PERSECUTION IN THE PEARL
Kampala Church Opposed Through National Media
From seemingly out of nowhere, the American leader of the Mainline Church of Christ in Kampala unleashed a viscous campaign against the members of our Kampala congregation, waging his battle first through newspapers, then radio, and finally TV, where he made several outrageous claims about the disciples. While some more seasoned members of our congregations might be familiar with being so treated, for the seven-year-old Kampala church, the persecution caught many off-guard. In the colonial era Uganda was dubbed "The Pearl Of Africa." In this spiritual era, persecution had hit the pearl.
From the depths of their convictions and the wellspring of their faith, our Kampala brothers and sisters rallied together, learned great lessons through it all, and came out of the experience better and stronger for it.
Richard and Florence Ahenda, who lead the Kampala church, focused on Paul's instructions to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:5 which says, "Keep your head in all situations," which proved to be a great help to them and the rest of the church. It was not easy, given that Florence was on the receiving end of the denomination's leader's initial verbal venom, and then Richard was constantly hounded and quizzed by all sorts of individuals calling themselves journalists. Richard and Florence's calmness and guidance enabled the disciples to develop the faith that proved to be the boat that got them through the storm.
"At first I was so scared, I was nervous," says Gerald. "Since my brother had fallen away and he had kept telling me about his doctrinal problems with the church I was wondering what he would say to my mum about the church. But with time, the various classes that Richard prepared for the leaders helped get me strong."
Matthias shares, "some disciples said that at first they were afraid about the reaction of their family members once they heard what was being alleged. One of the sisters I talked to when it had just broken out said she was scared and went back in the studies she had had done (Word, Discipleship, Counting cost, etc.) to see if she was sober when she made the decision. Others also said they were encouraged to read their bibles to reaffirm the truth."
Sonia says, "In the beginning I was quite taken aback and a bit scared, for I had never had anything like this happen to me before. I thought of my husband and what he and my family would think. Thereafter, thanks to Richard and Flo's encouragement and scriptures from the bible I realized that it had to happen to me at some point in my walk with God. I have learnt to be humble to God's word and expect each and ever part of the bible to come to life. Above all I've learned to trust in God and expect persecution as part of my Christian walk. I believe I have grown as a result of this and hope to mature further in my walk with God."
George Nyawade had been through a tough period of intense opposition for the Nairobi church in 1997 and was able to draw on the lessons he learnt then to help the Kampala fellowship in this case. "[The denominational leader] had earlier threatened to warn 'his city' against us through the press and radio. And true to his word he was on air attacking us. After consultations and prayers (including an all night prayer) we decided to take no action. He subsequently appeared in one or two more programs. But it was in one of the TV talk shows that we were finally called to action when he labeled us a cult, said that we were suffering from spiritual elitism and declared that we were like a brother gone mad. Even the presenter of the program, without any knowledge of us, referred to us as suffering from 'spiritual mad cow disease.' " The Kampala church put an ad in the two largest circulation national daily newspapers refuting the errant claims and clarifying what they stood for.
The media-staged tirade against the Kampala church came to an abrupt and absolute stop.
"At least now [more] people know who we are and what we stand for," George says. Martin shares that "I personally was so upset at the beginning, but later realized that this man is helpless and needs my prayer and help. We are stronger than ever before. I can say that [the persecution] helped us to grow stronger."
In an e-mail a few weeks after the Kampala church published its response in the newspapers, Richard said:
"Things are actually quite fine and quiet. We decided to focus on being disciples and making disciples. Some victory: a journalist from the New Vision newspaper was at church today and really loved it. He is starting to study this week. Please pray for him.
"Our bible discussion groups are picking up in different neighborhoods and campuses. Last week at our house we had our first one, God blessed us with 6 visitors, 3 of them were at church today and 1 is starting to study tomorrow. (George) Nyawade's house was standing room only yesterday as many disciples came to learn how to lead their own bible discussions."
Like our single-minded brothers and sisters in Kampala, let us learn to always keep our faith and keep our heads, and God will always keep his promise - never to leave us, never to forsake us, and to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.
From the depths of their convictions and the wellspring of their faith, our Kampala brothers and sisters rallied together, learned great lessons through it all, and came out of the experience better and stronger for it.
Richard and Florence Ahenda, who lead the Kampala church, focused on Paul's instructions to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:5 which says, "Keep your head in all situations," which proved to be a great help to them and the rest of the church. It was not easy, given that Florence was on the receiving end of the denomination's leader's initial verbal venom, and then Richard was constantly hounded and quizzed by all sorts of individuals calling themselves journalists. Richard and Florence's calmness and guidance enabled the disciples to develop the faith that proved to be the boat that got them through the storm. "At first I was so scared, I was nervous," says Gerald. "Since my brother had fallen away and he had kept telling me about his doctrinal problems with the church I was wondering what he would say to my mum about the church. But with time, the various classes that Richard prepared for the leaders helped get me strong." Matthias shares, "some disciples said that at first they were afraid about the reaction of their family members once they heard what was being alleged. One of the sisters I talked to when it had just broken out said she was scared and went back in the studies she had had done (Word, Discipleship, Counting cost, etc.) to see if she was sober when she made the decision. Others also said they were encouraged to read their bibles to reaffirm the truth."
Sonia says, "In the beginning I was quite taken aback and a bit scared, for I had never had anything like this happen to me before. I thought of my husband and what he and my family would think. Thereafter, thanks to Richard and Flo's encouragement and scriptures from the bible I realized that it had to happen to me at some point in my walk with God. I have learnt to be humble to God's word and expect each and ever part of the bible to come to life. Above all I've learned to trust in God and expect persecution as part of my Christian walk. I believe I have grown as a result of this and hope to mature further in my walk with God."
George Nyawade had been through a tough period of intense opposition for the Nairobi church in 1997 and was able to draw on the lessons he learnt then to help the Kampala fellowship in this case. "[The denominational leader] had earlier threatened to warn 'his city' against us through the press and radio. And true to his word he was on air attacking us. After consultations and prayers (including an all night prayer) we decided to take no action. He subsequently appeared in one or two more programs. But it was in one of the TV talk shows that we were finally called to action when he labeled us a cult, said that we were suffering from spiritual elitism and declared that we were like a brother gone mad. Even the presenter of the program, without any knowledge of us, referred to us as suffering from 'spiritual mad cow disease.' " The Kampala church put an ad in the two largest circulation national daily newspapers refuting the errant claims and clarifying what they stood for.
The media-staged tirade against the Kampala church came to an abrupt and absolute stop.
"At least now [more] people know who we are and what we stand for," George says. Martin shares that "I personally was so upset at the beginning, but later realized that this man is helpless and needs my prayer and help. We are stronger than ever before. I can say that [the persecution] helped us to grow stronger."
In an e-mail a few weeks after the Kampala church published its response in the newspapers, Richard said:
"Things are actually quite fine and quiet. We decided to focus on being disciples and making disciples. Some victory: a journalist from the New Vision newspaper was at church today and really loved it. He is starting to study this week. Please pray for him.
"Our bible discussion groups are picking up in different neighborhoods and campuses. Last week at our house we had our first one, God blessed us with 6 visitors, 3 of them were at church today and 1 is starting to study tomorrow. (George) Nyawade's house was standing room only yesterday as many disciples came to learn how to lead their own bible discussions."
Like our single-minded brothers and sisters in Kampala, let us learn to always keep our faith and keep our heads, and God will always keep his promise - never to leave us, never to forsake us, and to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.