Africa Youth Award developments – Kenya – October 2009

Roger and Glenys spent a few days with Joe and Diana Bonga in Nairobi in October. Joe heads up the Africa Youth Award in the countries where Watchmen International is working. During their time in Kenya, Roger and Glenys had the opportunity to visit a number of locations in Western Province where the Award has been introduced, including 4 schools where the Award is being run, either by the school’s Christian Union or one particular school where the teaching staff wants to adopt the Award as part of its main curriculum. They also visited a small farming project which is being run by a group of young people as part of their skills development programme. On their final Sunday in Nairobi, 15 young people graduated and were awarded certificates, having completed the Silver Award. One of the graduates testified that he had received Christ as his personal Saviour half way through the discipleship programme, when he understood that he was not a Christian. Several other young people shared how their lives were being transformed by the programme, including one young man who had been accepted onto a basketball scholarship partly as a result of his engagement in the Africa Youth Award. 

Above: Young person receiving his Africa Youth Award certificate.

International Women’s Forum – Kasese, Uganda – October 2009

Women’s leaders from six Watchmen teams came together for a 3-day annual forum in Kasese, Western Uganda. They were also joined by two women’s leaders from the ADEPR Pentecostal denomination in Rwanda. The theme of the forum was ‘Called to the Kingdom for such a time as this’, the teaching being based on the book of Esther. Glenys and Emma Cockrell attended from the UK. This annual forum is always a time of great encouragement to the national women’s leaders as they share accounts of how the women’s work is progressing in their respective nations. Pudencienne, from ADEPR, shared, “I have heard a good message while at the forum and God will enable me to take the message to many people, so that many in Rwanda might wait and be prepared (for the return of Jesus)”.

Above: Woman at the international forum in Uganda.

Zambia – A New National Team – October 2009

In October, Roger visited Ndola, in the copper belt of Zambia. He was joined there by William Nyelela (Kenya) and Raymond Mbidu (Tanzania). Following a pastors and leaders conference in Ndola, a new Watchmen national team was commissioned to take the work forward in Zambia. This was the second visit to Zambia following a meeting with Pastor John Chellah, who had visited a Watchmen pastors and leaders conference in Dar es Salaam last October. John now heads up the new team, which has already conducted leaders conferences in Kitwe, Lusaka and elsewhere in Zambia.

Above: The new Zambian national team being commissioned and prayed for.

A Wide Open Door in Rwanda – Autumn 2009

Earlier this year Hugh, joined by Peter Cockrell, spent 6 weeks in Rwanda, teaching the Watchmen message of personal transformation to key leaders within the ADEPR Pentecostal denomination. The testimony from several of the ADEPR pastors and leaders was that the message of transformation and reconciliation they had heard was just what the Rwandan church and people needs as they continue to come to terms with the genocide that took place in Rwanda in 1994. Both Hugh and Peter had opportunities to teach at the various ADEPR Bible schools around the country. Hugh is currently back in Rwanda, being supported by members of our International African team, conducting a further series of regional conferences for key ADEPR pastors and leaders. Following the regional conference in Butare, where the pastors were joined by their wives for the last two days, Stephen Nsibambi, Watchmen’s African International Co-ordinator, wrote, “There was an explosion of joy (by the women) when their husbands confessed that they had got changed and that they will continue to practise continuous change. It was such a special appreciation for the ladies who called this conference an opportunity for them to be able to express their feelings too. They too confessed their willingness to change”.

New Team in Kisangani – June 2009

Last month Roger visited Kisangani, a large city saddling the Congo River, along with two members of our African International team – Stephen and Alexandre. Around 130 key pastors and leaders attended a three day conference and warmly welcomed the Watchmen message of personal transformation and preparation for the second coming of Jesus. A regional team has now been formed in Kisangani to carry on the work under the leadership of Pastor John Bokanga. A highlight of the visit to Kisangani was a visit by the team to pray alongside the rapids of the Congo River – asking God to take the Watchmen message and ministry all the way to Kinshasa and further into West Africa, even as the river flows there.

Above: Watchmen team gathering to pray beside the Congo River.

