Pentecostal churches join the fight against homosexuality

At the organization’s Extra Ordinary Annual General Meeting held on January 17, 2023 at Grace Christian Centre, Bishop Joshua Lwere, the General Overseer of the National Fellowship of Born Again Pentecostal Churches of Uganda (NFBPC-U) sounded the drums to fight all forms of homosexuality and LGBT activity in the country especially among Pentecostal churches.

This remark came in the wake of NFBPC holding national elections that ended the tenure of Bishop Joshua Lwere as General Overseer.

It is a good thing that NFBPC has joined Mama Janet Museveni, the first lady of Uganda, the Deputy Speaker of parliament, Mr Thomas Tayebwa, who made a strong international statement against the promotion of homosexuality in Uganda. 

Archbishop Stephen Kaziimba of the Church of Uganda (CoU) and the Interreligious Council of Uganda (IRCU) have also joined the fight against homosexuality. The IRCU statement was read by Apostle Joseph Serwadda, the head of the Born Again Faith (BAF) umbrella body in Uganda.

Of late the media has been flooded by sodomy stories from prominent secondary schools. These are just some of the stories that have come out in the media in the recent past, but many sectors have been infiltrated, prompting the need of a multi-sectoral united front to fight this evil.

The strength of NFBPC is, it was the first and is the biggest Pentecostal/Born Again church umbrella body that brings together over 50,000 churches in Uganda. It has structures right from the grass roots to the national level. 

For instance its structure has 2,184 Sub-county bishops, 202 district bishops, 60 provincial bishops, 15 regional bishops and six national bishops. 

It has a total of 2,467 bishops across the globe. This structural strength can be used to fight this vice right from the village to the national level among its churches.

Pastor Michael Kyazze of Omega Healing Center and the leading candidate to replace Bishop Joshua Lwere as the General Overseer of NFBPC is on record for fighting sodomy and homosexuality among Pentecostal churches. The thought of the sodomy gang seeing him at the helm of NFBPC gives them nightmares thus doing whatever it takes to block him.

Now that the Pentecostals/Born Again leadership have joined this fight, we urge all Pastors in Uganda to preach against this vice and pronounce themselves against it. As we use our pulpits to preach the word of God against sodomy and LGBT activities, we shall restore the fear of God in our churches, schools and country at large.

With a concerted effort through the Ministry of Education, stringent measures to curb this vice have been implemented in both public and private schools. 

Coupled with the church leadership institutions such as NFBPC structures, strong resistance can be put up against these LGBT groups in our schools and churches.

Pastor Martin Niemöller is best known for writing First They Came, but he is a complicated figure. Initially an antisemitic Nazi supporter, his views changed when he was imprisoned in a concentration camp for speaking out against Nazi control of churches he writes First they came for the Communists, And I did not speak out, Because I was not a Communist, then they came for the Socialists, And I did not speak out, Because I was not a Socialist, Then they came for the trade unionists, And I did not speak out, Because,, I was not a trade unionist, Then they came for the Jews, And I did not speak out, Because I was not a Jew, Then they came for me, And there was no one left, To speak out for me. Let us speak now.

Pastor Richard Magongo is a leader in NFBPC and Chief Editor of the NFBPC Newsletter. 

[email protected]