ministry should not stop with you, but you should disciple people. I’ve
seen and heard of so many churches where the pastor is afraid that if you teach
the people too many things, they may get better than you and overthrow you.
What foolish thinking! The church is not yours anyways, it’s God’s. Pastor says
that it is their wish that the pastor does not always have to be in the church,
but other people are capable of leading it. And I can see how they have already
empowered the next generation to rise up and lead and take ownership. Prayer
meetings, cell groups, and many church activities are run by people of ages
around 20-30. Through my travels, I have often been amazed by seeing young
people who walk and talk with such faith and power.
As he was sharing about the church vision and goals with us,
I picked up some very good points.
1. We don’t just reach/preach to people, we need to
make disciples. Make disciples, not
members.
2. Be a proactive servant leader.
3. Be agents of change.
The love of God is so evident here. One day we took
34 kids home in a rickety old van: Pastor + 1 teacher (Ronald) + 6 Mzungu
(white people) + 34 kids in a 15-seater van. What struck me as we were driving
around was Pastor and Ronald’s love for the children. The way the children run
to them when they arrive, just wanting to hug them; Pastor’s commitment to
drive the children from all over the place and get them in school before 6am
and then back home after school; the way Pastor is able to remember every child’s
belongings, whether it be a jacket or water bottle; the way Ronald carries each
child off the van, sometimes carrying them to cross the street and making sure
they are home safely. It is so evident that the children know they love them
and they respond to their love. It is such a cool thing to see. And the
interactions between the church members also show that they love one another
very much, the way they care for one another and treat each other.
Pastor says that they have the best life ever, seeing the
many orphans that they have raised grow up. And these children really love,
honor and respect him. Ronald was one of the kids that Pastor took under his
wings, and now he’s the head teacher at the school and he has 2 orphans and 1
street kid living with him. He says that just like Pastor brought him up, he
wants to do the same for other kids too. I got to hear the story of him taking
in Muhammad 2 years, the street kid that everybody said was hopeless. Muhammad’s
was so bad that his parents tried all methods but saw no change. He was even
taken to the police station. One day Ronald found him sleeping in the dust in
some houses under construction and he invited him to stay overnight at his
house. He told Muhammad that you can sleep here, and in the morning you can
leave and do whatever you want. Then slowly he started leaving some food for
Muhammad so that he doesn’t go hungry. Then he started ‘training’ Muhammad to wash
his own dishes and then more responsibilities. Today Muhammad is a changed boy,
because Ronald loved the boy so well. One time when Ronald brought Muhammad to
his mom’s house, Muhammad told Ronald’s mom that “If it wasn’t for Uncle
Ronald, I wouldn’t be here today.” THAT IS AMAZING. We’re already beginning to see a
legacy here.
We’re doing a lot of door to door evangelism this month. Every
morning we visit either church members’ houses to pray and encourage them, or
Catholic families, or even a witch doctor’s house. Our team has really grown a
lot in this area. Looking back in Peru and El Salvador, we used to dislike evangelism
so much, and didn’t know what to say to the people. This month, as we obey and
just immersed ourselves in it, God has been able to teach us so much. I’ve come
to realize that you can’t forever want to build a relationship first because we
are only here for less than a month. If we are always only skimming the surface
of the water and unwilling to be ‘offensive’ and get to the core, we’re never
going to penetrate the people and show them the Truth.
Being in Africa teaches me simplicity. Kids wear torn
clothes, some don’t even have shoes on, but they are so joyful. Not thinking about
whether I look good or not, but just thankful to even have clothes on.
Since it’s a prayer month, here’s another ‘prayer lesson’ I’ve
learned.
That
I would pray whatever God wants me to pray. That may mean looking foolish in
front of people, or not ‘approved’, but if that is what God wants me to do I
don’t want to be afraid to look foolish. I just realized a few days ago how
much I ‘listen’ to the approval of people, whether they say ‘Amen’ or ‘Yes
Lord’ at the end of a sentence, and if they don’t, I’m like “Oh oh, maybe I
shouldn’t have said that.” What foolishness! The prophet Jeremiah had to bring
messages of destruction again and again to a people who didn’t want to listen.
What a tough job! But He was obedient.
Am loving this month by the way. Am gonna be real sad when we leave :(.