Africa youth Award – One Year on – May 2009

The national youth co-ordinators from six of the nations in which Watchmen International is working gathered together in Kasese, Uganda, for their annual International Youth Forum. The theme of the Forum was ‘Leading with Passion’. It was an opportunity to hear what is taking place amongst the youth from across these nations. Already around 1000 young people have registered for and are participating in the Silver Africa Youth Award and a few have already progressed on to the Gold Award programme. The first two Silver Award certificates were passed on to Joe Bonga, our Award co-ordinator for presentation to Rodney Adembesa and Michael Nick Otieno - youths from Nairobi, Kenya. Rodney had undertaken computer studies and design for his skills section of the Award, Nick was developing his love for art, including t-shirt and bag screen-printing. Roger later had the opportunity to visit Kyaka, Uganda, where he met several young people who were participating in the Silver Award. Each one had a testimony of how the Award was transforming their lives as disciples of Jesus. In this rural bush location, young people were engaging in bee-keeping, brick-making, carpentry, making children’s clothes, guitar building and embroidery – all these skills were initiated by the young people themselves with little or no outside resources.

Above: Youth holding a table he has made as part of the Silver Africa Youth Award.

Africa Youth Award – an overwhelming response - April 2009

Last month, Joe Bonga, who heads up the Africa Youth Award in East Africa, visited a number of locations in Western Province of Kenya, promoting the Award amongst young people. Below is an extract from an email received from Joe during this visit:

“I am visiting schools in Western Province and the Lake regions and there is a tremendous response to the Award. I have over 10 conferences to speak at this week – there is lots going on. I am praying that God will provide the resources for this outgrowing expectation amongst the young people. I don’t want to limit myself though to the resources available – I want to challenge the young people that if they want to participate in the Award they can also invest in it."

Please be praying with us as we look for individuals, churches, Christian organisations and businesses who might be willing to partner with us in this opportunity to disciple and empower literally tens of thousands of young people across Africa.

To find out more about the Africa Youth Award, please click here.

Above: Joe Bonga speaking to a group of young people in Nairobi, Kenya, where he pastors a mainly youth church, whose members come predominantly from Kibera, one of the largest slums in Africa.

Reaching Zambia - April 2009

Earlier this month, William Nyelela and Joe Bonga (both from Kenya) and Raymond Mbidu ( Tanzania) held a first Watchmen conference in Ndola, Zambia, hosted by Pastor John Chellah (John had previous attended a Watchmen conference in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, late last year). Around 35-40 Pastors and Leaders attended from 32 different church denominations. William writes concerning their response on the third day of the conference:

“After going through the process of repentance, I challenged people to respond to the message and almost 20 pastors said they were having the spirit of unforgiveness but now they were willing to go and forgive their enemies. One pastor came back the following day and said he had gone home and apologized to his wife for anything wrong he had done to her. Many pastors confessed that they have never heard such message being preached in Zambia. The message from the assistant chairman of Ndola pastors’ fellowship said this was a timely message for Zambians and they welcomed it wholeheartedly”

John Chellah wrote in a following email:

“We are very thankful for the team that you sent to Zambia. Thank God for the caring heart that you and the team have demonstrated, the love that you have for the Zambian Church. These men did a good work – really they ministered the true Watchmen message. My life is not the same again – I am changing for the better. Every time I hear the Watchmen message I am discovering my weakness and am always seeking for God’s forgiveness. Surely my life is not the same; even my relationship with my wife has changed. And there is within a holy hunger for more of the Lord.”

Above: John Chellah testifying to a heart change at the end of last year’s conference in Dar es Salaam.

New Teams in Ethiopia and Southern Sudan - March 2009

Roger London has recently returned from a visit to both Ethiopia and Southern Sudan. Roger, along with Laban Mbabazi (International team member from Uganda) and William Nyelela (Chairman of the Kenyan team), were following up previous visits by team members from Kenya, in order to hold Pastors and Leaders conferences in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) and Juba (South Sudan). The response amongst the leaders in both places to the Watchmen message was very encouraging. Teams have now been set in place in both nations, increasing our national teams to eight.

