Congratulations to LIFE Ministry Uganda! We are at 50 years of life giving ministry. It is time to celebrate the Golden Jubilee. We know that Jubilee is significant: the Bible gives many instructions that we need to pay attention to and numerous promises that we need to take hold of tenaciously. The texts on Jubilee address both the individuals and the nation at large.  But l believe there is room for application of the principles given at a corporate level.

So as LIFE Ministry Uganda, we can use this season to reflect on how Jubilee would work out for us. This would mean we look at the ministry with the Jubilee lenses over the Past, Present and Future.

PAST:

We have seen the goodness of the Lord in many amazing ways. We can read and see and hear the great things the Lord has done in the lives of individuals and the nation. We praise Him for the favor revealed through the men and women whose sacrifice has brought us this far. These men and women include those on the frontline and those behind the scenes giving and praying for the propagation of the Gospel. Together we are building movements everywhere so that everyone knows someone who truly follows Jesus Christ.

PRESENT:

We are at a special time as a Ministry. The times and seasons have changed. We have also had changes in leadership. We can choose lenses to look back and stay in the past or be awakened to the moment. And this is what the Bible commands us to do in Ephesians 5:14-15 NIV “. . . Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise.”

We must therefore be awake and active to the demands of today. The Apostle Paul goes on to say “. . .be filled with the Holy Spirit.” We should not get drunk on the pleasures of the victories in the past. We need to seize the moment. This is the moment where wisdom requires us to “Re-engineer, Reinvigorate and Re-align.” 

Being aware that everything has changed: the way schools, churches, workplaces and governments are working, we definitely have to do ministry with the Re-factor. For example, can we ensure our missionaries are sent from homes by families that have discipled their sons and daughters for the Gospel mission? We never change the vision but we must Re-engineer; Reinvigorate and Realign our strategies to attain the goals prescribed by our vision. Today is critical to our tomorrow!

FUTURE:

How do we get into the future? When does the future begin? I am of the view that the future is connected to the Past and Present. Our vision (the articulated picture of our preferred future) defines and paints a picture of the future. We know we are to be a movement everywhere so that everyone knows someone who truly follows Jesus Christ.

This means everyone connected to this vision, like the church in Macedonia that gave themselves to the Lord and to giving to His Work, needs to be passionately engaged. We might not get our names in the Bible but we can be included in Heaven’s records as those who lived a life fully under the control of the Holy Spirit and made an eternal impact on their generation. Whereas we live in the day and age where people are looking for solutions everywhere, we do have that solution with us: Jesus.

Let us make it our ultimate goal call to present Jesus to all in the power of the Holy Spirit so that all men and women will come to believe Him as Savior and serve Him as Lord in the fellowship of the local church. (Bishop William Temple’s definition of evangelism). And until our disciples are making other disciple-making disciples, we still have a long way to go.

So let this be the ‘Time is NOW’ moment for us to get up and get going.  We either arise and conquer or sleep and be taken as prisoners of War. But we are not the kind that stumble from grace and turns back. We are the kind that embrace the future in the Name of Jesus.

 I and my wife join you all to celebrate the 50 years with a futuristic excitement because the best is yet to come!

Pr. Joshua and Mrs. Christine Mugabi