Go to Uganda: Fear and Faith? Part 1

Our recent sojourn in this beautiful land is almost complete.  We have traveled quite a bit - probably over 700 miles across the Northern portion of Uganda - through Lira, Gulu, Moyo, Arua, Nebbi, Murchison Falls Park, and back again to Kampala.  We have witnessed the beauty in what Churchill coined as "The Pearl of Africa."  The team has been tried, tested, blessed, and comforted as they encouraged and comforted others.

Many asked before we went and may ask again upon our return: why go to Uganda?  With all the craziness of viral outbreaks, terrorism, and so much more, why take the risk?

 Let's begin with a command.  Just before Christ ascended to heaven, He gave this command to His disciples: "And you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." (Acts 1:8)

For the modern-day church, I believe that this command applies to us as we look who we shall serve (and be a witness to) in Jesus' Name. Our Jerusalem is our local community, Judea might be our region, Samaria could be our state or nation, and the ends of the earth is, well, far away.

For our church, Uganda and East Africa is our ends of the earth.

God convinced me long ago, not to ignore ANY of these concentric circles.  Thankfully, I think our church does a pretty good job reaching out to the local community - our "Blessings Exchange Clothing Giveaway", along with service in Refuge of Hope and other examples, gives us and our partners in ministry great opportunities to serve in Jesus' Name. Will we continue to expand locally as God leads us? Of course.

We have contributed to and will look forward to opportunities in the region, state, and nation.

But what this means is that when it comes to local and global missions, it's not an either/or - it's a both/and.

To the Christ-follower, service is not an option and becomes an opportunity to stretch beyond any man-made comfort zone into the faith-filled life in Christ.

Which brings us to Uganda. (Go to Part 2)
"For we do not preach ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake" (2 Cor. 4:5)

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