New Members of our International Team - March 2009

At our recent annual International Forum, held in Kasese, Western Uganda, for Watchmen International Team leaders, 3 new members, along with their wives, were brought on to our International Team. William Nyelela (and his wife, Pauline, from Kenya) has already been involved in reaching out with the Watchmen message to Tanzania, Ethiopia and Sudan. His pioneering heart will be a welcome addition to the team; Alexandre Baliwa (and his wife, Judith from Dr Congo) has a vision for reaching the whole of his huge nation with the Watchmen message. Later this month, Alexandre is part of a team, along with Roger London and Stephen Nsibambi, visiting Kisangani, a large provincial city on the head of the Congo River. Whilst there they will be leading a Watchmen Leaders conference – a follow-up to a previous visit last Summer. Emmanuel Gasabira (and his wife, Joy, from Rwanda) is one of the longest serving members with Watchmen International. Emmanuel heads up the Revelation Pentecostal denomination in Rwanda, having returned to his country from Uganda after the genocide in 1994.

Frontline visit to Uganda & DR Congo - September 2008

A team from Frontline Church, Liverpool, has just returned from a trip to Uganda and DR Congo. The team, led by Nic and Jenny Harding, spent a few days in both Kasese, Western Uganda, and Butembo, Eastern Congo, teaching groups of local church leaders on the principles of cell church.

Nic Harding reports:

'We had a wonderful time with leaders in both Butembo (DRC) and Kasese ( Uganda ). The task of discipling every church member and training each member to be part of the mission force of the church is a big challenge to the church in Africa , where so much is expected of the pastor. We pray that the cautious but  committed application of the principles will lead to growth in maturity and size of the churches, enabling them to increasingly resource the work of reaching and transforming their communities and nations with the gospel.'

Laban Mbabazi, one of our International Team members, says of the visit:

“We had two wonderful days of conference on discipleship training ...We were able to see that Jesus has called all His followers to be soul winners and then disciple those they win ... this was a huge challenge for all of us who attended the training ... The training in Butembo was well attended and the message was received with similar enthusiasm as it was in Kasese ... We thank the Lord for the rich experience we had with the saints from Liverpool.”

Visit to Schools in Kenya , Rwanda and Uganda by USA Director

In June/July, Bill Carver, one of our USA directors from North Carolina , visited a number of Watchmen International nursery schools in Kenya , Rwanda and Uganda. Bill, a former headmaster, who oversees the Watchmen schools’ ministry in Africa, was accompanied by Stephen and Dinah Nsibambi throughout his itinerary. Dinah is our African International Schools Co-ordinator. As well as visiting some of our established nursery schools in Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda, Bill, Stephen and Dinah also visited schools in Kitale (Kenya) and Matimba (Rwanda), which Watchmen will be adopting and sponsoring from September this year.

In his report following his return to the USA, whilst noting areas for improvement, Bill comments:

“I’m sure it’s no surprise that the schools offer a loving and caring environment for children.  The teachers maintain a nurturing and welcoming atmosphere in the classrooms.  The children are happy and glad to be students at the schools.  They hungrily consume the daily porridge and seem to be thriving in the environment.  The teachers are positive about the visits and ready to show what their students are learning.  Most teachers demonstrate some of the lessons we have taught in the (teacher-training) seminars.”

First Outreach to Ethiopia

In early May, three of our African team members, Laban Mbabazi (from our International team) and William Nyelela and Mark Malunda (from our Kenyan team), flew to Addis Ababa for the first Watchmen International leaders conference in Ethiopia . For both William and Mark it was their first experience of flying.

Addis Ababa is a city of five million people and the headquarters of the African Union. Our team’s first impressions were of its beauty and cleanliness and its lack of traffic congestion, found in so many African cities. They also found the climate surprisingly cold.

