Missionary Ventures in East Africa

 

What is a Church?  That may seem a strange question to some with an obvious answer to others.  Stranger still, what is a Church Plant?  Is it an exotic species of palm placed strategically in the churchyard?

 

 The noun Church  has various meanings, including a local congregation of like-minded believers. This corporate body of people following Jesus Christ in the power and life of God's Holy Spirit is what we are seeking to establish in any given community where an indigenous ministry feels led to go.

 

Missionary Ventures is partnering with specific indigenous ministries to enhance their current opportunities for the sake of the Gospel.  The indigenous ministry does not lack any spiritual fervour, but is desperate for an investment in the work by training pastors, purchasing land and helping to establish the young churches.

A recent success story is that of a village called Kajaho in south-western Uganda, on the border with Tanzania. The local people are steeped in religion – mainly Roman Catholicism and Islam – and bound by witchcraft and its dark effects.  Ten years ago Kajaho was affected by the Rwanda crisis when a refugee camp was set up. Peace never reigned due to nepotism.
 

Pastor Teo Kayumba was born there but had only recently felt the call of God to return and settle. Together with Holy Spirit Fire Church and their senior leader, Pastor Willy Tumwine, Missionary Ventures took a team.

After one intense week of evangelism and two weeks of discipleship for the new believers, pastor Teo has almost two hundred people to shepherd. Missionary Ventures helped financially to buy the land and put up a structure for meeting. We also gave Pastor Teo an opportunity to start a small business that would not take up all his time but that would help him to live.

The average cost for setting up rural church plant, including an economical church structure of poles and mud walls and an iron-sheet roof works out as follows:

 

 

Would you like to help Missionary Ventures International advance the Gospel in East Africa through Church planting by going on a team or investing in a rural church plant?

 

 

Contact us through your nearest MV office for more information.