The Kanyike Update–May 2016

“For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.”

                                                 —Timothy 4:8

 

Dear Friends and Family,

We write a lot about different conferences or Bible Studies taking place.  Sports teamWhile we enjoy reaching people with the Word of God through those ways we also sometimes like to have a little more fun and get a little exercise as we spread the Gospel.  We do this through sport outreaches.  Sport outreaches allow us to reach groups of people we may not normally come in contact with.  These outreaches draw a younger, college age crowd.


Sport outreaches allow us to reach groups of people we may not normally come in contact with. 


 

MakerereIn the past couple of months we have done sports outreaches at the college campus nearest to Arise Christian Fellowship. It is called Makerere University Business School. Both Brian and I got saved when we were college age and believe it is a time when youth are beginning to think about their futures and start to make big decisions that will impact them for the rest of their lives. We have a desire to reach out to these students so they can hear the gospel and have the opportunity to make a choice for Christ now.  This type of outreach also gives opportunity for many people from church to participate and for the new believers to get exposed to evangelism.  Many people can play the sports games while the pastors and others share the gospel with those attending.

The first big sports outreach we had this year was a soccer outreach.  Our church has a soccer team made up of mostly guys from the market place as well as the assistant pastor, Mukasa Deo.  This team is actually playing every week somewhere around Kampala and sometimes even outside of Kampala. For the church outreach though we played at the University. We showed up to the field early and the kids plus some of the other non players were able to have fun kicking the ball around and drawing a crowd.

Kids SportsTeam picture 1


…the gospel message is clearly presented to all who come.


Our church team played against another team made up also of mostly men from the market.  It is exciting to see everyone getting into the game and cheering as well as it is exciting to see people get excited about Jesus as we have opportunity to share with them.  Although 1 on 1 evangelism is taking place during the game, after the game we call everyone together and the gospel message is clearly presented to all who come.

Presenting the Gospel

Our second big sports outreach this year was a basketball outreach.  While soccer is the number 1 sport played in Uganda there are quite a few people who enjoy basketball as well.  We happened to have some visitors coming to teach in Sudan.  They asked if while they were in Uganda they could help organize a basketball outreach.


They asked if they could organize a basketball outreach.


One of the men, Dustin, is a coach in the states for a school team.  He offered to bring uniforms to leave with the teams as well to give any pointer or instruction they might need.  We really didn’t know anyone who played basketball so we asked one of the young college students who attend our church.  It turns out at the university there is a whole club of guys who meet to play unofficially and they don’t have uniforms.  Brian met up with the coach, who turned out to be a Christian, and he was excited about the prospect of being part of an outreach.  It was a very fun time as the guys from our church mixed with the guys who meet up to play.  Needless to say there was quite a mix of abilities and heights on the court which made it a lot of fun to watch.

on the courtbasketball team shot

After the game Dustin and his Pastor, Kevin Lea shared the gospel with the young men.  They not only shared but were able to engage them in a discussion about what it really means to be a Christian.  The out reach happened to be on a Wednesday and we were blessed to have some of these young men show up for midweek service.

Jump sotsitting on the court

Thank you for praying for our family and for the ministry in Uganda!

 

In Him,

Brian, Jill, Luke, Laylee and Liana

family pic

PRAYER REQUESTS

  • Praise the Lord for the opportunity to reach out to the college students through sports.

  • Pray for those who heard the gospel thru the outreaches, that they will give their lives to Christ and continue in discipleship.

  • Pray for Brian as he might have the opportunity to have a discipleship class there at the campus for the teams.

  • Pray for an evangelism training that will be taking place at the church. They will also be reaching out in the market place.

  • Continue to Pray that we would truly “Arise and Shine” the light of Christ in this dark place.

  • Pray for Brian as pastors and leads our ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship.

  • Pray for all the ministries and leaders.

  • Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team.

 

 

 

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