West Buganda installs 28 church servants amidst scarcity of lay leaders

Rev Moses Kayimba addresses journalists at St Paul's  Cathedral, Kako on November 25, 2022. Photo/Richard Kyanjo

West Buganda Diocese will today install 28 servants amid scarcity of lay leaders in lower level churches throughout the diocese.
Of the 28 servants, four are lay canons (not ordained), eight deacons, and one reverend while 15 will be commissioned as lay ministries.
The ceremony will take place at St. Paul's Cathedral, Kako, the seat of the diocese.

The four lay canons to be installed are; Mr Gaster Lule Ntake a proprietor of Ntake Group of companies, Ms Alice Ddamulira and Dr Charles Kahigiriza proprietors of St. Mark's College Namagoma and Ndejje Secondary School, Luweero respectively, while Ms Sarah Byamukama  is a health worker.
Lay leaders are ordinary worshipers, usually members of the congregation called to preach or lead services, but not called to full-time ministry. 

They are often called upon to prepare and conduct services, take leadership roles in committees, training and sacramental preparations.
According to Rev Moses Kayimba, the diocesan secretary, the new lay canons are living examples to the Christians and their new mandate will empower others to serve the Church . 
“The new lay canons are going to be deployed to different missions that have been lagging behind in the Diocese  in order to boost  its capacity to carry out evangelism work,”  he  said in an interview on Friday.
He cited sectors like development and investment, health and education as among sectors that will directly benefit from the expertise of the new lay canons.

The ceremony comes at a time when the diocese is challenged with scarcity of lay leaders and catechists which has limited effective ministering at lower levels. According to the diocesan Secretariat report of 2022, West Buganda has 670 churches against 263 lay church leaders (both trained and untrained) which leaves 407 churches presumably without permanent lay leaders. This crisis has forced the diocese to use the available number of lay leaders by making most leaders ministers in at least three lower churches each as the only available solution to this problem.

According to Mr Paul Wasswa, a lay leader of Kifamba Church, the shortage of lay leaders is greatly attributed to the diocesan policy which raised the bar for one to train as a lay leader from Primary Leaving Examination Certificate to an Ordinary Level Certificate with at least a credit in English and Mathematics yet the level of ministry is poorly privileged which discourages many Christians from joining it.
‘’The crisis is only at that level because, presently one needs an  Ordinary Level  certificate to join this vocation unlike in  the past yet it is poorly privileged.’’ He said.

Rev Kayimba said the Ordinary Level Certificate prerequisite was introduced to improve the quality of servants churned out so that they match with the current evangelical needs. He, however, said there are some measures put in place to address this problem which includes recruitment of Anglican professionals into evangelical service, providing residential houses for lay leaders at every church within the diocese among others.