God is good!!!

                                                                                                                                                    

Our Heavenly Father is good all the time. We pray and hope that God’s goodness indwells in all of you as you continue on this journey of life, proclaiming His name to all. We thank you for your continued unwavering prayers, encouragement, thoughts and support for the work in Kampala. We praise God who sustains us every day. It is our pleasure to share with you all, yet again, what God registers to His glory through our obedience and service to Him.

We thank God for the BLRC premises we have got to enjoy over the last couple of years at the Better Living Resource Centre (BLRC). The Centre in its entirety is an outreach ministry. Several people come through the gates of the BLRC every single day throughout the week. There is a Book library of over 5,000 books for reading and rent, a video rental service, a café, swings for children, board games, and several other services provided at the Centre. At the beginning of this year, in addition to the already existing services  provided, the leadership saw it fitting to start a daily one hour devotional time of Bible Study, Bible teaching, preaching, Testifying and praying. A few new and upcoming leaders have taken up the lead in the daily Evening Glory Hour of Fellowship. We praise God for not only enabling us to impact several that come through the center with the Word of God but also for God to raise up new leaders as they seize this opportunity to minister and evangelize souls for Christ.

(Michael sharing from the Word of God during the Evening Glory hour of fellowship)

Quoting, Maya Angelou, “When you learn, teach. When you get, give”, at the beginning of this year the Kampala Church of Christ adopted a theme that will be its focus this year. “Be Equipped to Reap”. Several plans are underway to having several leadership training opportunities offered at the BLRC this year. The resolve is to seek to equip leaders to be empowered to reap for Christ.  This is a timely theme as God continues to expand our territory and space for reaching out to several in the communities with the love of Christ. Already, we have a big need to train several of the leaders in the communities where our church plants are established. You cannot give out what you do not have and because of this, a learning ground has been laid and set at the BLRC for leaders to be trained to be sent out to reap for Christ. One of our church members Mr. Sebagala, a seasoned servant in Christ and Theology graduate has committed himself to help train leaders in discipleship, the class will start at the end of March 2012.  Christopher Yiiki, a long time church friend is making plans to come and help teach about Biblical Preaching and teaching, a few months to come. Joseph Irwaat, a leader in the Church goes for training at the Messiah Theological Institute in Mbale every other Month. Okello Patrick, the Kampala Church of Christ Pulpit Minister recently enrolled for a Theology course at Glad Tidings Bible school in Kampala. We give praise to God as He continues to open up doors for us to be equipped for His sake. We kindly ask you to pray for God’s providence and resources to help train several of our leaders as we expand the walls of the Church of Christ in our communities. 

(Okello Patrick in class at Glad Tidings Bible School in Kampala)

We give praise to God for a new Church of Christ that has been planted in Rwanda by one of our longtime members, Justine Rudasingwa. Justine joined the Kampala Church of Christ in 1995. Married and a father of three.  In 1997, Justine left Uganda to go and start work in Rwanda. His wife, Rose and their children stayed in Uganda. Justine is always in- between Rwanda and Uganda. His family is very committed in Church. A few years back, Justine helped to plant a church in Rwanda. The church is called New Testament Church of Christ. Several times Justine has been coming to Kampala to visit and learn about ministry and the several projects that have been started in Kampala. There is an apparent collaboration that is being born between the two churches. An invitation has been extended to the Kampala church to go and visit in Rwanda. Among the churches whose leaders will be represented at the Annual National New Testament Churches of Christ Meeting in September will be those from Rwanda. We give praise to God for having enabled Justine to take up the banner for Christ and to light up in Rwanda.

(Justin Rudasingwa at KCC)

We thank you for all your prayers, we give thanks and praise to God for the Lifeway Child Support Program (LWCSP) in Wakiso. Three needy kids were able to get sponsors this year and are now in school. God is good. Two of the kids had never thought of being in school but LOVE has seen them enroll into school to acquire an Education. The LWCSP was started in Wakiso with a long term plan for starting a primary school. The program is overseen by Mr. Godfrey Mbazira , a minister of the Lifeway Church of Christ in Wakiso, Banda.

