Ministry in the Great Lakes Region of Africa

Over the years I have had the privilege of traveling to connect with and encourage leaders around the world. Thank you to all of you who have been praying for me on these trips since I began serving as Global Connections Coordinator for FCA USA almost 2 years ago. I just returned from 3 weeks in Uganda, Burundi, and Rwanda, and I can tell you that God’s Kingdom is advancing around the world and the gates of hell are not prevailing against the called-out-ones of Jesus Christ!

I want to give you a quick glimpse into what God is doing through several of our Global Affiliates in the three countries in the Great Lakes Region of Africa that I was able to visit on this three-week trip. My wife, Sarah, and daughter, Abby, worked hard to be able to join me for 2/3 of this trip, and some generous friends helped Abby with the remainder needed to make this happen; truly a life-changing investment for her. I was greatly encouraged by the work being done in this region: The partnership that our churches have had with the ministries and leaders connected to World Outreach Ministry Foundation has borne much fruit.

Standing in the North AND the South at the same time!

 

It was a joy to be able to connect with Pastor Steven Mayanja, his wife Cissy, Bob Mayonza, and many others who are connected to Uganda Christian Outreach Ministries.  We were also able to visit the Medical clinic in Seguku and to visit and speak at Seguku Worship Center with Pastor David Stuart for two services on a Sunday, the first service was all English, so you can check it out HERE, or HERE if you want to just hear the message that I shared. We also got to speak at a chapel service at Yesu Akwagala Bible School (Yesu Akwagala means “Jesus Loves You”) and at several High Schools.

Many of you partnered to help build this new campus of the Bible School: It’s coming along well!

 

Abby speaking to students at an area High School.

 

Abby encouraging students at Yesu Akwagala High School.

Praying for students during chapel at the Yesu Akwagala High School.

We made a quick 72-hour trip over to Burundi for two days of seminars with Burundi Christian Outreach Ministries. I did not know this before preparing for this trip, but Burundi is considered the poorest country by GDP and among the “saddest” due to the impact from years of war and violence on society and individuals. Talking with Pastor Ezechiel, the leader of that group of churches, we found out that smiling was rare in the communities when they began over 1o years ago, and that it wasn’t until the ministries of reconciliation and healing came in to transform people’s hearts that you could begin to see smiles and joy. The welcome that we received was so warm and the worship was so joyful that you would not have known that you were in what the world considers one of the “saddest” countries in the world: God truly transforms hearts and entire communities!

 

We gathered with pastors and church leaders from over 10 churches to spend time in prayer, worship, and teaching on church and ministry leadership from Pastor Steve Mayanja and I. It was a powerful time: You’ll get a chance to hear him preach at the FCA USA Convention in a few weeks!

 

We also got to see the Primary School that has been founded in the village we were visiting. It was particularly challenging to hear of four teachers who have been volunteering their time for the last 2 years to teach students from 8 AM to 1 PM and then going to their gardens to work in the afternoons to be able to provide for their families: May God give us all that level of dedication for the work of ministry that he has called us to!

Speaking of dedication, one thing that the people we met had was dedication: Everywhere we looked there were plots of land that were cultivated: Where the world has declared poverty, God has provided resources and the dedication to steward those well!

That dedication was recently seen in the perseverance of Pastor Ezechiel with processing his visa to be able to join us at the FCA Convention in Minneapolis…After many appointments he was granted his visa today and he is looking forward to the opportunity to get to know all of you in Minneapolis!

We had a great time with the leaders there and this is their greeting to you:

 

From Burundi, we went back to Uganda for a few more days of ministry in my role as International Ministry Director with the Pilgrim Center for Reconciliation before traveling to Rwanda for a week of ministry training with Rwandan and Congolese leaders. God is doing great things through those servant leaders from various denominations and fellowships. Lots of good ministry during my 12 days with the national leaders of Uganda, Rwanda, and Congo!

On the last Sunday of the trip I was able to spend the day with Pastor Canisius Gacura and his wife Allen. They are wonderful people doing a great work in Kigali. They are pastoring a church called Nyabugingo (life-giving) in the part of the city known as “the place of the dead”.

Pastor Gacura was so joyful and humble, yet the depth of what God has done in him became clearer as I read the story of his life the following week. This is one of the most powerful stories I’ve ever read: I can tell you that his story will both challenge and encourage you to reach beyond yourself and live an unlimited life! It should be required reading for being a spiritual leader:

(This book is helping with the construction of the new church building and ministry center along with the partnerships with many of you).

This trip was longer than usual (23 days total) and very full of many good things. I am thankful for all of your prayers because there are many things that could have gone wrong while traveling for so long and with so many different things to get done in so many places, yet things went very smoothly. I was able to connect with many wonderful people from these ministries, and many other ministries I was not able to include in this update. I also enjoyed being able to eat fruit that I grew up eating (matoke, pineapple, mango…yum!) and it was also pretty cool to see THREE of the Great Lakes (Victoria, Tanganyika, and Kivu) and eat fresh fish from them…Delicious!

May God continue to provide for the advancing of His kingdom around the world by the power of the Holy Spirit through each of our local churches to make disciples of all nations! 

From Grief to Comfort

Ministering comfort and strength to the wives of pastors in Nicaragua, ministry widows Ruth (Ost) Martinez, Nancy Honeytree, and Patty Klewer recently hosted a “Retreat for Pastors’s Wives,” along with Ruth’s daughter, Angela. Ruth observed that over 400 Nicaraguan pastors have died during the pandemic, leaving ministry wives not only with the devastating loss of a husband but due to leadership changes, frequently the loss of the congregation they once served.

