We thank God for the Convention’s leadership. We thank the Board of GMB, the Board of Youths and Students Ministries, and some Mission Stakeholders for their support and godly counsel in ensuring this mission field is opened.
Background Information
Uganda, also known as the Pearl of Africa, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is a hospitable country known for hosting the largest number of refugees in Africa.
Uganda is a Christian nation with 84.5% Christianity as a religious group, although, the country is a registered member of OIC.
The nation is dominated by Roman Catholic (39.3%) followed by the Church of Uganda, that is, Anglican (32.0%), Pentecostal (11.1%), and Seventh Day Adventist (1.7%).
Report from Baptist
Baptist is (<1 %) while Muslim is about 13.7%. From the statistics, the majority of the population practices Christianity by religion with the Catholic faith rating the highest.
Despite this, the religious climate in Uganda is a reason for the mission as many who profess faith in Jesus are weak and nominal for lack of discipleship. Pentecostalism is a growing phenomenon dominated by young people who are seeking instant breakthroughs in life.
The BSF Mission
The BSF mission work in Uganda began with a burden to extend the student ministries’ work to other parts of Africa. Having witnessed the spiritual impact and growth, it has had on the Nigerian Baptist Convention (NBC) churches and her leadership for more than six decades.
This led to the visit of a team of three delegates from All Africa Baptist Fellowship, AABF and NBC to Uganda in 2016 to introduce and seek their interest in student ministries.
On the team were the immediate past AABF General Secretary, Dr Duro Ayanrinola, the immediate past Director of Youth and Student Ministries (NBC). It also includes Dr S. A. K. Olakeye and Rev. Dr. Olawuyi James, the current Director of Youth and Student Ministries from Nigeria.
Baptist Union in Uganda
The leadership of our sister organization, Baptist Union of Uganda (BUU) led by her then President, Pastor John Ekudu. It caught the vision as a viable ministry that will also enable the growth of the Baptist churches in Uganda.
Therefore, in 2017, the BUU leadership requested the NBC to send a missionary who is experienced in student ministries for two months to kick start the process. Pastor(now Revd.)
Gbenga Osho, then, an MDiv student at the NBTS, Ogbomoso, was sent to Uganda for three short-term missions between 2017 and 2019. He has been serving as a resident Missionary with his family since March 2020.
Summary of Ministry Activities
By God’s grace, we rejoice greatly because so much has been accomplished, with many lessons learned and varied challenges met.
Our ministry activities include school mission outreaches, discipleship training called School of Discipleship, student conferences, devotional and resource book publications. It also inludes leadership training, church revitalization conferences and the establishment of BSF groups in churches and schools.
Our mission outreach to schools and institutions is our evangelical tool and campaign against the high rate of pre-marital sex among young people. The outreach campaign is branded Purity is Possible (PIP). The PIP Outreach has been our major entry point for ministry work in Uganda.
Challenges
The harvest is ready but labourers both in number and quality are few.
Most of the Baptist Churches in Uganda are rural based, and the majority of the young people like many others face several bottlenecks. It includes high school dropout rates, primarily due to early pregnancies, and insufficient household incomes /funds to sustain school attendance for both girls and boys.
Low Productivity
There is low productivity and profitability, limited access to credit, negative attitude towards work, limited access and use of modern technology, hindering their potential as bonafide citizens.
Illiteracy
Many of the Baptist pastors on the field are academically and theologically illiterate which is negatively affecting their spiritual impact on the young people. It sometimes sees them as a threat to their ministry at church. The low level of literacy also limits the impact of the church on the community.
Attitude
Unfortunately, the attitude of most churches to giving is so poor. This is basically due to their dependence mentality on foreigners to support the ministry.
We need resources like a mission van, a public address system and discipleship materials to effectively reach and disciple more people. This is in dire need of the gospel message, especially among the teeming population of students and youth.
Family Life
The marriage and family life in Uganda is very faulty and biblically wrong. Many supposed families are built on cohabitation and single parenting where children are born to more than one father or mother. This is one of the reasons the cycle for pre-marital sex and teenage pregnancy is a norm.
Opportunities and Prospects for Mission in Uganda
Uganda is the second youngest country in the world with 78 per cent of its population below the age of 25. The leading cause of this young population is teenage pregnancy due to the high rate of pre-marital sex and cohabitation.