(The LWCSP sponsored kids at school)

Giving praise to God does not seem to stop here but we are thankful for all your prayers. The Kampala ministry has for years been struggling with transport. The ministry does not have a vehicle to help carry out several tasks in and around Kampala. This need has been even more felt as we move out into the communities preaching and spreading out the Word of God. The leadership resolved on what kind of vehicle that would best suit the needs of the ministry. The cost of the vehicle is valued at $13,000 (30,000,000/=). Several fundraising efforts have been made both locally and elsewhere.  So far we have been able to raise $6,000. We have a balance of $7,000 to believe for. We give praise to God as we see the day approaching for having a Church Vehicle bought. We ask that you help us realize this dream by praying or supporting towards this cause.

We also give thanks to God as we prepare for the New Testament Churches of Christ National Meeting in September 2012. Kampala will be hosts to this meeting. One of the challenges has been getting a guest speaker for this Meeting.  Through prayer, we have been able to identify a speaker and whose church has graciously accepted to send him over to bless us. Steve Kenney is the minister at North Central Church of Christ (NCCC). Steve will be guest speaker at the National Meeting in Kampala. NCCC is our overseeing and supporting Church in Indiana USA. It is such a privilege and an honor for Steve to heed to the call to come and bless the Kampala body and the National Meeting. There will be several others who will be coming with him, his wife Leslie, Jim Risk, and Nancy Harbron are among the confirmed guests that will be coming. We pray that more can be able to join the team that will be coming to visit in Kampala.

The Kampala Church is in anticipation of the next Lets Start Talking Project (LST) in Kampala. Every other year, the Kampala Church has been host to the LST projects. Several non-English speaking members in the church have come through LST projects. Better still, most people have gotten to know Jesus Christ and have turned their lives to Him as a result of their participation with LST. Please pray for Geoff Plourde, Natasha Austin and Skie Osborn as they prepare themselves to come to Kampala and bless the Kampala church and community through the LST Project 2012. 

 The LST team is from the Pepperdine University Campus. The team arrives May 7^th and leaves June 18^th 2012. We thank the Pepperdine community for its continued blessing of sending over LST teams to Kampala over the years.

All the glory goes back to God as we continue to register and enroll several people in our communities into World Bible School (WBS). Several schools in our communities have been impacted with an opportunity to study the Word through correspondence for free. We give praise to God as numbers continue to be added into the Kingdom through WBS.

The Kampala church will be blessed to be visited by some of its former missionaries in Kampala this year. This Month, Darla Bennett, Mark and Jamie Long with their two kids will be visiting in Kampala for a few weeks. Dr Ellen Little who worked in Uganda and Kampala in particular will also be visiting in the Month of June, God is good!!!

 

God is indeed good. Several years back we had a refugee family from Congo that were very committed in the church and whose children were being helped and sponsored through the Christian Relief fund (CRF). Immaculate Bihamba was an exemplary woman of faith throughout her suffering when she was a refugee in Uganda. Through her faith in God and prayer she was later sent to live in Australia with her family through the United Nations Program. Out of the love shown to her and her children through the CRF program and the church, she recently decided to start helping a kid go to school in our church community. The kid being helped comes from a refugee family of ten children. God works in mysterious ways, we give Him the Praise and the Glolry that only belongs to Him. God is good!!

Prayer Requests

1.       Pray for our sister and friend Nancy Harbron. Pray for a complete healing of her health.

2.       Pray for Darla, Mark, Jamie, Elia and Coby as they prepare themselves to come and visit in Kampala.

3.       Pray for the LST team as they prepare to come and work in Kampala for six weeks.

4.       Pray that the Kampala church raises the money to buy a Ministry vehicle soon.

5.       Pray for the preparations, organizing, the guests that are traveling for the NTCC meeting in September.

Isaac Sanyu