Hope Unleashed: the local church transforming lives 

As I knelt in the dust, my life was being transformed by the local church in Karamoja, Uganda.

At this point, only half a week into the trip, eight church leaders from the UK church had seen the astonishing power of God at work through his people in the north-east of Uganda. We had been taken, on by-roads and rough tracks, by spiritually alive and compassionate disciples committed to bringing the holistic good news to every inaccessible corner of their country. They wanted to show us just what was possible when God’s power and purposes are worked out through the local church.

In the late morning heat, we tried pulling into the first village. But before we could reach it, we were ushered out of cars to dance and sing,to celebrate with this village all that God is doing. Where only a few years before there had been little, now their community was bursting with an abundance that spoke of God’s Kingdom. In fact, in less than eight months, the community had built a church, sown a field for all to eat from, and built a water tower. The sheer fact that this village had achieved this abundance from its own resources was miraculous. Earlier in the day, in our meeting with the local district office, we were told of the difficulty of getting ‘development’ to stick. Yet, a few hours later, here we were, seeing hundred-fold yields from widows’ mites.

After we’d seen the fields, we gathered in the church to hear the testimonies of changed lives. It was then that I saw, in this hot, dry, unfamiliar place, the fingerprints of someone so familiar. Christ, healing marriages. Christ, bestowing dignity. Christ, stirring compassion. I realised that I wasn’t just witnessing a successful poverty relief program, though poverty was surely being reduced – I had front-row seats to a revival. The Spirit was anointing the team in Uganda to fulfil those precious promises of Isaiah 61: the Lord has indeed made righteousness and praise spring up before our very eyes.

That same afternoon, we visited another place, whose story was equally incredible. This was a story of unity between different churches, the empowerment of women and recovery from addiction. All of it rooted in the unleashing of hope through the local church.

In the second half of the trip, we continued on South to the Teso region, to see stories I would barely believe unless I had seen them myself. The team that facilitated this incredible tour said goodbye with gifts, which symbolised this promise: ‘You are able!’ We ended by praying for each other. One last time, we knelt in the dust  and these incredible people prayed for us, asking the Lord that the very seeds we had seen spring up here, might take root in the UK, too. May we see this type of hope unleashed through our local churches.

Uganda Trip Blogpost – By Jamie Klair, Curate at All Saints Worcester