Empower Uganda President Joyce Ouko recently traveled to a rather remote location to conduct a New Man, New Woman, New Life training. Her report, edited for length and clarity, follows.
Last month, we conducted the first-ever training in the Namatale Buvuma Islands, located in Lake Victoria in Central Uganda.
The training, hosted by Christ Nation Ministries, was facilitated by myself, along with Pastor Julius Ouko and Pastor Musiitwa Elijah.
Travel to this remote location was challenging, as it is accessible only by boat, and the boats run infrequently. We thank God for granting us journey mercies to the islands.
The island is part of a archipelago of more than fifty Islands. It is occupied by different tribes of Uganda; their occupation is fishing.
Despite the remote location we had an excellent turnout for the training, and lives were changed as a result. May the name of the Lord be glorified for His grace and faithfulness!
Many of the participants were pastors and a few overseers with their spouses making a total of 67 leaders. They were very thirsty for leadership training. The Empower training was the first of its kind on the island.
Buvuma Island has more than 30 other sub-islands all with a great population of displaced people, who are looking for ways of earning a living by fishing as their main occupation. While the land on these remote islands is free or quite cheap, the cost of building a small house is quite expensive because the building materials must be brought by boat from across the lake.
Because the land is not very fertile, their diet consists mostly of fish. Due to lack of electricity, they depend on solar, and the network is very poor. Because many tribes have gone there, there is a mixture of languages and cultures. Accommodation is fair because there are a few retreat centers for hire as guest houses.
Despite these challenges, our training had a great impact.
As a result of the training, about 21 couples voluntarily committed to sanctify their marriages. We held a special prayer session to do this.
Pastor Elijah who is also the assistant overseer for Buvuma Pastors Fellowship testifies that the Empower training was so prophetic and inspiring to revive the family and church of Christ through its teaching.
He added that, this kind of practical teaching, he has never seen anywhere within their leadership circles. He is registering leaders for a mass wedding which will make ministry more effective and more practical. They requested Empower or Rev. Julius to go back and hold a mass wedding for their leaders since Julius is ordained and licensed to do so.
Souls got saved
When we were still on our way coming back, Julius received a phone call from a gentleman who was asking to be prayed for to receive salvation. He said he was convicted after listening to his brother Peter’s testimony who attended the Empower training.
Peter behaved like the Samaritan woman–he was inspired to share with his relatives the truth he had learned from the Empower training.
He said that as a family they had suffered from painful cultural practices, including witchcraft, that kept demanding for sacrifices, which led to physical and mental torture. Julius led him with his household on the phone in a prayer of confession. The family continues to testify that they now have peace and freedom from the ungodly cultural bondages.
Due to the uniqueness of our training and our willingness to conduct more training, we have received several calls from our partners (Family Altar) from Jinja town, wholeheartedly requesting this teaching to be extended to the other islands.
Please let us continue praying for this prime opportunity for ministry.
We honestly thank you for your tireless commitment to support God’s work in empowering and equipping His servants in the African church through Empower International Ministry. It is because of your prayers we succeed.
Thank you, Dr. Carrie Miles, Bishop Frank Tweheyo and the Empower ministry.