Reaching Children

The Testimony of Pastor Deuse

I was suffering from a demonic attack. I had begun suffering from a mental disorder at twenty-eight years of age and was going mad. By then, I was already married with three children. Finally, my parents and my wife tried to find a cure by consulting witch doctors in our region, but the situation worsened.

Finally, my wife and parents gave up looking for a solution, and I was abandoned at home. Out of that desperate situation, I was led to attend a church where they shared the gospel and prayed for me. That is how I received my deliverance from the demonic attacks. After that, I gave my life to Christ, got involved in ministry activities at church, and took on ministerial responsibilities. Now I am living in Nyamirama with my family, sharing the gospel, and starting a church.

I am attending the Uganda Bible College and studying with our God’s Embassy Pastors.

We serve in a predominantly Bakiga community that practices mixed subsistence farming. The dominant religion is a form of Anglicanism or Catholicism that does not believe in a true gospel of faith in Jesus Christ. Those churches require paying quarterly dues to reserve a place in heaven. Some members of the community practice witchcraft secretly. There are also some other cults, like the church of the prophets.

I have a substantial burden in my heart to preach the gospel of salvation to the people in our community, considering the suffering and bondage I was in before I came to know our Lord Jesus Christ. I look around our community and see many people suffering in the darkness under the demonic evil influence of witchcraft and false religious teachers in my community, so my heart goes out to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Recent Ministry:

We have seen God’s mighty hand at work in the life of Glorious. During one of our home visits, we found Akankwasa Glorious struggling with alcoholism, which had caused her husband to leave their home and live on the Lake Edward shores. Her daughter shared with us how her mother would bring strange men into their home and even encourage her to sleep with them. Their house was in a dire state, with a leaking roof and poles eaten away by termites. We ministered to her through the Word of God. After sharing the Word, we prayed for her, and by God’s grace, she gave her life to Christ. She stopped drinking, abandoned her sinful habits, and began to rebuild her life. Today, she has managed to renovate her home and engage in farming to meet her family’s domestic needs.

Peter’s primary source of income was illegal poaching, which put his life in danger. Peter and Scolah, and their two children live in a temporary house with a leaking roof. We visited their home during our home visit and found Peter suffering from severe mental illness for over five years. His wife explained that they had sought help from various witch doctors and herbalists, selling some of their property in the process, but all efforts were fruitless. We advised them to bring Peter to church for prayers. The following day, he was brought to church tied up with ropes. We prayed over him, declaring the Word of God, and the demonic spirits left him. Peter regained his sanity, thanked God for his healing, and gave his life to Christ. Since then, he and his wife actively participate in church activities. We pray that God continues to protect and strengthen this family in their walk with Christ.

We give glory to God for the salvation of Lauben and his wife, Phionah. Lauben was a drug addict, regularly smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol. His wife shared similar habits, and as a result, they would often neglect their children’s needs. During one of our home visits, we shared the Word of God with them. Though initially resistant, they eventually accepted Christ into their lives. Through prayer and counseling, Lauben stopped using drugs, and both of them gave up alcohol. They are now active church members, serving the Lord and raising their children in a godly environment.

Praise and Needs of the Church:

• We praise God for providing us with a place to worship. However, this month, the land we have been renting was sold by its owner. We have been granted a grace period to relocate. 
• Pray for our outreach to the community through home fellowships and visits. This month, we visited 63 homes and shared the gospel. We have three active fellowships.

Children’s Ministry:

• Pray for our children who meet every Saturday to study the Word of God and practice memory verses. On Sundays, each child is encouraged to recite at least one verse.
• Pray for our children’s choir, Young Ambassadors, which practices weekly and presents songs during the main Sunday service.

Youth Ministry:

• Pray for the youth choir, which has sixteen members and practices every Saturday. The choir learns new songs and dancing skills, which has motivated other youth to join the choir and the church.
• Pray for our youth football team that participates in local tournaments. Before every match, they gather for prayer led by their chaplain, who also encourages them to attend church services.