Youth Ministry Work
This makes Uganda a viable country for student and youth ministry work. Among the various challenges confronting these young people include poverty, school dropout, unemployment, family disorientation, single parenthood, and lack of access to basic amenities.
Weak Leadership
Weak spiritual leadership at the church level is also a big opportunity for theological training. Some of them see ministry as an opportunity for the same is true for our Baptist churches. Many of the Baptists who managed to attend Theological college have only certificates to be qualified to pastor a congregation.
Spiritual Vibrancy
This scenario has weakened the spiritual vibrancy and strength of many of our churches. This calls for leadership development and concerted discipleship labour for our Baptist pastors.
Although a few scattered efforts are being made by individual pastors who are exposed to bridge this gap in spiritual leadership, the effort is not yielding the holistic result as expected. There are some proposed proposals to tap into the mission opportunities and prospects in Uganda.
Students’ Missionaries
Ministry to the students and youth can be strengthened through the Baptist Student Fellowship by providing resources to recruit God-called full-time student workers to work with the missionary.
Many of our young people who are serving as volunteers are passionate about the work. They will be able to reach out widely to carry out school outreaches and establish more BSF groups as well as discipleship of new converts on a full-time basis.
The Purity Outreach
The Purity is Possible (PIP) outreach in the country has proven to be very effective in addressing the high rate of sexual immorality. Many students have testified to the power of the message in their lives as they make a firm commitment to sexual purity.
School Personnel
School administration, teachers and parents are also embracing the message without prejudice because they are witnesses to the positive effect it is having on the students and children.
Therefore, we need to scale up the outreach nationwide by training more facilitators. They will take the message to schools, higher institutions, communities, youth organizations, churches etc and use it as a platform to start PIP clubs and discipleship groups.
Baptist Churches in Uganda
While there are more than one thousand local Baptist churches in Uganda, it is crystal clear that most of them are weak, largely due to weak leadership. For example, many Baptist pastors have been cohabiting (not legally married) and doing ministry at the same time.
On December 9th, a Baptist pastor got wedded in church after having four children, three of whom are grown-ups. Members of our Baptist churches are also highly involved in co-habiting and several families are in disarray with many single mothers.
Leadership Development
It is therefore a strong necessity for these churches to be revived through a focus on leadership development and Church Revitalization or Church growth on a nationwide scale.
There is an opportunity for Church planting near universities or institutions of higher learning among other opportunities in Uganda and East Africa. If such churches have visionary Pastors and are given the needed facilities, they can grow to become mega-churches.
We sent the Nigerian Professors to Uganda and other African countries by the Nigerian government as technical experts. They strategically leveraged their availability to do missions in the country.
Diplomatic Passport
They are usually given a diplomatic passport which allows them to move freely in the country. Some of them can go on Sabbatical leave or for contract jobs.
These academics can be identified from their homeland. They can become ambassadors of Christ in fulfilling the Great Commission to make disciples in their institution during their academic sojourn. This can become a full-fledged local Church in the future.
A typical example is Kampala International University, Uganda where Professors Olutona and Omodamiro have started a Bible study group for Baptist students and others on the campus.
They later registered it as a Baptist Student Fellowship with the institution. Shortly, it is hoped that it will metamorphose into University Baptist Church.
Mission Schools
There is also an opportunity to start mission schools in Uganda and East Africa. As we all know, mission schools have been a catalyst for the spread of the gospel. Many households are poor and can’t afford to send their children to school.
With mission schools integrated with vocational skills in the curriculum, many young people will be reached with the gospel of Christ and they can be set on the right track early in life.
We can be strategic in this area by identifying four locations in the North, East, West and South of the country to establish the schools. It provides a holistic education that develops the mind (intellect), soul (spiritual) and body (skills).
Prayer Points
- Pray that the open door for ministry in Uganda will be utilized to reach more people and disciple them for Christ.
- Pray with us that God will enable us to raise more Christ-centered and kingdom-minded workers for the ministry.
- Pray that God will help us in our effort to correct the Biblically wrong foundation of marriage and family life in Uganda, especially among the young people and the Church leaders.
- Pray. that God will supply all the resources needed to carry out the ministry as unto the Lord.
- Pray that pastors on the field will be open-minded to embrace discipleship as the backbone of the church ministry and be willing to be trained theologically.
- Pray that the grace of God will continually be sufficient for the missionary and all workers on the field to fulfil the ministry work.