Around 30 key leaders from different denominations attended the three-day seminar, hosted by Bishop Hiruy of the Harvest Church of God. These leaders represented several hundred churches from all across Ethiopia . Laban comments on the response to the Watchmen message:

“The last day we asked the people to respond to the message they had received. All of them said they had been touched and challenged by the message but wanted to know what plans we had for Ethiopia . We told them that there would be a follow up trip early next year, but we emphasized the fact that our goal was to disciple leaders who would then assume the burden of training others and taking the message to the rest of the church in Ethiopia. One leader (who represented 400 churches nationwide) said that he was going to assemble all the pastors of his churches and spend two weeks with them sharing the truths he had just received. Throughout the seminar this elderly church leader, was taking notes of what he was hearing. He is also a man of spiritual insight. As the people were reacting to the message they had received, he cautioned them saying that what they had received was wonderful truth which they should first embrace whole-heartedly before rushing with it to other people.”

Non-conformist Christianity (Pentecostals, Evangelicals, Baptists, etc.) represents around 15% of the 70 million population. Many of these believers are found in fairly new churches that have sprung up following the repressive days of communism. Today, these believers are still not free to worship as they choose with many restrictions placed on church life and evangelism. Laban again comments:

“There is no freedom of worship in Ethiopia. You cannot hold open-air meetings any where in the land. You can only preach in designated places like church buildings. You cannot hand out Christian literature to people openly. To be found doing so, Orthodox and Moslem people, let alone state agents, who claim the land is theirs and they do not want their people to be converted to other religions, would attack you.”

(There is presently a bill being debated in the Ethiopian parliament which, if it passes into law, will restrict evangelical churches even more. Please pray for God’s intervention here.

For more information on the Africa Youth Award please click here to contact our UK.

Pour out Your Spirit again!

In May, Roger London, accompanied by Stephen and Dinah Nsibambi (two of our International team members), held a number of leaders seminars in Burundi , DR Congo, Rwanda and Uganda . In each location there was a tremendous response to the message of changed hearts in preparation for the soon return of Jesus. The highlight of the trip was a conference held in Uvira, a small town sitting on the north-west shores of Lake Tanganyika in DR Congo. This town, early in the last century, had been the birthplace of Pentecostalism in that whole region of Africa , spreading rapidly across DR Congo, Tanzania , Burundi and Rwanda . Pastors and leaders travelled up to 150 kilometres to attend the Watchmen seminar in Uvira, held in the former missionary compound of those first European missionaries, hungry to hear the Word of God and to take the message back to their own towns and villages. Roger comments:

“There was a prophetic significance in holding a Watchmen conference in Uvira, as today our heart-cry is: ‘Pour out Your Spirit again on all these nations and prepare Your Church for Jesus’ return!’ ”

Africa Youth Award

May also saw the launch of the Africa Youth Award, a discipleship and development programme for young people, after almost two years of preparation. Representatives from the youth departments of our six African national teams gathered in Kasese, Western Uganda , for three days of training, preparing them to launch and to lead the Award in their own nations. The Africa Youth Award is divided into two main sections – Silver and Gold – each of which will take up to one year to complete. In order to receive a Silver or Gold certificate, each young person will need to have successfully completed a programme of Christian discipleship, skills development, physical recreation, church and community service. The overall aim of the Award is threefold – to raise the self-esteem and to empower African young people, to disciple them in the basics of the Christian life, and to prepare them for Christian leadership amongst their peers. Joe Bonga, a Pastor from Nairobi and our youth co-ordinator in Kenya, will be overseeing the development of the Award in the African countries in which Watchmen International is working

For more information on the Africa Youth Award please click here to contact our UK.

Mission accomplished in Yei, Sudan - 30th April 2008

Three members of our Kenyan national team, William Nyelela, the national chairman, Anthony Masika, the national co-ordinator and Joe Bonga, the national youth co-ordinator, recently returned from an outreach to Yei, in Southern Sudan. The purpose of the trip was to hold our second Watchmen International pastors and leaders conference there. Between 60-80 leaders gathered to hear the message of personal transformation in preparation for the return of Jesus. William said, “They received the teaching openly with several leaders openly repenting of iniquity in their lives and testifying of change.” An embryonic Watchmen team now exists in Southern Sudan, led by Pastor Nicholas Lolik and Pastor Michael Weriza.