Ongoing Ministry:

We praise God for being able to plaster our church structure. The Lord is enabling us to put another smaller structure- the church kitchen- which will help us to cook at church, especially when we have visitors. We ask God for another structure for Sunday school classes and pray for Bibles for church members who cannot afford them

We see God at work in the life of Enoch, who is married to Editor and has three children together, ages two months to three years. Enock was involved in evil spiritism, seeking to become wealthy, for he believed that worshipping spirits would make him wealthy. He sold all his land, seeking herbs and fetishes to make him wealthy, which failed. After selling his home and land to witch doctors, he now rents a house to live in with his family. He was desperate and resorted to drinking alcohol until he became a drunkard. We shared the Word of God with him and invited him to visit us one Sunday at church. When he came, he attended church service with us, gave his life to Jesus Christ, and was saved. He joined the church, and he learned the Word of God, which helped him to stop drinking alcohol; he started to work as a hired hand for farming, and he saved what he earned since now he was no longer drinking alcohol. We thank God that this month, the Lord has enabled Enock to buy two acres of land, which he will use for farming, and he is now planning to build a permanent house. We pray he keeps in faith. We thank God, who has worked and done amazing things in Enock’s life- saving, transforming, and enabling him to improve his family. We give God all the glory. 

Isaac and Vanience have two children together. They live in a temporary home, survive by selling labor to others, and depend on small-scale subsistence farming. We met them through our home visits and found that they worshipped idols and sometimes would be tormented by evil spirits. They were both drunkards and not interested in knowing about Jesus. We shared the Gospel with them, and though they were drunk even when we visited, they asked us some questions, trying to challenge us about their spirit worship. We prayed with them and invited them to visit and attend Sunday service. They promised to come, saying that how we pray differs from how they pray. We thank God they came to participate in our service and were delivered from evil spirits’ possession when we prayed for them. Since then, they have stopped worshipping spirits and drinking alcohol; they have given their lives to Jesus Christ and are now members of the church. They serve God in the Praise and Worship Team and are good at singing. We pray that God gives them the grace to keep in faith and service to Him and His people in this area. We also pray that God gives them the strength to work and support their children in school to attain education.

Natukunda Princess, age 22, is single and dropped out of school in primary six after failing to meet all the school requirements. She returned home and thought that her future had ended. She lost hope in everything and started drinking alcohol when she was still very young.  One day, she felt convinced to look for a born-again church and ask to be prayed for, but she ignored it. As we were doing home visits, we shared the Word of God with her and invited her to visit us at church and attend the Sunday service. She accepted the call, came the following Sunday, and gave her life to Christ after the service. As she talked about her life in church, one of the guests who had attended service with us decided to sponsor her on a tailoring course if she was interested. She attended and finished it, and now she works as a tailor to earn an income. She is also serving on the church Praise and Worship Team. She is happy as her life is changing, and she stopped drinking alcohol. We give God all the glory.

Establishing a church in this area requires much work. We are a remote village far from schools and markets. With the White Fields’ support, I will be able to serve full-time, proclaiming the gospel and teaching young people so that one day they may be able to attend school.

We have seen God at work in the life of Gad Niwagaba, aged fifty-one years old, a resident of Kyiruruma cell in Kyantuhe village. He was demon-possessed for over a month and could hear voices calling to him without seeing the people who were speaking. He said that sometimes he could hear sounds in his room, and he tried to seek help from some witch doctors, but it failed to work. His family invited us to pray for him, and we visited him and prayed for him. God heard our prayers, and the spirits left him and he was healed. He has come to church to thank God for his healing.

Annet is thirty-two and a widow with three children, they are residents of Kagunga cell, Ntungwa parish. They live in a temporary house with two rooms. The names of the children are Sharon, aged ten; Danson, aged seven; and Gift, two. They survive through selling labor to others and subsistence farming on their small piece of land.  We met Annet through home visits and found that before the death of her husband, she was a drunkard and quarrelsome. She was so full of stress that she could not care for her children, and the demon spirits used to attack her when she was not drunk, especially during the night. This situation made her poor, and for some time, they lacked food. We prayed with her and that night she slept well, and the spirits did not come, she also arranged the next day for a family overnight and at that overnight, she gave her life to Christ. She is now an intercessor in the fellowship and has allowed her home to host the home fellowship with more than ten members. She is planning to build a permanent house. We pray that God will open the doors for finances so that she can also pay for school fees for her children.  We are also praying for God to strengthen her faith.

Fausta is sixty-two and a widow with four grandchildren. She came to our church for prayer due to pain she had in her head and in her legs; we prayed for her, and she was healed. She came back to testify what the Lord had done for her and gave her life to Christ.

Eunice is married with four children, three of whom have their own families. She is an Anglican who we met in Annet’s home. We shared the Word, and she was interested in our teaching and thought of joining the church to learn more about God. Eunice has been coming to church and has started bringing her friends. We pray the Lord will continue to draw her to Himself.