Dear brothers and sisters
 

During lock down in 2020 our aim was to make sure we kept safe and we didn't lose connection, firstly, with God through personal prayer and, secondly, with each other through corporate prayer via Zoom, and our Gatherings via livestream. We've done very well, we managed to maintain connection and eventually were able to meet again live at our Centre for our gatherings, and live for prayer and for our Men's and Women's groups. Our finances have also been maintained, even though a little less, we've managed to cover all our needs as well as make sure each other's needs were met. 

During this present lockdown our focus needs to turn outward, to "the One"....the One the Holy Spirit puts on our heart.  We may not be able to visit or speak with them personally during this time but we can make a phone call, an opportunity to share the Gospel in a phone conversation. Heidi Baker once shared: “To be a son or daughter of God also means you are royalty. This is the greatest of privileges, but it is also an awesome responsibility. If you are truly thankful to God and want to please Him with all your heart, you must do more than just recognize your own authority. You must use it. He asks you to give love as freely as you have received it— not just to those who deserve it but also to everyone He puts in front of you.”  Heidi will be one of our speakers at this year's Share the Holy Spirit Conference. 

Philippians 2:3-4 says: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”

Yesterday is gone, tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today – let us begin. 

 

Your brother in Christ
Joseph

As a community we tithe on the money that you give us. With this money, amongst other things, there are a number of charities we support throughout the year. Because this is your money we wanted to share with you where your money is going and the feedback we received recently:

1. Aid to the elderly in the Limuru Mission, KENYA. We received an email from Alan Dixson. Pat Dixson, a relative of Dr Mark Dixson, runs this ministry and her son has now taken it over. He sent a thank you to us last Friday which follows a donation we made a couple of weeks ago:

2. Love Link Ministries. This is another charity we support which rescues women from sex slavery. We received a thank you this last week as a thank you for our recent donation. For safety reasons we cannot disclose further information. 

grateful to God for, as we have tried to deal with challenging issues that have affected all of us. We have always had a close connection with The Servants of Jesus and now with Servants Friends International. This has provided us with a sense of unity from which we have been able to draw strength and direction.
In the early years, back in the 1980’s and 1990’s our ministry centred on family life, raising young families to follow the Lord. We met together to pray and support each other in both the spiritual and physical aspects of our lives.  
Then for two decades, our ministry was concentrated on working with high school youth and young adults, especially through our annual Discovery Youth Camp, a week-long live-in camp in the bush.  Part of this ministry was a solid and deep commitment to intercessory prayer for the camps and for all the young people who attended the camps.  Faithful prayer and support have planted seeds of faith into the lives of hundreds of young people over the 20 years Discovery has been held.  Many of the young people who have come back to help at Discovery in later years, speak of the impact the camp has had on their lives and how they continue in their faith walk because of it. Looking back, it is easy to see the goodness of God.
Since 2020, Covid has put a holt to running the Discovery Youth Camp, at lease for the foreseeable future.  So, we are seeking the Lord for our future and the work He will now call us to do. In recent years we have had a young family return to Uralla to live with their two little children. As we now have one young family in our Fellowship, and perhaps as young families continue to move out of the cities into our region, our focus again may be on building family life through generational support, care and prayer.
The lifting of Covid restrictions in the earlier part of 2021 allowed us again to meet in one another’s homes for gatherings and weekly intercessory prayer. Coming back together has reinforced the great benefits and blessings of being bound with each other in Christ and how important this life choice is. However, the Covid situation is unpredictable and we are presently experiencing restrictions and isolated lockdowns in some major cities as another wave of the virus moves through our country.

Whereas many people have been challenged and negatively affected social economically and of course deprived of their communal way of life, we have witnessed the hand of God in all these happenings. Our routine or regular meetings held on a weekly basis were seriously affected by the lockdown, there has been a great and good other side of the story as we note below:
Family Based Church: We have had the opportunity to strengthen the spirituality of the family. Family prayer meetings have become stronger than it has ever been. The children’s active participation in the prayer life of the family including leading prayers and other liturgical celebrations at home gave them a worth that could not have come so easily while attending any prayer meeting or liturgical celebrations at Church. The Church at home has been re-awakened, and we thank God for draws good from even situation for those who love Him (Romans 8:28)
Generosity: People have been touched and blessed by the grace of generosity as they reached out sharing their resources to meet the needs of others. The Holy Spirit was at work, there was no need to first preach Acts chapter 2 where believers shared their belongings. The Holy Spirit touched and led people in the neighborhood to reach out to one another and shared the love of Jesus by way of generosity of the highest order as a result some people had their personal encounter during this period. Thanks be to God. 
Sharing the gospel: Whereas the lockdown was imposed last year March- July it was inevitable for people in the neighborhood especially in the rural areas to visit their immediate neighbor and as a result those who were filled with the Holy Spirit had the opportunity to share the gospel with their neighbors, this introduced in a new way what I would term as “family or house to house evangelization” many people were baptized in the Holy Spirit and we thank God for this.
Another Lockdown: From around mid-May this year (2021) we started experiencing a new and serious variant of Covid 19 that hit the country and claimed lives of many compared to last year. The government moved to impose another lockdown for 42 days and later added another 10 days. This is helpful to stop the spread so that people don’t move from place to place. This is also time to retreat and reflect with the Lord as Isaiah tells us (Isaiah 26:20)
If my…Humble ..and Pray: On the 25^th June 2021 the president declared a public holiday for the whole country to pray virtually asking God to have mercy and end this pandemic and to heal our land. We had different churches animate different parts of the prayer from where they were. The president also led a part of the prayer and dedicated the country to God. He urged all people to continue praying from their homes as he emphasized that God is omnipresent, and was not planning to leave us at this time when we need Him most. The day of prayer was graced by so many as people gathered in their homes around the radios, televisions and those without radios and televisions gathered to pray on their own asking God for His mercy and intervention. We trust the Lord will surely answer us and bring this pandemic to an end.
I will end this article with the words of St. Paul Romans 8:28 “we know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to His purpose” whatever situation we are in, the Lord will surely from it draw out for us only what is good. Just like he did in the case of Joseph when he was sold as a slave into Egypt only to emerge as a governor of the land. So let us remain steadfast trusting God who loves us so much and holds good plans for us, plans for prosperity in every aspect of life.
God bless you. Robert Tumuhimbise

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