Celebrating 30 years of God’s faithfulness

Kampala Baptist Church(KBC) in Nakulabye Kampala last week marked 30 years. Celebrations started on May 9 and climaxed on May 15 with a celebration service after which church members were treated to a sumptuous luncheon and a music concert.

A day of prayer marked the beginning of the celebrations as the congregation thanked God for the far he has brought them and what he is yet to do.

During Sunday service held at KBC, senior pastor Andrew Mwenge recognised various contributors towards the existence of the church such as Sunday school teachers, elders, ministry team, and alumni.

“I’m growing in the word of God. We preach door-to-door to the community. My duty is to serve the people of God and I thank God that ever since I joined KBC in 1996, my life has never been the same.” Betty Kiwu, a church member said.

Projects
During the 1980s, the church was fundamental because most local activities such as voting, health campaigns such as vaccinations were held at the church and the area was named Church Zone, Henry Katumba, a member narrates. To the local community, the 30-year- celebration is a landmark because the church has done more than it should.

Through the creative learning centre and sponsorship programmes, the church supports children to attend school especially those within the community that are from less privileged families.

Mwenge notes that the church has been at the forefront of some national issues such as HIV/Aids, the church was carrying out He answers, a project called to sensitise people about HIV relating it to the bible and how God answers our prayers while dealing with it in a Christian way.

“We taught abstinence in schools and families through the True Love Waits campaign. We were teaching the importance of abstinence and addressing some of the challenges the youth face while abstaining.”

Challenges
However, he notes that one of the major challenges the church constantly faces is the fact that most of the people leave, “it is hard to have a bigger congregation because we keep training people and some shift to different places while students graduate and are recruited in different jobs making it hard for them to return to our church.”

This has not deterred them from training others because they believe that even when people leave, they will spread the word. Some of the activities that were carried out include; motivational speaking to the youth, a children’s bash, tree planting and thanksgiving dinner to mention but a few.

The church received a piano from the alumni who noted that they had to give back to the church that nurtured them. Pastor Mwenge also prayed for the deceased souls who contributed towards the serving of the church. Later they cut cake amid songs. Kampala Baptist church was started in 1962 by Baptist Missionaries.

They were fleeing from wars in Congo in the early 60’s. KBC later became a merging point for missionaries from the southern Baptist Mission now called the International Mission Board and the Conservative Baptist Mission now, World Venture.