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For the past 25 years, GOD has shaped a purposeful church in the heart of Kampala. KPC – Kampala Pentecostal Church – has grown into a powerful and significant beacon of hope in Uganda and has been positioned for influence in the rest of Africa and the world.

Out of the first 25 years, the church’s core values have been carved out by experience and committed  presence in a community where it desires to be relevant and life giving.

In the context of this vision, there is no more real reflection of this core value than in the work of Watoto Child Care Ministries – a KPC ministry.

Watoto means ‘the children’ in Swahili, but to the world that has grown to know and to love it, to the multitudes of children and women who have been rescued and are being raised by it, to the nation of Uganda and the continent of Africa who are being empowered and rebuilt through it, the name is synonymous with the true meaning of what the Church is meant to be.

The church that I see is relational, not just theological. A church that rises up and captures the call of a Saviour to be the salt of the Earth and the light of the World, bringing hope to a devastated community.

I have a dream that injustice will roll back like the morning sun as the church will become practical in its love, that poverty will become history because the church of the LORD Jesus Christ rose to the challenge of not only preaching the gospel, but practising it through extravagant acts of godly generosity, equity, mercy, love and kindness, so that we will live to see in our day and in our generation debt reduction, fair trade, equal opportunity, proper housing, a solution to HIV/AIDS in a world that is changed by the most powerful force on the planet – the power of Jesus’ love.

The church that I see is Watoto Church.

The knowledge of God and the truth of creation compels us to  worship God. God is the only one worthy of worship. All of life is a sacred act of worship. It is recognising and honouring God’s worth.

Pharaoh was commanded by God to, “Let my people go so that they may worship me…” Satan, like Pharaoh, has people bound for his purposes, but God wants to set you free to worship. There is within every person a deep seated hunger to connect with God, to know Him.

Worship is holistic. It involves spirit, soul and body. We worship through our conscience, intuition, devotion, mind, emotions, will and our bodies. My body is the channel through which worship is expressed.

Hallelujah. Thank God, we are free to worship. Isn’t that amazing?

Be encouraged!

Gary

Wow, it’s been a while.

So much is happening at KPC and Watoto. God is doing tremendous things in our lives and we can’t help but praise Him.

At KPC, we’ve been doing a series entitled ‘Rebuilding a Firm Foundation’. We are now coming to an end on this series and I thought I would share a part of it with you. God has strongly been laying the state of today’s church on my heart.

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It is time for us as a church to go to a whole new level of growth. We must be very careful that we don’t get stuck in the past. Yes we can enjoy yesterday’s music, but we need to sing a fresh song.

Let’s ensure that we don’t get stuck in the past while the world moves on. Let’s ensure that we are contemporary and up to date and that we are listening to what God is saying.

There are so many churches that were great yesterday and are forgotten today. Something went wrong somewhere. Maybe they got out of tune with God? Maybe sin entered into their lives? Or perhaps they got stuck in a routine and thought that, spiritually, they were doing well.

Christians, it is time to step out of our comfort zones, listen to what the Lord is saying and do it.

Be encouraged!

Gary

Well we’re in the midst of Conference and I am so excited about what God is doing.

The Watoto Conference is a dream that God put in my heart several years ago as He showed me again that the problem of hurting orphaned children is literally massive all over the continent of Africa.

I’ve got to tell you that I love Africa. I believe Africa’s best days are ahead of us. As the Western world slides down the slithery slope of secularism into a dark future, I see Africa rising. In the West, Jesus and the bible are being shut out of the core issues that make for a secure society. What made the West great was the core of great Christian and biblical values that were enshrined into our culture and constitution. But the West is turning away from that. They are still riding the crest of the wave of success brought about by the wholesome values of the biblical ethic.

Africa really only has one way to go and that’s up. We’ve hit rock bottom. Our social problems are enormous. But I’m simple enough to believe that the darker the night, the brighter the light. God loves to turn tragedy into triumph and disaster into delight. All we have to do is go along with what he asks us to do. And what I believe we need to do is reach out and serve the neediest in Africa by showering them with the love of Jesus in practical ways. That means meeting their real felt needs.

That’s what Watoto is all about. It’s about picking up the most marginalised and hurting of Africa’s children and giving them back their lives. It’s about rescuing the most vulnerable, abandoned, rejected, poor, HIV positive women and giving them a hand up.

The Conference is designed to encourage, inspire, motivate and equip pastors from all over Africa to start doing something in their own back yard.

Pray with me that this will happen this week at Watoto Conference ‘08.

Gary

Welcome to this very first blog.

I pray that this will be a useful forum for me to keep you updated with what’s on my heart, so that it may help encourage, inspire and challenge you.

So tune in weekly for an update.

Watoto Conference ’08 is 2 days away and I’m excited about this next chapter for us.

It’s been an incredible journey since our first conference two years ago. Since then we launched a babies’ home currently caring for 100 babies, some of which have been rescued from the most dire circumstances.

We’ve seen steady growth in our children’s villages in Kampala and we’re in the middle of constructing the first village in war-affected Gulu, Northern Uganda, complete with homes, medical centre, church, schools and trauma counselling initiative.

As an extension to the vision, we’ve also launched Living Hope, an initiative to restore dignity and empower abandoned and vulnerable women. We believe that if we strengthen the mothers, there will be fewer children to rescue. Already we’ve committed to coming alongside 1,200 women in Kampala and 900 in Gulu.

And so we’re running an effective model here, not your classic orphanage but villages with homes where the kids are healthy and happy. They’re whole and coming out on the other side as young adults who have a future with hope and purpose. We currently have 83 in university and I’m keen to see these children rise up and take their place in society.

I feel strongly that GOD is saying to me and to us as a Church, “Help other churches all across Africa do what you’re doing.”

And that’s the reason why we’re letting everyone know that we want to help them do that – replicate the Watoto model where it will help to rescue a child, raise a leader and, in so doing, rebuild nations.

I’m passionate about this fact: The church is the answer to every problem including the problem of HIV/AIDS and war. The solution must be tied to the local church and so Watoto Conference 2008 will be all about identifying and developing solid, trustworthy relationships between pastors in Africa and those in the West to mobilise this vision.

Our dream is to see 10,000 churches replicate the model to rescue more than 2 million orphaned and vulnerable children across Africa.

Until next time, God bless you.

Gary