A Quest For A Living Faith: Uganda Journeys

Uganda Mission 2006 Team One

“ 4 Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: 5 the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. 6 And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” 7 As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? 8 What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings' houses.’” (Matthew 11:4-8 ESV)

Every journey begins at your front door and the path before you sometimes leads where you least expect it. There are those who never travel and never seem to miss it. I once knew a young woman who lived in a small town twenty miles from a major city and had never visited it. Some of us have adventure written on our souls and hear the cry of gulls on far off shores.

When we left “Hurricane Katherine” and General Convention 2006 had just hit The Episcopal Church (TEC) and the aftershock of waves were storming against the shore. The plight of the American church had Anglicans in England and in Uganda shaking their heads and asking, “What was TEC thinking when they did these things?” We could only humbly reply, “We ourselves remain faithful to the Anglican Communion. We believe that the Holy Scriptures are the Word of God, His self-revelation, and that Jesus His Son is the Word of God in the flesh. We believe that he died for us and rose physically from the dead, and we believe He is still pouring out His Spirit of holiness and power on His faithful people.” We are “Biblical, Sacramental, and Growing in the Spirit.” What is embarrassing is that we needed to say that frequently in response to questions both implicit and sometimes bluntly asked.

We went out as imperfect people with a gift in our hearts and with a conscious awareness of the words of St. Paul in Romans 1:11-12, “11 I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you--12 that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine.” We went with open hearts to receive as well as to give. But we also went well aware that we didn’t know what we would find when we arrived.

Retrospectively our trip reminded me of an English visitor who visited his brother, a cab driver in Chelsea, Massachusetts. Now in those days Chelsea was a dense, grubby little urban community under the elevated rail right next to Logan Airport. The man saw his brother, the yellow cab, and Chelsea, but missed the rest of country. For our part we landed in Entebbe, bussed to Kampala for an overnight stay, and left the next day for the Diocese of Kinkiizi and the Pygmy settlements. We visited Uganda Christian University in Mukono, and we visited the Diocese of Namirembe that embraces the city of Kampala. Nevertheless we missed the twenty-seven other dioceses in the Anglican Province of Uganda.

What is very clear is that the Diocese of Kinkizi and the Diocese of Namirembe differ in more than their names. Kinkizi shows the distinct marks of the anointing of the East African Revival, and Namirembe the cooler more reflective English Evangelicalism of post-colonial Africa. There is nevertheless an interesting historical connection between the two. The two men who were used to stir up the East African Revival in Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda met at the Anglican Cathedral on Namirembe hill in 1929 and began to pray together and study Holy Scripture. One of the two men, a CMS missionary named Joe Church, carried the newly ignited flame to Rwanda, and it was from there that the East African Revival spread throughout the region.

Certain people, places and events remain indelibly impressed on our hearts and minds. We have had a wonderful but arduous week in the Diocese of Kinkiizi and the Batwa Pygmies. One of the highlights is Doctor Scott Kellerman who runs several medical mission clinics that provide health services for them. He is a fine Christian and doesn't hesitate to pray for them as well care for them medically. Foremost in my memory is the image of Dr. Scott Kellerman joyfully dancing with the Batwa Pygmies. This is not a dry medical mission in southwest Uganda, but an obvious work of love mingled with understanding and respect. On the wall in one of the classrooms at the medical mission is a world map that was colored in by one of the Pygmies. She had been painting Russia in purple on the right side of the map and went to the opposite side to continue using the same color on the rest of Russia. She became very excited and called other adult Pygmies into the room telling them that this meant that the world was round like a pumpkin. Here the adult pygmies became very excited about education even requesting that they not only be educated along with the children, but also receive school uniforms. As we visited this clinic, school and pygmy settlement we were accompanied by a mixed group of Batwa pygmies and Bakiga (pronounced Bachiga). The Bachiga are the non-Pygmy local tribe dominant in Kinkiizi. On the outskirts of the touring group was a Bachiga with a viper in a cloth bag who was offering to show it to the youngest member of our team. Pastor Emmanuel, the missioner to the Batwa ejected the man from the mission grounds and later he was seen being pursued by the park rangers who oversee the forest reserve in that area.

I don’t usually want to mention what I give, but because I want you also to have the privilege of giving to Lord I think you need to know what we can do on a practical level. Our personal gift to the Batwa ministry was to pay for the repair of Pastor Emmanuel’s motorcycle and provide for the installation of an indoor kitchen in his house being constructed at the Batwa mission. There are practical things that you can give that will make a tremendous difference.

For me one of the very best moments with the Batwa was Diana's dramatic rendition of the Parable of the Sower, acted out with the aid of Batwa Children, and with considerable humor. The children took the part of the various seeds sowed in various places, and Diana was the Sower. The Canon of the Diocese, Bernard, acted as Diana's interpreter. The Batwa Pygmies were very involved. At one point one of the children (the seed sown on rocky soil) got tired of sitting waiting for the rest of the drama to unfold and began to wander off. Suddenly the Pygmies closest to her began pointing and emphatically instructing here to sit back down until the whole story was told. The whole drama took place down in a clearing on a hillside in a common area between several Batwa huts. The huts are made from bamboo latticework and mud. Some have grass roofs, and some have tin roofs. A tin roof costs about $250 dollars. Keep a pygmy family dry and give a gift. This is the first time in Batwa history that they have been dry, because their former home was the Rainforest.

