Category Exporting Hope

UGANDA  visit, Dec 2018.

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We Visited LIFE MINSTRIES CHRISTIAN CHURCH Kampala in Dec 2018. This was the latest of many visits to our dear friends, who we have known many years now – an apostlic group of churches led by Emmanuel Rucyaba.

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On this occasion Jim and I taught trainee leaders Tues – Fri, on Leadership, the book of Ephesians and the differing Eph 4 leadership ministries. What an enthusiastic and receptive group! Drawn from very varied educational abilities, and different tribal and language groups, it makes both teaching and Q and A great fun.
We have been partnering with our friends in their Leadership Training School with a desire to see 100 trained between 2015 and 2020. The graduation was at the end of my second week; a further 32 graduates passed, with a few less able others receiving certificates of attendance. This makes a total of 67 trained and “graduated” elders and church planters since 2015; a great investment from HOPE Church Worcester and the Catalyst family of churches. Before the additional investment from the catalyst Festival Offering we were only able to train about 12 a year.

The graduation came at the culmination of their biannual National Convention, held in the large church school playgrounds. 300 + attended…arriving in groups throughout the first 3 days in true African style!

A great week of vibrant worship, news and preaching! All translated into Lugandan and English with mikes, and then into small subgroup clusters for various tribal languages. Groups were present from 153 churches, some from DR Congo, S Sudan, Rwanda as well as all parts of Uganda. None could make it from Burundi.

As well as seeing the latest work on the school, we also visited the nearly completed hospital and were able to teach in the local base church, as well as the newest of their church plants. (Temporary building pictured below)

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It is a great privilege to be working with such a great group of people and to hear news from churches and projects in the surrounding East African nations. In February 2019 we are gathering a small group of apostolic leaders from many East African nations, in Entebbe, to learn together and receive teaching from David Devenish, and others, on the theme of “Servant Leadership” and how it might be expressed in different cultures and communities.

Uganda and Rwanda, March 2018.

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What a privilege it has been to live, and learn, with the people of Swe-Swe, near Keyenjojo, in western Uganda this last fortnight.

It’s an incredibly beautiful place and I thoroughly enjoyed sharing the teaching, and great friendship, with Emmanuel Rucyaba, who leads a large family of churches in Uganda and the surrounding nations.

After our time in the west we returned to enjoy the luxuries of loo seats, piped water and electricity for the weekend, with great friends in Kampala. Once a visitor in Gnamongo, now I genuinely feel part of the church family there.

We also took time to view the temporary church building that HOPE Worcester financed in Seeta, just outside Kampala,where the latest church plant has just started to meet.


Next we took an 8 hour coach journey through the night to Kigali, Rwanda, for a leaders training conference there. We arrived to news that the government had closed 1,000 churches demanding better car parks and soundproofing – European standards that are beyond some of the poorer congregations. Not to be seen as biased the government were also banning the use of loudspeakers from mosques!

(Rwanda has a very strong, centralised government, which has brought stability to the country, but which does not tolerate questioning!) – It was really great to be able to encourage the leaders during what is an uncertain time for some.


Rwanda is an absolutely beautiful country – “the land of a thousand hills” and I thoroughly enjoyed making stronger friendships and teaching there. An amusing highlight was learning to say thank you in a number of African languages and then teaching them to say thank you in Welsh!

Ten leaders from D.R. Congo had made the journey for the conference so it was great to make new friends and receive an invitation to go there in due course.

Sponsorship from HOPE and the Catalyst group of churches has made this training gathering possible along with an on-going leaders training course. Money well spent!

Finance permitting I hope to return to Uganda in December, for their National convention and we are planning an East African key leaders conference for 2019.

POSSIBILITIES!

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We have just completed on our purchase of THE GRANARY!

Change of use permission has already been granted for HOPE to develop the building to serve the city of Worcester and beyond.

The city council are very supportive of our aims and have encouraged us to submit more ambitious detailed plans for an attractive frontage to the building… (see architects recent impression above). It has been a very long slog to get to this stage … but now we can move on to prepare and submit detailed drawings, and consider how we move forward…..

Imagine a building where all kinds of people are welcome! … Picture an exhibition foyer area with space for photographs and the work of artists, a characterful venue to listen to musicians, able to serve the vulnerable whilst, at the same time, businessmen can hold meetings about creating jobs and wealth for the city, health professionals might hold a conference… and, meanwhile, all the day to day activities of a church can continue.

The POSSIBILITIES go on for “HOPE – the church in The Granary”

Exciting? Yes! … Challenging? Definitely! … 

That’s why your support, encouragement and prayers are requested and are very much appreciated.

