What has the church got to offer?

On Sunday, March 24, the Archdeacon Wilson Kisekka was consecrated and enthroned as the new bishop of the Church of Uganda diocese of Luweero, thus ending nearly a year of suspense after the House of Bishops nullified the election of a former bishop-elect and appointed the retired bishop of Mukono Diocese, James Ssebaggala, as caretaker. 

The nullification caused division and left many people in the Diocese bruised. Against this background, it is not surprising that Archbishop Stephen Kaziimba’s sermon as well as messages from other bishops called for unity and reconciliation . 

A special message usually comes from the Head  of State. On this occasion, it was delivered on his behalf, by the Works and Transport Minister, Gen. Katumba Wamala. The quotation below was the gist of the message and captures what he has said to the church over the years: “A holistic and relevant Church ministry must embrace other human needs on top of spirituality”. Who can argue with such a statement?

Actually, the church has been and is already a partner in development, working closely with the government and other organizations.
It must be said though, that while the church has some challenges and needs to use its human and material resources more effectively, its theological perspective regarding a proper balance between matters spiritual and matters temporal has been exemplary. Reference is specifically being made to the Church of Uganda (Anglican) and the Roman Catholic Church, two churches that were the first to establish their mission here . The services often cited are education and modern medicine. 

The quality and aim of missionary education have been a subject of debate even in theological colleges and seminaries. However, today there is no questioning the resilience and appeal of the church-founded schools- and more recently universities – and the hospitals, to say nothing about the establishment of commercial houses, including banks.

This article, however, poses the question which of the two challenges -temporal/developmental or spiritual – is the more urgent. It is the contention of this article that the more significant challenge in Uganda today is in the spiritual realm. This is not to downplay the place of the temporal or of our material needs.

In order to put things into perspective, we need to spell out the meaning of the word “spiritual”.  A simple definition is that spirituality refers to the inner life or soul and its relation with God – God being not a proper name but a symbol for that which makes all things be, the divine mystery from which things come and return. Although self-confessed atheists and agnostics also lay claim to being  spiritual, Christian (as well as Jewish and Islamic) belief is that we inhabit two worlds – the temporal and the spiritual – and that both have a common foundation in the moral obligation to pursue love of God and neighbor and care for the environment.

The message, then, that the church declares both to itself and to society includes the promotion of the works of civic righteousness. This is rendered in terms of justice, peace and the integrity of creation.  If the society in which the church exists is riddled with injustice, social inequality, abuse of power, land-  grabbing  and of access to  affordable healthcare, such a society cannot realise the much coveted development.

Authored by Revd Canon Amos Kasibante, Church of England.  [email protected]