I loved fashion but Theology came calling

The Rev Dr Lydia Nsaale Kitayimbwa describes herself as a daughter of the Most high God, a Born again Christian, passionate woman after God’s heart and a clergywoman. She was raised in an extended family and her grandparents were ministers in the Church of Uganda.
“At home we were very many and I grew up with cousins just like the typical African family where everyone would be referred to as sister  or brother even when you are not  blood relatives,” she says.
Calling
While in primary school, she admired her grandmother’s life as a wife of a clergyman. Nsaale believes this influenced her life choices, even then she was raised in a home where they never went to bed without praying.
“I loved to sit next to my grandmother to listen to the hymns and sing along as well as prayed with her,” she recalls.
She joined Makerere University in 2001 where she pursued a degree in Statistics, but after her course, she chose to fast and pray about her next step after University.
 “As I prayed and fasted, it helped me listen to God more and my heart was drawn to serving and helping particularly the young people. God led me to volunteer at Watoto Church and in 2005, I was retained as a full time youth worker which I enjoyed,” she adds. “I was given the responsibility to oversee the young people. I was a bit nervous but excited too.”
Nsaale says God would speak to her through His word but also people, most of whom mentored her and kept telling her she had a special calling. Growing up, her siblings kept calling her pastor.
In 2010, she had a strong conviction from God to resign from Watoto Church because she felt her time was up and she had mentored many young people.
“I had encouraged many young people to serve God and most were able to do what I was doing,”Nsaale recalls.
The young woman knew all answers were found in the Bible and she was drawn to study Theology so that she could help God’s people to get the answers to life’s problems.
“Immediately I resigned from Watoto, I travelled with my husband who was studying his PhD to the UK with our baby and we used that time to do soul searching. We were praying and seeking God,”Nsaale says.
In the UK, Nsaale met a Reverend who told her to help with starting the London School of Fashion which shocked her because she was passionate about fashion as well.
“I was shocked because I always said |I was a designer yet I had not started any fashion school. I repented but  realised God was calling me as I was,”Nsaale says.
With the help of her husband, she started looking for a Theology school.
“I thought I would study in the UK, but I felt strongly that God wanted me to return and study in Uganda,” she says.
“It was a blessing to study in Uganda Christian University(UCU), Mukono and do my master’s degree in Divinity from there in preparation for ministry in 2011,”Nsaale adds.
 She did not study to become a Reverend but it was a burden on her heart to understand the Bible.

Turning point 
While studying she was serving at Mengo Senior School and kept praying. God asked her to return to the Anglican Church.
“I was raised in the Anglican church, a granddaughter of ministers in the Anglican church,” Nsaale remarks.
Henceforth, she has been the happiest woman because she obeyed God to return to the Anglican Church. She says her parents were happy as well.
“I also served with the Rev Diana Nkesiga at All Saints Cathedral, Nakasero and I was ordained in 2015,” Nsaale recalls.
Online church 
Thereafter, she was placed at St Luke Church of Uganda, Ntinda but she asked asked for a year off since she was doing her PhD at University of Stellenbosch in South Africa.
“When the pandemic hit in 2020, I had to help the church, since I was studying media and theology. I had to write a strategy and the team I was working with adopted it,” she notes.
No wonder  on Twitter, her username is Rev. Dr. Lydia Nsaale Kitayimbwa aka Digital Mama.
“It was a difficult time because we had never seen churches locked, but because I was studying in that area I was able to help out. My husband helped me to make sure we conduct services and helped me pay for the Zoom licence and by God’s grace we were able to thrive as St Luke’s,” she explains.
In 2021, she asked for a year off again and at that time the second lockdown happened. Nsaale managed to spend time home with her newborn baby and study for her PhD.
“God has a sense of humour, he led me to write a concept for the online church in my PhD study I had seen literature and reviewed many articles, books and writings  in areas of using media for the gospel and as the church we had not yet used that,” she recalls.
When she shared the concept with the Archbishop Kazimba Mugalu, it was approved and the online church born.
“I was on leave, I thought I would be quiet but another responsibility came up for me to oversee even without pay,”Nsaale adds.
She ensure online services were happening since churches were locked and people had to have access to the different services that were opening.
“I was sent to UCU as an assistant chaplain but the online church continued as I pursued my PhD in 2022,” she says. 
When Nsaale was asked how her first experience was in leading service at UCU, she believes she is called to serve in church and gifted in communication.
“When God calls someone, he equips as well. The first time I led people in church was at Watoto Church and I used to lead young people. So, when the opportunity came to lead people in the Anglican church, I asked God to guide and lead me and when I stood before people, that is where I belonged,” she says
Chaplain at Makerere 
Nsaale says her name along with two applicants were sent to the Makerere University council and management for the position of chaplain at St Francis Chapel. She had to sit the interviews and was chosen.
“I thank God that I went through. It was His doing and He has chosen me for a season and anointed me for an assignment,” she says with a smile.
Nsaale  thanks God for the leaders who forwarded her name to the university council and authorities.
Challenges
The Reverend’s journey is not a smooth sail.
“Being in a patriarchal society, my position is not easy but I am grateful that some walls are crumbling. Women are the minority in this profession but I believe the Church of God recognises women in leadership and I thank the church for that,” she remarks.
Nsaale encourages the girl child to be promoted on merit and not looks. She says it is important for women to prove that they can give their best at work, and not work to be seen.
Balancing work and family
“Prayer is everything to me. In prayer, God tells me where I have overworked in one sphere and need to reduce ,I have developed the habit of speaking to God and allowing him to speak to me,”  the Rev Nsaale explains.
She says ministry starts at home and her first duty is to her family before others.
“What does it profit me to get the whole world when my own children do not know the Lord?” she wonders.
her children know the Lord and it is very fundamental to her.
“My husband (Rev Dr John  Kitayimbwa) is a blessing and he challenges me as I do the same to him. When we met while at Watoto he kept asking me what was next and he kept helping me to apply.
The most important thing to Nsaale is that they are friends and she makes sure her relationship with her husband is strong in order to mentor their children.
 

Two cents
She urges women not to put limitations on themselves and to give their very best on what they set out to do.
“I love to mentor women in theology and it will be my joy to see women study theology though it is thought  to be for those who want to be ordained,” Nsaale notes. “I have a drive that keeps me working without supervision. Imagine I did my PhD without being supervised because of the pandemic.”

Away from ministry
“I like exercising. I like engaging my children in exercises and gardening; I like to use my hands and I am an artistic person,” Nsaale says.
She adds that she likes to socialise with her friends and they nicknamed her Digital Mama.

Favourites 
• Her favourite: verses; Matthew 6:33,Psalms 27:4, and Phillipians 3:8-10
• Food: Kalo and eshabwe.
• Sport: Nsaale does not have a favourite sport but she likes aerobics, exercising and boxing.
• “I love strenuous exercises,” she adds.