Church Planting Tour: Nakivale

Towards the Tanzanian border, far south of Mbarara town, sits the Nakivale Refugee Camp. A UN camp, Nakivale is situated in a big bowl in the hills next to Lake Nakivale. It is home to thousands of Rwandans, Congolese, and some recent Somalis and Sudanese. People are not allowed to have jobs nor can they live in permanent structures, so they live in mud buildings with tarp roofs weighed down with branches and other debris. Medical care is also poor and limited, with most Red Cross provided drugs being sold through corruption, never making it to the refugees to whom it was intended. There is no electricity or running water, and some Rwandan refugees have been in the camp so long that there are 12-year old children who were born in Nakivale and have never known life outside its bounds.

These people have next to nothing, are dependent upon the aid of others, and have had to flee their homes and jobs to escape war. By the world's standards these people have lost everything and have nothing. And yet there is a vibrant, growing, evangelistic church flourishing in its midst. Largely due to the work God has done through a Congolese pastor, John Peter (on the far right in the first picture) there are now 5 Baptist churches in the camp.

These churches appear to be doctrinally solid (a rarity in Uganda indeed) courtesy of the work of John Peter. They have a burden to share the gospel as well. When Somali and Sudanese Muslims began to come to the camp, the pastors drew up a strategy (without any outside pushing or influence) to reach them with the gospel and start churches. They've even brought the gospel to villages outside the camp, sometimes walking 30+ kilometers in a day to share the good news. Outside of Kampala, this may be the best work happening in all of Uganda. It just goes to show that God doesn't need missionaries, but by His grace He gives us some roles in His work.

Barry has provided some small pastoral and discipleship training at times, but really that's the only work any missionary has ever done with these churches. This is truly an indigenous church led by indigenous people. On Tuesday we took Curtis Hill, who works on the staff at Brainerd Baptist Church in Chattanooga (and is good friends with Ben Janssen, who was an intern and Sunday School teacher at Northlake, my home church) to teach about the Lord's Supper and Baptism. Despite the controversy surrounding these ordinances in a heavily Anglican and Catholic part of the world, you could tell that John Peter had already done some solid training with his pastors. I have been to this camp now three times and the churches never cease to amaze me. On December 12 I'll be returning to do some teaching myself (topic to be decided). This is also nice because they prepare the best meals in all of Uganda :).