UK Directors visit East Africa - 28th February 2008

Roger London & David Serle, two of our UK directors, have recently returned from a trip to East Africa, where they were involved in visiting our teams in Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda. Leadership conferences were held in both Bujumbura and Kigali: In Bujumbura pastors & leaders from 37 churches, including leaders from Uvira, Eastern Congo, gathered to hear the Watchmen message; In Kigali, 70 key pastors from ADEPR, the largest Pentecostal denomination in Rwanda, attended a two day conference where, again, they were taught on the need to prepare the Church for the soon return of Jesus Christ. ADEPR’s national leadership have subsequently opened the door wide to the Watchmen ministry, stating that Rwanda needs its key message of personal heart transformation as it continues to recover from the Genocide of 1994. In Uganda, we saw key representatives from the six indigenous Watchmen teams come together in Kasese for teaching, fellowship and prayer. A highlight of this time together was witnessing these leaders praying over a large map of Africa, asking God for openings to take the Watchmen ministry and message to many other African nations and even beyond.

Kenya Update - 23rd February 2008

Our team members have reported that the situation in Kenya has calmed down in the last few weeks. However, there are still sporadic outbreaks of violence and looting, especially in towns situated in Kenya’s rift valley. The political situation remains tense as talks proceed to try and break the present stalemate. If these talks break down then there could easily be a re-emergence of the killing, burning and looting seen immediately after the election results were announced. Many of the outlying areas of Eldoret, where William our Kenyan team leader had his home burned down, are totally flattened. Our team report that Kisumu, a once large and bustling town on the eastern shores of Lake Victoria , has the appearance of a ghost town. One of the outcomes from the recent troubles has been the appearance of IDP (Internally Displaced Peoples) camps dotted around the country. Many families fearing for their lives have literally left everything they owned in order to flee to safe areas. Joe, our youth co-ordinator in Nairobi , found that most of his church members, many of whom lived in Kibera slum, had fled in various directions looking for a safe haven from the tribal violence. Much of his time recently has been spent trying to locate his members and assessing their needs for clothing, food and other basic items.

Kenya Update

A number of our Kenyan team and associates have been caught up in the current troubles affecting Kenya following the national elections. William Nyelela, our Kenyan team leader from Eldoret, had his home burnt down and, along with his wife and family, had to flee for their lives, sheltering in the local Bible school. Nicholas Oloo, an associate minister with Lifestyle International, also from Eldoret, had his home and church building burnt down. Our local Watchmen representative, in Nairobi, who lives and works in the Kibera slum district of the city, has been evicted from his home. He and his wife, who has recently given birth to a new baby, are currently homeless. Please be praying for these and countless others in Kenya who have been adversely affected by the troubles.

New Openings in Zanzibar

In early November, Roger London visited Tanzania for the first time. He was accompanied by Stephen Nsibambi, our African International Co-ordinator, and 2 representatives from our Kenyan National Team. As well as spending time with our Tanzanian team, they held a leaders conference in Dar es Salaam attended by 60 pastors and leaders from various denominations within the city. The visiting team, accompanied by Raymond Mbidu, the Tanzanian team leader, made a first trip to Zanzibar to introduce the ministry there, holding another leaders conference a few kilometres from Stone Town. The key leaders of all the Island’s Pentecostal churches were represented at the conference and are now keen to extend the Watchmen message and ministry throughout the Island.

Watchmen UK Ladies Team Return from Uganda

A team of 5 UK ladies visited Western Uganda in mid November. The trip was a first for Katherine, Lynda and Maureen who had the opportunity to visit two of the Watchmen Nursery schools in Kilembe and Hamukungu. The ladies team, led by Glenys London and Juliet Shelbourne, participated in the first International Women’s Forum, held at our HQ in Kasese, where two representatives from each of the 6 National Teams came together for teaching, fellowship and prayer. The UK ladies, along with Lillian Mbabazi and Dinah Nsibambi, also held a Women’s Conference in Fort Portal and participated in the Sunday worship service at Rwempeche.