1 Corinthians 2:2

The Mission

To glorify God by faithfully living and preaching the gospel with the aim of establishing healthy biblical churches throughout East Africa, and by equipping local leaders to plant and shepherd healthy biblical churches.

My first and foremost ambition and goal as a missionary is to be faithful in the work that the Lord has given me. I want to offer myself as a living sacrifice that the Lord may use me as an instrument in His hands to accomplish his will of converting many from darkness to light. I want to be an example to the believers in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity. I want to go wherever the Lord leads me with courage and humility depending on His grace to declare the good news of His gospel. I would like to plant churches where there are none. I would like to train and send out ministry leaders who will be able to do the same.

My mission is to glorify God by faithfully living and preaching the gospel with the aim of establishing healthy biblical churches throughout East Africa, and by equipping local leaders to plant and shepherd healthy biblical churches.

“To glorify God…”

The glory of God is the chief end of man’s existence. In I Corinthians 10:31, the Apostle Paul writes, “Whether then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” Since we are commanded to glorify God even in the most trivial matters, how much more in the greatest commission that He has given to the church!

We must go into all the world and preach the gospel out of a sincere love and genuine concern for fallen humanity (Matthew 9:35-38). But there is an even greater motivation—our love for God (Matthew 22:36-38) and our desire to see Him glorified in “every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues” (Revelation 5:9; 7:9)! As the Moravian missionaries often exclaimed, “Shall not the Lamb receive the full reward for His sufferings?”

“…by faithfully living…”

Scripture warns us of the consequences of unfaithfulness. These warnings are necessary because, as the old hymn says, we are “prone to wander . . . prone to leave the God I love.” Our hearts are too often found fickle, despite our best intentions (Proverbs 20:6; Jeremiah 17:9; Matthew 26:75).

Faithfulness affects every relationship we have. The Scriptures say it is a gift from God. When we receive Christ as Lord, the Holy Spirit indwells us and brings the blessings of love, joy, peace and faithfulness (Galatians 5:22). The fullness of these blessings depends on walking with God and yielding to His Spirit. We should be faithful to read and abide by God’s Word and to seek the Lord in prayer (Psalm 1:1-2; Ephesians 6:18).

The Old Testament taught that “the just will live by faith” (Habakkuk 2:4), and that truth is quoted, amplified and illuminated three times in the New Testament. We obtain that faith, and our faithfulness, by the grace of God. He is faithful to His children, and by His grace we will one day hear the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” (Matthew 25:23).

“… and preaching the gospel…”

The gospel is the preeminent message of Christianity. First, it is the only message through which people can be reconciled to God. The Apostle Paul writes, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16). And again, “For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, theman Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all…” (I Timothy 2:5-6). Peter joins Paul in confirming the exclusivity of the gospel when he declares, “There is salvation in no one else [but Jesus]; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Second, the gospel is the premier message through which God’s people are sanctified. In I Timothy 3:16, the Apostle Paul refers to the gospel as “the mystery of godliness” or the mystery that produces godliness in those who believe it. The more God’s people understand what He has done for them in Christ, the more devoted, transformed, encouraged, and empowered they will be.

The Holy Spirit assures us that “all Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness” (II Timothy 3:16). Nevertheless, the gospel must be at the very heart of all our preaching. In an age filled with pragmatism and evangelistic methodologies borrowed from the world, we desire to prove that the gospel is not only sufficient to save, but is the exclusive power to save. We are committed to proclaiming the gospel in its rawest and most biblical form, unencumbered by cultural compromise, contemporary repackaging, or intellectual sophistication.

“…with the aim of establishing healthy biblical churches…”

While we recognize that humanity’s needs are many and its sufferings are diverse, we believe that they all spring from a common origin—the radical depravity of the heart, enmity toward God, and rejection of truth. Therefore, we believe that the greatest possible benefit to mankind comes through the preaching of the gospel and the establishment of local churches that proclaim the full counsel of God’s Word and minister according to its commands, precepts, and wisdom. True church planting cannot be accomplished through the arm of the flesh, but only through the supernatural providence of God and the means which He has ordained: biblical preaching, intercessory prayer, sacrificial service, unconditional love, and true Christlikeness.