If you would like details of how you might invest in this project –

Email info@hope-church.org.uk with “The Granary” as subject.

Or,

Write to HOPE Church, PO Box 230, Worcester. WR5 3ZE
Watch this space for more details…. Thank you!

Abel’s Bike

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This Christmas we bought Abel a motorbike. He is a community worker and overseer who has spent very many hours walking through the countryside to visit outlaying communities.

Through Exporting HOPE we have been able to provide him with a motorbike, which will make his life and work so much more effective.

Thanks to all who contributed to the Christmas present!

It is great to be partnering with out friends in West Uganda, from whom we have learned so much!

KAMPALA, UGANDA. JAN 2016

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In January I traveled with James Shepherd, from HOPE Church, Bedlington, and Paul Harrison, from Jubilee Church, Coventry, back to Kampala, Uganda.

HOPE Church, Worcester has been investing in friendships, in projects and training for many years now and the fruit of that could be seen in the warm welcome and wonderful openness with which we were received by all.

The group of churches we partner with, Life Ministries Christian Centre, has been so helped, in quality and numbers, as they have consistently trained leaders in theology,  leadership ministry and church life. It has been a joy to partner with them in that and we aim to continue!

This time we spent a week training leaders and teaching with a special focus on the book of Ephesians. We also had two Sundays in Uganda and so were able to go our separate ways and teach in different churches.

For me it was a good week of continued building and friendship. For James and Paul it was a first experience of Africa – one they can take back and share with our friends in U.K. churches. Our aim is to have been involved in training up 100 leaders by 2020. I am planning to be at the graduation of another 30, this coming December, at their national convention.

 

RWANDA AND UGANDA, SUMMER 2015

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Kyenjojo baby

This August it was a great privilege to travel to teach at leaders conferences in Rwanda and Uganda. Serving Emmanuel Rucyaba once more, we taught on “leadership character” and had much fun both in Kigali and in Kyenjojo, in western Uganda.

church building Kyenjojo

It was also a joy to visit clinics, a school and a hospital that we have played a small part in helping…

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The work is going well, with many excellent projects and some 140 churches in 6 nations. I love our partnership with these dear friends!

children Kyenjojo

Introducing…Kairos Business Support

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Mama Ketrah peanut butter

Allow me to introduce Mama Ketrah. With the help of some mentoring and a micro loan she has improved her small shop in Kampala, Uganda – and developed a delicious line – “Mama Ketrah’s peanut butter”

Tsusabe Uganda

This is Tsusabe. He used to produce furniture as almost a sole trader but with help, and much hard work, he has opened a timber yard, increasing his profits by selling to other furniture makers and also cutting out a long drive to the timber yard.

By exporting HOPE we are enabling friends, like Tsuabe and Mama Ketrah, to not only make a living, but also to produce increased employment opportunities for others.

 

BULGARIA visit, Jan 2015

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Bulgaria jan 2015 leadershipI met some wonderful people, (and ate some wonderful food), whilst in Bulgaria! We begun with a leaders Saturday in Lovech, where the church has restored a formerly delapidated building into a great church facility. On Sunday the team split up and preached in 3 different churches – I went with Rosen, (2nd on left), to his church in Veliko Tarnovo. Great time of discussion and friendship building as we drove and I very much look forward to meeting again. The warm of their welcome was fantastic and I felt very relaxed and at home as I spoke about The Father’s Love, from the Prodigal Son… Left straight after the service to travel to Sofia where I spoke again to a church plant.

Experiencing different cultures and languages but discovering the same family, with the same Father is a great privilege!

EXPORTING HOPE … UGANDA and Emmanuel Rucyaba

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emmanuel 2015

 

We have been friends with Emmanuel for many years, a friendship that has deepened over time. It is a privilege to partner and serve him. In past years we have helped with the construction of a school and provision of teaching staff, the building of a clinic and the ongoing construction of a hospital.

Through what we call “Exporting HOPE” we are planning to be involved in then following ways –

We are aiming to assist in the set up and ongoing mentoring of some businesses in order to provide uplift and dignity to those who have no work. We are seeking finances for this.

We are aiming to help connect Emmanuel to a variety of other apostolic ministries so that he can gain from increased fellowship and contribute his experience to others too.

We would like to help Emmanuel train up to 100 church leaders in the next 5 years, via sponsoring, and serving as teachers, in his leadership training school. Wouldn’t it be great if we could expand that facility to Rwanda in time!?

We have helped provide some advice and finances toward a farm to provide income for the ministry, enabling it ultimately to become more financially independent.

I am travelling to Rwanda and Uganda, with Colin Baron, this August.