Western Uganda Crusade - Kihiihi
This wasn't an easy mission trip. We travelled west from Kampala for over 10 hours in a Nissan van with a crusade set up team of 8 including musicians, keyboard, PA and speakers. The last few hours were spent on an unmade road deep into the 'impenetrable forest' known and loved by the last surviving gorillas.
I travelled with Peter Harris-Mayes from the Ark Community Church, leaving behind Sharon Oliver & Thelma Sparks in the relative comfort of Kampala city, doing ladies meetings (or so I thought)!
Kihiihi is a rural town just a few miles from the Congo border with a thriving Full Gospel Church. The church had set up the crusade behind the police station. This gave me some assurance that the rebel activity known in this area was controlled. Regular truck loads of soldiers would move through the town for guard duty at the main border crossing just down the road.
With the inevitable 'African' PA system, I had full confidence that most of the town would hear the gospel. Having arrived on an over night flight, and then travelled 10 hours or more in the van, we were expected to go straight into teaching seminars and minister to an enthusiastic crowd of around 500 believers from the town and surrounding banana plantations.
It is always an honour to be involved with people of all ages hungry for a touch from God and eager to learn all they can from a visiting 'white man'. Clearly very few have ever been here and I was the second white preacher they had seen. The history of the area is dire with awful killing and a well known cult had set fire to several hundred locals burning many to death just a few years ago.
God moved powerfully in the meetings and we saw a few hundred clearly saved and many dropping down under God's power and experiencing His fire on their bodies. There were excellent reports of healing, and many were set free from demonic spirits as we prayed for witchcraft and ancestral curses to be broken. You may be interested to know that cannibalism is still practiced in this region & ministry is reaching into these groups through this and our last visit.
On our final night a crowd of 1500 - 2000 gathered and there was an awesome visitation of God on the make-shift wooden stage and people were literally thrown to the ground under the anointing, many feeling God's fire on their hands and bodies as they experienced revival power.
I have subsequently heard that they are challenged to take the gospel into the jungle areas of the Congo amongst the Pygmy tree dwellers who live only a few miles away across the border. I have been invited back as soon as possible to minister further South towards the Congo/Rwanda border through crusade evangelism and seminars to the local believers. This group have Pygmy believers in their congregations!!!!! What an awesome privilege to see revival taking place with my own eyes.
Gulu North Uganda
The town of Gulu is in the north of Uganda towards the border with Sudan. Many of the major aid agencies use it as a base and UN trucks bring food aid daily to the 370,000 displaced Ugandan refugees living in camps around the town.
It has been safe for over a year but on our arrival two British people were killed in separate incidents by rebel guerrillas who live in the surrounding jungle regions. A heavy presence of Ugandan soldiers along the main road from Kampala north and over the single, bridge crossing the Nile which links north & south Uganda, gave us some peace of mind but I wasn't prepared for what we experienced and the possible danger to our lives.
We conducted a series of seminars and open air crusades literally by the main road and saw 100's respond to the call for salvation.
There are so many children in this town but they seemed hungry for salvation and responded nightly in large numbers. We tried to get every name so we could follow up altar calls but it was an impossible task. The church workers were overwhelmed and were not able to cope with the massive responses night after night. It is impossible to say how many people became Christians.
I spoke standing on a table in one of the main refugee camps to an enthusiastic crowd of men, women, soldiers, tribal leaders, youth & children. If I said there were around 1500 in the crowd I can only guess that almost all of them made a commitment to follow Jesus at the same time. Totally overwhelmed and unprepared for this, and literally standing on a table surrounded by people, I had to ask everybody to put their hand on their heart and ask them to receive Jesus where they were. I cannot convey the thrill of witnessing what I believe to be so many genuine responses to the power of the gospel.
When you consider the trauma many had experienced at the hands of the rebels and the squalor and desperate poverty in which they live, it was such an honour to offer them such hope in Jesus. Many of the children have seen things young eyes should never see: rape, murder, attacks, friends & loved ones burned alive tortured. ….. and so it goes on. Only Jesus can heal from such scars.
We have made a promise to build a single children's centre and bought about half an acre of land in one of the villages to help alleviate the suffering. This will cost around £3,000 and then we can offer some shelter to some of the most desperate children and pay for some basic education. A teacher only costs £15 per month and we would like to pay for two teachers to work at the centre.
The opportunities for God to move in power in Gulu are huge. The risks are great but we need to pray for someone of vision, who speaks the local language, to start a large church to meet the spiritual needs of so many. I am asking the Full Gospel Church of Uganda and Deliverance Church of Uganda & Kenya together to see what can be done in Gulu.
Please pray for them.
Kampala
I do take my hat off to Thelma & Sharon! Left in Kampala to speak at seminars and church meetings ostensibly for ladies, they normally end up bringing significant teaching & handling difficult pastoral questions for pastors and church leaders. It is so difficult to adequately prepare, as the age and maturity ranges from unbelievers to mature pastors, across the complete age range including the inevitable pack of children hanging in the doorways and windows.
Some of the questions have included “Why do you wear men's apparel? & “How do I stay pure as a 4th wife in a polygamous marriage?” The classic to Thelma was “do you have any other ideas on how to discipline children apart from: beating, denying them food and locking them in cupboards?”
After a tiring two weeks we had a final youth celebration in Katwe for all of the Full Gospel Churches in Kampala. There was a good crowd present and God moved in awesome power. The youngsters were set on fire with a passion for Jesus as the Holy Spirit descended on them. Many were thrown to the floor, praying in tongues, crying, laughing, and shaking all at the same time, if it's possible. Some literally leaped several feet in the air as they experienced a new liberty of the spirit. Young evangelists and church leaders of the future were being born and anointed to carry the fire of revival to Uganda and beyond.
It was particularly touching to see a young girl saved, baptised in the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues and deep in intercession for several hours - all in one day!
Our God is truly great and we are delighted to be part of His plans for the nation of Uganda
With love
Bruce
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