Uganda is a beautiful country known as the pearl of Africa. It is landlocked in the East of Africa bordered by the countries of Sudan, Kenya, DRC, Rwanda and Tanzania. The majority of Uganda’s income is from agriculture which is boosted by the fertile soils and favourable climate. 80% of the population are documented as being Christian but traditional beliefs are still widespread. We had the privilege of travelling there excited by the knowledge we were going to proclaim that God’s glory would cover Uganda as the waters cover the sea!

We met an American couple called Royce and Elizabeth who had felt the call of God to move to Uganda with their two young children earlier this year. They were keen to set up a bible school and build up the church in the area adjacent to the airport town of Entebbe. We felt right away that these were people who would delight in making Jesus famous in Uganda. They were overjoyed when we presented them with the letter from Keri and the bibles which they were keen to distribute to church leaders in the area who couldn’t afford to purchase one.

We went from there to spend time at a Christian school with facilities to care for deaf children in the district of Kamuli in the east of Uganda. Ben was able to really bless the workers at the school by setting up an internet connection, renovating some donated PCs to be used to create an IT classroom at the same time. We met a young graduate called Andrew who had recently been appointed to supervise the various projects supported by the Christian charity who founded the school. We were able to encourage him in his faith and he took us to visit families deep in the villages who have had their lives transformed by the donation of goats, chickens and pigs which they can breed and sell to raise money for medicine and school fees. We demonstrated God’s love by taking small gifts of salt, sugar, soap and tea and by treating minor wounds and ailments.

We visited a clinic with a fully equipped operating theatre which unfortunately had never been used due to lack of a doctor willing to work in the village. There was no running water or power so the new doctor we had prayed for could not operate! We met with the local government officials and took them to see the clinic. They have since promised to supply clean water and electricity for the whole village.

We lived and travelled with two British nurses who do not yet know God, we spent time lovingly proclaiming the gospel and we were able to demonstrate what it means to live life as a Christian. We were able to give testimony to God’s faithfulness when Ben’s passport was rejected in Manchester yet he was able to get a new passport and another flight that very same day. When his return flight was cancelled by the airline we thanked God that He would provide Ben another flight home and agreed in prayer. We praised God when we were able to return back to Manchester on the same day! We had a fantastic time and we are excited knowing that God has His hand on Uganda and its wonderful people.

Last Friday evening at the 2007 Christian Blog and Web Awards (sponsored by Premier Christian Radio) King’s Church was awarded the prize for the Best Church Website! Gavin White and Dave Knight represented King’s Church at the champagne ceremony in London. They collected a cheque for £1000 on behalf of the all of King’s Church.

This last Sunday morning the award was shown to the church and the “web team” of Ian Whillans, Judah Cole, Dave Cherry and Dave Emmett accepted the award from Gavin on behalf of all the church. Many more have contributed articles, technical support and news items for this web site. As a church we are delighted if the site is helping achieve our objective of making Jesus famous.

In August 2006 I had visited Yambalu and his leaders with Keri Jones and Tony Ling. When asked how we could most help, Yambalu Mposhi (who leads a group of churches in the Kasai Oriental province) had once again replied that the best help we could send him as a church would be to come out and teach his leaders the Word of God.

In response, Richard and myself found ourselves flying over the Congo River as we left Kinshasa on a small Missionary Aviation Fellowship (MAF) plane that MAF kindly allowed us to charter for the length of our stay. It enabled us to make a five and a half hour journey by plane deep into the country to the town of Kabinda where Yambalu actually lives. There are very few roads in Congo, even though the country is the size of Western Europe.

After 5 hours of flying we could see the red lorry given by Ministries Without Borders at the end of the grass airstrip in Kabinda. Literally hundreds of church members were waiting for us. As soon as we stepped out the plane there was singing, praising God and welcome speeches

All the way from the airstrip to the centre of Kabinda were palm arches decorated with purple bougainvillea flowers to welcome us. We were preceded by a cavalcade of motorbikes blowing their horns for all they were worth. We went to the old church building and an even bigger crowd welcomed us and sang as we walked under the welcoming banner with our names written on.

For the next week we were guests in Yambalu’s house. Yambalu had great news; he was able to tell us that since last year’s leadership conference he had opened another 50 local churches. For three days from 8am in the morning until 5pm in the afternoon we taught over 150 of these church leaders. They drank in the Word of God. No one ever arrived late.

Members of King’s Church need to understand, they were really grateful to King’s Church Manchester for sending us to them and expressed this thanks on a video message, which will be shown to the church later this week. They really believed they had been taught how to better understand the baptism in the Holy Spirit and how to experience victorious living by the Spirit.

They themselves they were a testimony to what was being taught. In spite of a suspected outbreak of Ebola and hundreds dying in a town nearby, in spite of many having lost all their material belongings during the Civil War, in spite of very little paid work in the region, there was a confidence and a joy within their spirits. This was evidence of the supernatural work of the Spirit in their lives causing them to have a dignity and prosperity that was beyond the seen world.

During the 5-year war in the Congo (1998-2003) over 4 million people lost their lives. From the back of his house Yambalu pointed to nearby hills from which mortar bombs had regularly come across to Kabinda. One of the consequences of the war was schools being closed for a prolonged period. The challenge of illiteracy is no longer merely with the more elderly; there are now many younger people who are illiterate as a result of the war. Yambalu was able to introduce us to a teacher, named Kitengie, who believed God was calling him to do literacy work. From money given by King’s Church Manchester we promised to buy him a motorbike and support him in this important work.

Many in Kabinda sent their greetings to Anthony Cupit, an engineer in King’s Church who had visited in May for three weeks to assess the feasibility of several water projects. He had obviously been a big hit and was much loved by the Kabinda church. They are looking forward to his return!

Sunday was the first Sunday the new building was to be used. Money from Ministries Without Borders and King’s Church Manchester had helped in the construction of this superb building. There had also been much local participation too. It is easily the biggest building for literally hundreds of miles around

Once again lateness was not an issue as bamboo barriers were put up outside the building. 5 minutes before the starting time these were lifted and waiting crowds rushed in to get their seats. The building was full within minutes; those who couldn’t get in sat on wooden benches under a tarpaulin shelter or stood at the side of the building in the shade peering through the windows. There were easily over a thousand present. The meeting included Breaking of Bread, preaching the Gospel and giving thanks to God for the new building. It lasted just short of 6 hours. There was much joy and a real happiness in God.

I was able to tell the Kabinda church how money they had sent to Keri had been used to support a student through Bible School in India and that their student had graduated and planed other churches. They were really blessed to realise they were in a Kingdom that was not restricted to small minded barriers and their giving as well as their receiving was “without borders”.

When leaving we flew out of Kabinda in a storm. As soon as we were airborne we saw a natural sign of God’s grace. A spectacular rainbow was over the town of Kabinda. Just as Barnabas saw the grace of God on the church in Antioch and was glad (Acts 11:23), so we too left Kabinda knowing we had seen the grace of a God on a people, and we too were glad for all that we had seen.