A mature local church is a body of believers in Jesus Christ in a specific geographic location who are of like faith in the Scriptures, committed to one another’s edification, under the teaching and ministry of qualified pastors and deacons, obedient to the ordinances (i.e., baptism and the Lord’s Supper), practicing church discipline, and evangelizing the world through the preaching of the gospel. Such a church was the goal of the apostolic ministry (Ephesians 3:10-11, 21; 4:11-13), and it continues to be the goal of all true mission work today.

• A healthy church is one that is marked by expositional preaching, a biblical understanding of conversion and personal evangelism, the biblical practice of church membership and church discipline, healthy churches are led by biblically qualified elders, are committed to prayer, and missions.

• A biblical church is one which seeks to conform its faith and practice to the Scriptures, especially in preaching, prayer, evangelism, leadership, membership, discipleship, the ordinances, discipline, and missions.

• A biblical church is the result of costly and arduous labor. Apart from some unusual work of the Spirit, it may take years of a missionary’s life to establish one biblical work. While we recognize the need for the rapid advance of the gospel, we must not replace biblical principles with pragmatism for the sake of apparent success, lest judgment day show our victories to be little more than smoke and mirrors. The methodology for church planting I follow consists of prayer, preaching, submission to the sufficiency of Scripture, Christlike character, and sacrificial love.

• A biblical church is foundational to a self-sustaining, ever-multiplying missionary effort. The missionary endeavor is most effectively advanced, not through an ever-increasing number of mission agencies or a multitude of disconnected disciples, but through an ever-increasing number of local churches that are devoted to Christ, His Word, and His Commission.

• A biblical church is the evidence of a genuine work of God. The goal and litmus test of all our missionary endeavors is the planting of biblical local churches that are training elder-qualified men (II Timothy 2:2) and sending them out to establish other local churches of like faith and practice. Evangelistic decisions and even baptisms are not accurate measures for determining the effectiveness of a missionary or a ministry, but the multiplication of disciples in the context of a vibrant local church.

• A biblical church is under the headship of Christ (Ephesians 1:22) and must be governed by His Word (II Timothy 3:16-17). It is the pillar and support of the truth and the bulwark against error (I Timothy 3:15). It is the “light of the world” and the “salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13-14). The church alone is able to bear witness to God’s revelation and preserve a nation from self-deceit, moral decay, and self-destruction. Therefore, biblical doctrine and practice must prevail over the imaginations of men, cultural sensitivity, and pragmatism.

“…throughout East Africa…”

East Africa is my main field at the moment, although that could change if God so wills.

The Great Commission is not a ministry option to be debated by the church, but a direct command from the Lord Himself (Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:46-48; John 20:21; Acts 1:8). Each generation of churches and individual believers must see itself as accountable to God for using its gifts, talents, time, and resources for the advancement of the gospel into “every nation and tribe and tongue and people” (Revelation 5:9; 7:9; 14:6).

The Apostle Paul wrote, “Woe is me if I do not preach the gospel” (I Corinthians 9:16). Although we must recognize that Paul’s calling was unique, the burden he carried and the compulsion which drove him are the standard for every believer and church. We are all “servants of Christ” and “stewards of the mysteries of God” (I Corinthians 4:1), and “it is required of a steward that he be found faithful” (I Corinthians 4:2). Borrowing from the words of William Carey, we are either called to go down in the mine as a missionary or we are called to hold the rope for those who do go down. Either way, there will be scars on our hands. We must all ask ourselves, “Where are my scars? What has it cost me to fulfill my part in the Great Commission?”

“…and by and by equipping local leaders to plant and shepherd healthy biblical churches.”

The responsbility of great commission falls on all believers including the ones in my local village. But belivers can not be effective unless they are equipped, trained and sent out. Theological training is a great need for the church in Uganda.