Light of the World Church!

Hey everyone! It’s Brian here! Yes, we’re still alive! It’s been awesome hanging out with Kim and seeing all her craziness up front! She’s still the same crazy Kim, but they call her “Nurse Kim”!
Yesterday I had the opportunity to preach at Light of the World church and what a blessing it was! The church was a small hut made of branches and mud with some sheet metal composing the roof. It was a village church that many of the GSF missionaries and local villagers attended and the attendees totaled around 50-60.
To get to the church we trekked through the thick sugar cane fields and some plots of farmland; we walked by villages of families who lived in mud huts, stoking their own fires as their young toddlers looked on. It was obviously strange for the villagers to see a group of Asians walking through their Ugandan farmland!

 The church service was full of praise and worship, Ugandan style. Using just their voices and some drums, they sang and danced with joy and gladness. It was a really awesome experience! After about 30 minutes of praise and worship, they shared a couple testimonies, where people would stand and start off their sharing with a “Praise God,” followed by something that happened recently that they were thankful for. They then had offering followed by another praise song and dismissing the children to the “Children’s Church.”
Preaching in Uganda was a totally new experience for me. Ever since arriving in Uganda, I had been unsure of what to preach, and I was worried that any message I preach would be misunderstood or fall on deaf ears. After all, I was a muzungu, a foreigner. But Alton and I talked about how the Ugandan people need to find value in the Word of God just as much as people in America, and it would be a great way to start off our time of ministry, so I went with that. Stepping up to their humble pulpit, I looked out and saw some people eager to hear the Word (or they were just interested to see an Asian man preach). I preached the Gospel and a message on the sufficiency of Scripture from 2 Peter 1:12-21 with two translators––one speaking Lugandan (the local language) and another speaking Luol (for people from Northern Uganda who were brought down to work in the sugar cane fields). I’ve never experienced anything like this and was truly blessed by the time.

Praise God that after the message a few of the leaders of the church said they were recently convicted about the importance of the Word and were encouraged by the message. One of the missionaries also told us that a visiting woman from a nearby Muslim village asked her for a bible so that she could begin reading it! Praise God for his work through a nervous and anxious servant. Praise God that his Gospel message went forth and was received by listeners. Preaching at the village church truly ministered to my heart. I was able to see and experience the global church and a glimpse of what heaven will be like. It was encouraging to see the genuine hearts of the local pastors and missionaries and the work that God is doing in Uganda. Looking forward to more times of ministry and opportunities to share the Gospel!
 

“Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might becomes the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:20-21


This was reposted from the Uganda Team’s blog at http://lighthouse-sfbc-mission-trip.tumblr.com/