Reflecting on Uganda and Ethiopia Missions, June 8-29, 2009
11/07/09 19:56 Filed in: Results
Once again we were able to mobilize an international team of Americans, Filipinos, Ugandans and Ethiopians to evangelize, train, conduct medical outreaches, help plant new churches, and organize Church Multiplication Coalition pastors’ networks in Uganda, and then travel to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and to the Guchara area several hours southwest of the capitol for more ministry.
So much happened every day on this trip that it seemed to me longer than the actual two and a half weeks we were there. We had a sense of “history in the making” as God touched the hearts of the leaders and others we met in the various places.
The first three days were in the Kayuga area of central Uganda. The villages there were comprised mostly of people who had migrated there from more than five language areas. Multiple translations were often necessary. On the third night of ministry (but my first night there), we preached to a crowd of 1200 or more, many of whom received Christ. Because of a lighting problem, I preached in semi-darkness. When lights from a truck illuminated the darkness in front of me, I suddenly say a mass of people on their knees, calling out for God’s salvation with hands and faces upraised. What a moving spectacle!
Earlier that day we’d sat in a little church building with a group of local pastors and evangelists sharing our story of how God led us to beginning the pastors’ networks for church planting. The meeting started in daylight and continued as the sun went down. The pastors were full of questions for myself, Pastor Godfrey (Uganda), and Jill Boyonas (Philippines), and eager to evangelize their area in partnership with CMC Uganda. Simultaneously our Ugandan medical team with American helpers ministered to local people all afternoon.
The balance of our time was spent mostly in the Kapchorwa area at the top of Mount Elgin on the eastern border of Uganda. Outreaches were held in three villages, two of which were accessed by footpaths. Churches were begun in two of these villages, one of which had been considered “cursed” because of it’s history as a place for dumping bodies of the deceased and a place where female circumcisions were performed. Now it is a place of blessing, and the curse is revoked! Our team, which included a “sub team” of three Aglow Women’s leaders, ministered in the daytime very effectively in school evangelism and in a jail and hospital. We provided practical gifts for both of these institutions. (Soap, etc.)
I wasn’t sure what to expect in Ethiopia, as this was our first team outreach there. From the beginning, the very good organizing by Tercit Asrat (our Ethiopian-American friend and President of Hosanna Foundation) and her associate, Pastor Mezgebu, resulted in very productive ministry opportunities.
The Ethiopian medical mission, conducted by Ugandan doctor, Jackson Magada, and two great volunteer nurses from Addis Ababa, treated many locals in Guchara, while our team ministered to a growing crowd of believers (1200+) and pre-believers in a two-day event. Both days, the power of Holy Spirit was evident in “mass deliverance” from demons in the worship time preceding our preaching times. (The first day at least 8 adults manifested spirits and were released and the second day ten persons, mostly children were delivered.)
Our time in the Ethiopian countryside was followed by a two-day leaders seminar where Jill Boyonas, Godfrey, myself, and Mezgabu presented our story and experience in developing the CMC pastors’ movements and ended up organizing the first such pastors’ network in Addis Ababa with about twenty-five participating leaders.
While our team went sightseeing and shopping on our last full day in Addis Ababa, I was taken to visit several young ministry leaders and pastors who had been encouraged and launched into ministry by my friend, Benny Amin. Benny originally invited me to Ethiopia in 2004 or 2005, but I never got there until after his death in 2008. Although I was “late” getting there, I was not too late to meet some of those who loved him. This beloved man of God was tortured for his faith after being the first among his tribe to follow Christ in a strong Muslim area. His legacy continues in hundreds of young people who are strong leaders in the growing Christian movement. Each of our team members, of course, could tell a very different story of this mission through their own eyes. Maybe some will on this site. We also got a lot of good DVD footage, so others can share in our journey vicariously.
Thanks to all who prayed and gave. Let’s do it some more!!!
The first three days were in the Kayuga area of central Uganda. The villages there were comprised mostly of people who had migrated there from more than five language areas. Multiple translations were often necessary. On the third night of ministry (but my first night there), we preached to a crowd of 1200 or more, many of whom received Christ. Because of a lighting problem, I preached in semi-darkness. When lights from a truck illuminated the darkness in front of me, I suddenly say a mass of people on their knees, calling out for God’s salvation with hands and faces upraised. What a moving spectacle!
Earlier that day we’d sat in a little church building with a group of local pastors and evangelists sharing our story of how God led us to beginning the pastors’ networks for church planting. The meeting started in daylight and continued as the sun went down. The pastors were full of questions for myself, Pastor Godfrey (Uganda), and Jill Boyonas (Philippines), and eager to evangelize their area in partnership with CMC Uganda. Simultaneously our Ugandan medical team with American helpers ministered to local people all afternoon.
The balance of our time was spent mostly in the Kapchorwa area at the top of Mount Elgin on the eastern border of Uganda. Outreaches were held in three villages, two of which were accessed by footpaths. Churches were begun in two of these villages, one of which had been considered “cursed” because of it’s history as a place for dumping bodies of the deceased and a place where female circumcisions were performed. Now it is a place of blessing, and the curse is revoked! Our team, which included a “sub team” of three Aglow Women’s leaders, ministered in the daytime very effectively in school evangelism and in a jail and hospital. We provided practical gifts for both of these institutions. (Soap, etc.)
I wasn’t sure what to expect in Ethiopia, as this was our first team outreach there. From the beginning, the very good organizing by Tercit Asrat (our Ethiopian-American friend and President of Hosanna Foundation) and her associate, Pastor Mezgebu, resulted in very productive ministry opportunities.
The Ethiopian medical mission, conducted by Ugandan doctor, Jackson Magada, and two great volunteer nurses from Addis Ababa, treated many locals in Guchara, while our team ministered to a growing crowd of believers (1200+) and pre-believers in a two-day event. Both days, the power of Holy Spirit was evident in “mass deliverance” from demons in the worship time preceding our preaching times. (The first day at least 8 adults manifested spirits and were released and the second day ten persons, mostly children were delivered.)
Our time in the Ethiopian countryside was followed by a two-day leaders seminar where Jill Boyonas, Godfrey, myself, and Mezgabu presented our story and experience in developing the CMC pastors’ movements and ended up organizing the first such pastors’ network in Addis Ababa with about twenty-five participating leaders.
While our team went sightseeing and shopping on our last full day in Addis Ababa, I was taken to visit several young ministry leaders and pastors who had been encouraged and launched into ministry by my friend, Benny Amin. Benny originally invited me to Ethiopia in 2004 or 2005, but I never got there until after his death in 2008. Although I was “late” getting there, I was not too late to meet some of those who loved him. This beloved man of God was tortured for his faith after being the first among his tribe to follow Christ in a strong Muslim area. His legacy continues in hundreds of young people who are strong leaders in the growing Christian movement. Each of our team members, of course, could tell a very different story of this mission through their own eyes. Maybe some will on this site. We also got a lot of good DVD footage, so others can share in our journey vicariously.
Thanks to all who prayed and gave. Let’s do it some more!!!
0 Comments