While the last two years have represented “mountains and valleys,” Ruth reports, “I am a ‘UPS’ lady—Upheld, Preserved, and Sustained, by his right hand!” Shortly after her husband of 48 years, Victor Martinez, finished his earthly race September 11, 2019, she continued their joint ministry commitments with the help of her daughter Angela.

The worldwide crisis hit Mexico especially hard. Through 2020 and 2021, over 1,500 pastors in Mexico died. In such difficult times, Ruth began to realize her purpose as a widow was to comfort others in grief. “I had a purpose as a single woman in ministry for six years,” she observed, and later she found purpose as a wife, a mother, a grandmother, and a great-grandmother. She has now embraced a new purpose: teaching in the Bible School and area churches, caring for those in grief, particularly widows and orphans.

Don’t Lose Heart, a book written by two widows in ministry, serves as the basis for a 12-week project to comfort the grieving. “We had planned to help 30 ministry widows in the process of grief,” says Ruth. “To our greatest surprise we are now assisting more than 2,000, including men, women, children, and youth.” They are serving all ages in all types of grief and continue writing collaborative books, including Take Courage, now available on Amazon.

Social media has also proved a helpful tool to provide support. Daily comfort meditations from God’s Word are sent via WhatsApp, and WhatsApp chat groups of 15 to 20 provide additional encouragement. Weekly zoom meetings for targeted groups and videos on Facebook have expanded the reach. Ruth’s grief ministry (Legado de Acompañamiento) can also be found on Instagram, Twitter, Telegram, TikTok, and YouTube—with digital comfort connecting to approximately 8,000 in multiple countries!

“We are learning to be comforted,” says Ruth, “in order to comfort others.” Over 90 volunteers, having themselves received comfort and ministry, are compassionately learning to comfort others.

Ruth (Ost) Martinez, one of eight children of Danny and Ruby Ost, has long been a friend of the FCA. To learn more about her ministry of comfort, you may email her at impactodeamor@gmail.com, to 1303 Calle del Norte Suite 300, Laredo, TX 78040, or call +1 811 050 8315 (in the USA) or 811 050 8315 (in Mexico).

 

Teaching in Uganda

Bryan Johnson, associate pastor at Pursuit NW, returned recently from ministry in Uganda where he taught two 3-credit Bible courses at Yesu Akwagala Bible College in addition to speaking several times elsewhere and meeting with church leaders. YABC in Kampala is a work of Uganda Christian Outreach Ministries, which is connected with World Outreach Ministry Foundation in Seattle, an FCA-affiliated parachurch organization.

Johnson and a few others were invited by the Ugandan leadership to be guest lecturers during the school year, serving as partners in developing “World Changers.” The school draws a significant percentage of international students, so a broader geographical impact is being made through the school, primarily in East Africa.

The school’s 17th graduation ceremony is planned for June 29. Yesu Akwagala Bible College’s mission is to support and develop “emerging servant leaders through the life changing Gospel of Jesus Christ to be agents of change in the community.”

Johnson is scheduled to leave July 11 for two weeks in Liberia, West Africa. “I will be teaching in the Bible school in Greenville, Sinoe County (Osborn Arnes Christian College),” he says. He will also assist his son, Russell, who will be preaching at two Youth Conferences sponsored by the Fellowship of Christian Assemblies (Liberia), one in the capital city of Monrovia, the other “down country” in the city of Greenville. That is where Bryan and his wife, Anna, lived more than 35 years ago.

Bryan Johnson with his Pastoral Epistle students at the Yesu Akwagala Bible College in Kampala, Uganda.

YABC (b)

Additional students who participated in the Book of Revelation class.

 

Water in His Name

Steven Mayanja, Foreign Mission Director of the World Outreach Ministry Foundation, reports on multiple projects currently underway in seven East African countries.

This photo essay gives a glimpse of just one project in Burundi, providing clean water for remote villages. In some cases before WOMF provided wells, people—even young children—were required to walk distances of several miles to fill canisters with water.

The efforts of WOMF not only bring the community together in a cooperative project to improve conditions in the village, they also provide a tangible expression of the love of God reaching to a people in need. The water projects (and other WOMF projects) are part of their overall mission to bring Jesus to meet the deeper, spiritual needs of people.

Mixing concrete for mortar to support the sides of the well being dug.

 

Woman carrying rocks for the walls of the well—just some of the many members of the community who get involved with the water project.

 

Organizing the volunteers is key to helping community members who are working to improve the conditions of their own village.

 

Shoring up the sides of the well with rocks from the area so people may safely access the water.

 

Clean water is finally piped to the community. Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to the Messiah will certainly not lose their reward.” (Mark 9:41)

 

A New Class of Ministers

Long-time missionary, Nathan Rasmussen, recently spoke in Uvira, Congo, just over the border from Bujumbura, Burundi, at the graduation ceremony for one of their 20 diploma-level Bible schools in East Africa. Pictured here are just 30 of the graduates. Nearly 25 percent of the graduates were sick and unable to attend, with three students dying of their illnesses before graduation.

“Life in Eastern Congo is rough,” says Rasmussen. “People live day to day with war, sickness—and now Ebola.” The Congo, however, now has a new president and people are hopeful that things will improve. Noting that physical conditions have changed little since he first visited the Congo 36 years ago, Rasmussen also pointed out that the Gospel has continued to spread and churches have continued to grow despite all the turmoil.

Rasmussen reports that the work of training East African ministers has expanded, especially in the area of missions mobilization and training—as has the need for additional resources and finances. “Somehow we need to increase the net as the work continues to grow,” he said.

On his way to visit Uvira, Rasmussen conducted a 2-day seminar for 13 prospective missions school students from Burundi. So far he has seen 97 graduate from their missionary training schools, 28 of whom are now working among unreached people groups and 4 others working in the African churches, stirring them to do their part in answering the Great Commission.