We had a wonderful time in the Batwa area and stayed at a tent city called Montana. We love to camp, but this was deluxe safari camping with chemical toilets, hot showers and safe quarters. It was easier living conditions than the quarters at Holy Cross Guest House at the Kinkiizi Diocesan center, where there was no power after six in the evening, and often no water to flush the toilets. Here we were introduced to the ubiquitous Uganda buffet dinner. The main staple is matoke (pronounced matokey). Matoke is basically mashed plantain, a tasteless filler with little nutrition that is often served with a red sauce made from ground nuts (red skinned peanuts) that is as tasteless as the matoke. Boiled Irish potatoes, rice, yams, squash, and some green vegetables reminiscent of collard greens invariably accompany the matoke. Very tough beef in a stew and tough chicken provide the protein in their diet. Most of us avoided however the stewed goat that occasionally came along as a side dish. Matoke is a blessing and a curse. Many infants suffer from serious malnutrition because they are weaned too early and placed on a diet of matoke that cannot sustain their lives. The result can be death. That raised in my mind the spiritual matoke of Western Christianity. Our Christian bookstores are often filled with fluff rather than solid food. The fluff is mostly gifts, tacky and otherwise, contemporary Christian music of the “Me and Jesus and Me” variety, and pop-theology. If you want to read a good book on Missions order a copy of Vincent Donovan’s Christianity Rediscovered. You won’t find it in most Christian Matoke stores but you can order it from Amazon.com.

While in Kinkiizi we also visited The Bishop's School and got an up close look at the difficult conditions children endure in order to learn. One little boy apparently asked for the gift of a lantern and an alarm clock so that he could get up and study at 4:30 in the morning. The eyes of the children are incredible, very intense, wise beyond their years. We had a tremendous Sunday Service back at the Cathedral in Kinkiizi. The whole congregation dances down to the altar to bring their offering. This includes the both the Bachiga, and the Batwa Pygmies. I danced a little too enthusiastically and hurt my knee and have been hobbling around on a cane ever since. A rush of people responding to the altar call followed the excellent message preached by Diane Stanton. Our Team members then were very busy leading people in salvation prayers and in praying for a variety of other needs.

That evening we had a small healing service with about 50 in attendance under the trees. Our team had traveled to Kinkiizi in two vans. The young driver in our van, Ahmed Ali Muquaya, was a Muslim with some exposure to the Gospel. He had been listening very hard to everything going on. One of our team members asked him if he was a Christian, he responded, “I believe in God” like any good Muslim would. In my follow-up conversation with him I asked him if he had accepted Jesus as his Savior. He had indeed understood that Jesus died for his sins, but he had never invited Jesus into his life as Savior and Lord. Intellectual knowledge is not heart knowledge. For Ali the need for forgiveness was right on the surface. I asked him if he would like to accept Jesus as his Savior and he very willingly followed my prayer as Diana and a small group stood around him to support him in his decision. Two nights later after being instructed by Bishop John and Canon Bernard at dinner at the bishop’s home he made the decision to be baptized. The Sub-Dean of the Cathedral, Pastor Enos, took over his instruction and Ali selected the baptismal name of Moses and as his evangelist I baptized him at the Sunday evening open air healing service where he gave his first brief testimony. Keep Moses Ali Muquaya in your prayers as he returns to his family in Kampala.

Healing services in Kinkiizi are a little different in structure than we are used to in our setting. The service opens with joyful gospel songs accompanied by the infectious beat of an African drum. There are profuse acknowledgements and words of appreciation to all dignitaries and visitors. Then the altar call process starts with an ardent prayer that forcefully takes authority over all demonic forces and diseases. I was called upon to lead that prayer, and fortunately Pastor Enos was my translator. I testify that the man is not afraid to pray ardently! What a prayer team we made! What a joyful opportunity! When the altar call came the front was jammed with supplicants needing prayers for a variety of ailments.

One case was an evident need for an exorcism. The Canon Missioner for Healing Ministry, a young priest named James, took firm authority over the entity in question and it was expelled. If you think that is a little out of your range of experience, consider this. One English bishop at the beginning of the 20th Century said that, “Sometimes experience irresistibly suggests to us the presence of unseen bad companions who can make vivid suggestions to our minds.” Our problem in polite Western Christianity is not that demons don’t exist, but that we cloak their exists under our pseudo-sophistication.

By the way, Ugandan parish rectors have four or five sub-parishes as part of their responsibility. Each sub-parish (individual church attached to a parish) is led by a “Lay Reader” who does everything but celebrate the Eucharist. The priest rotates from Sunday to Sunday through all of his sub-parishes. Pastor Enos has to take a bus or ride a boda-boda to travel from parish to parish. The boda-boda is a small motorcycle and driver combination that acts as a taxi service. Pay the right amount of Ugandan shillings and ride the boda-boda. We passed one boda-boda with the driver and three riders; the last rider was talking on a cell phone. For $2500 we can buy Pastor Enos his own Suzuki motorcycle and make his ministry much more effective. Will you join me in this?

There were many occasions for us to give our testimonies in a variety of settings. The entire week was non-stop ministry from beginning to end. Diana and I have been invited back next year. Would you like to come with us? We would love to go back and bring our own team with us to Kinkiizi including medical people and dentists. But consider this: We have perhaps more to learn from them than they have to learn from us.

On our return to Kampala at the end of a week we had a break at a hotel with a swimming pool and an exercise center. It listed itself as a five star hotel, but unfortunately the stars weren’t gold stars. The power goes off frequently in Uganda, and hotels and larger churches, augment their power with generators. The roar of generators and the smell of Ugandan cooking penetrated to the walk-up third floor rooms where most of our team stayed. By the way, for reasons that should be obvious, there are no elevators in hotels where the power is apt to go off several times during a day. Team Two with our Youth Pastor Nate, and youth members Andrew, Beth, and Meg arrived safely that morning and the day was a recovery day for all of us. Some of our stomachs were a little rocky from strange food, but that is to be expected.

Father Rob+

Uganda Mission 2006 Team Two Installment continued at a later date.