GNU Begins Chaplaincy Ministry in Uganda
Jul 5, 2019 2762
Elder Conrad, one of the high school’s staff, says “GNU came at the right time, to save our students with the unlimited Gospel.”
Recently, my GNU ministry in Uganda ventured into school chaplaincy. It is not surprising that chaplaincy ministry fits well within the GNU philosophy of ministry. I accepted to volunteer as a chaplain for Entebbe High School, a private school located at the beautiful shores of Lake Victoria. The school holds 800 students and employs close to 30 staff. Every week, from Thursday to Sunday, I commute from Kampala to Entebbe. Here, I am tasked to lead in vespers devotions, which happen every evening, as well as the main church activities. Each week I also conduct a counselling session for the students. In short, GNU is now in charge of theology and practice in this great and youthful congregation, thanks to Jesus.
Talking of theology and practice, one of my main tasks is answering questions that come from all areas of life. Students are curious to learn about God and life in general. There are those who are concerned about death and the existence of God. Some are troubled concerning the right denomination and eschatology. These are the questions that GNU has to handle every week.
What makes this ministry interesting is the fact that only 20% of the students are from the sponsor denomination – sponsor only in the sense that the owner of the school comes from that denomination. However, Dr Sssegawa is not dogmatic about his beliefs. He does not think that we must run the school in strict accordance to his beliefs. The head teacher and most of the workers are from different denominations.
The unlimited Gospel has revolutionised worship
Now, the previous chaplain seems to have completely misunderstood the context. According to the headmaster, the chaplain at times would criticise other denominations during his Bible studies, an action that almost resulted in a major strike in the school where the Director himself had to come and settle things personally. In fact, when this incident happened, a number of parents got very disturbed and threatened to withdraw unless the situation was controlled.
That is how they decided to terminate their contract with the former chaplain and seek for someone who could handle this complex congregation. After six months of searching, they landed on GNU and invited me for a Week of Prayer. After the Week of Prayer, both the Director and the Head Teacher approached me with the request of my services over the weekends.
Here, the unlimited Gospel has revolutionised worship. We seek to bless every student regardless of his or her religious background. Our mission here is not to convert from one denomination to the other, but to convert the heart to the love of Christ.
Although there are challenges from those who still seek to forcefully teach their beliefs, GNU is positive that many souls from here will be changed for eternity.
Elder Conrad is one of the staff at the institution and a very supportive church administrator. He appreciates the work being done here by the GNU. He says and I quote, “GNU came at the right time, to save our students with the unlimited Gospel.”
– Pr Bonfiresh Muhollo
ELISHAM OLIVER ASTANGO
Oct 19, 2019
Thanks to God for this connection, the testimonies from all the GNU members is aprivillage to me here in Kenya to see adoor being opened to share the love of God all over the world.I believe you are coming to Kenya through me blessings to you all.