A New Season Begins

Dear Friends and Family,

A new season is beginning at Calvary Chapel Kampala as we say goodbye to the Kelly family.

Pastor Brian and his wife Lynne moved to Uganda 9 years ago to help church plant in Kampala.  For about 8 of those years Brian Kelly has served as senior pastor and the church has grown and matured spiritually under his care.

In Uganda it is not a common practice for a senior pastor to step down from ministry.  With the prosperity doctrine so strong here it is a pastor’s goal for his church to grow and support him which keeps pastors from moving on or raising up  others to replace them.

The elders were the first to hear of Pastor Brian’s plans.  We all met for dinner and were able to hear first hand how the Lord was calling the Kelly family to a new ministry.

Pastor Brian planned a message specifically for the congregation as he announced to them his leaving.  I want to share a summary with you also.

He began by sharing about living by faith and that it means  obeying and following Christ no matter the cost.
He then gave 3 reasons for his leaving to help people understand better.

1.Motivation—His motives for leaving are positive, it is because of the healthy state of the church and leadership he is able to move on.

2.Completion—He has competed the mission God had for him here . He planted the church, laid the spiritual foundation and raised up faithful leaders.

1 Corinthians 3:10–11 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. 11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

3.Direction—God has clearly showed them it is time to leave and where they are to be going next.

The most amazing thing happened on the day of the Kelly farewell service.  As we were saying goodbye to them, and emotions were high, this was the view from the church window:

Pastor Brian will be serving as a missions pastor at Maranatha Chapel in San Diego.  He believes in the future God is calling him to church plant again, this time in Asia.

Pastor Josh and Pastor Brian (Kanyike) will take over pastor Brian Kelly’s responsibilities.  Pastor Josh will take the role of senior pastor and Brian will take over the teaching at the city center church; 3 services on Sunday and Wednesday night.

Along with a church send off for the entire family, the women had a going away party for Lynne.  Her longtime mentor had come to visit and shared with the women about faith.  She also shared with us about Lynne’s testimony of how she came to be married to Brian and a missionary in Uganda. As we fellowishipped and comforted one another, Lynne said her final goodbyes to each lady.

We are so thankful to Pastor Brian and Lynne for the love and ministry they have poured out upon the people of Uganda and our lives personally.  May the Lord continue to use and bless them as mightily as He has here.

Thank you for your faithful prayers and support for the ministry here, especially as we enter to this new season.

PRAYER REQUESTS

• Please pray for this new season at Calvary Chapel Kampala
• Pray for the pastors as they take on new and challenging roles.
• Pray for the congregation as they accept the changes.
• Pray for the existing ministries to continue to grow and be fruitful.
• Pray for the Lord’s anointing over all of Brian’s pastoral ministries and teaching at the church.
• Pray for the Kanyike’s support to stabilize, we are only at about 45%.
• Pray for peace in Uganda

In Him,
Brian, Jill and Luke Mukisa

BACK TO SCHOOL

2 Timothy2:2 And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others. also.

Dear Friends and Family,

Once again a new semester is under way.  All Nations Theological College was started in the 1990’s by missionaries from South Korea.  Their desire is to reach and teach those who may not otherwise have an opportunity to learn God’s Word, to equip them to take what they learn back to their countries and churches and share it with others.

It has been over a year now since I was asked to be apart of the teaching staff at the college. The class I teach semester is Women’s Ministry.  It begins at looking closely at what the Word of God says about women.  Every culture, tribe, church and the modern world has an opinion about women. I tell my students that no matter what we have been told or observed it is what the Word of God says that is the truth.   The 2nd half of the semester I teach them about how to organize a women’s ministry and specifically how to teach, counsel and reach out to the women in their churches and communities.

I am so blessed every time I walk into my classroom and have the opportunity to teach the students there.  This semester I have students from Sudan, Congo, Burundi, and even 2 from Korea.  I began the class by asking what each person had been taught about women.  Every semester I am amazed by the answers I get. This semester I have a particular student who had been taught a very negative view of women and told it was from the  Bible.  After the first couple of classes he testified that he was blown away by how positive  Bible talks about women and that it teaches that while women have been given roles they are spiritual equals before God. Did I mention that 99% of my class is men?  I love my ministry!

Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Calvary Chapel Kampala  recently had a day of fun and fellowship at the Beach.  Every couple of months we hold a baptism for the new believers or anyone who has never publicly declared their faith.  The whole church is invited to come out and celebrate with those being Baptized.

The choir came and sang worship songs.  Then a message was given on what baptism means after which all those being baptized headed into Lake Victoria. I never cease to be filled with awe as I see each person go under the water and arise out of it full of joy and praise.

An added blessing to this baptism was that 2 of our staff from the Far Reaching Ministries guest house were being baptized.  Pamela has acted as the hospitality assistant for almost 2 years.  Isaac is one of our security guards.

Romans6:4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

After the baptism everyone had lunch together from the BBQ that had been roasting all morning. This was Luke’s first Baptism and Picnic.  He thoroughly enjoyed himself and every enjoyed him. The rest of the day  was spent in playing games and fellowship.

Prayer Requests:

• Pray for Jill as she begins to also teach at All Nations Theological Seminary.

• Pray for the students to grasp what is being taught and share it with others

• Pray for those who were baptized that they would continue to grow in their relationship with Jesus.

• Pray for Brian’s pastoral ministries and teaching at the church.

• Pray for Calvary  Chapel Kampala and all the ministries that are taking place.

• Pray for our monthly support to become stable.

Thank you for your faithful prayer and support.

In Him,

Brian, Jill and Luke Mukisa

To view our update please click on the link below

Kanyike update

Dear Friends and Family,
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
This has been an amazing year both for the ministry and for our family. We have seen many people
reached through missions, church outreach and events. We have experienced much sadness as the city
rioted over the burning of the kings tombs and the killing of so many in the terrorist bombings. There has
been much joy and celebration with the arrival of Luke Mukisa into our family. We would like to take this
chance to review the year with you through pictures as we remember all the Lord has done.

We praise the Lord for all He has done this past year; for the ministry, our protection and our family. Thank you
for being a part of all of it through your prayer and support.  We look forward to what this New Year holds.

In Him,

Brian Jill and Luke

To see our update with all the pictures, please click on the link below

kanyikedec

Hebrews 10:24-25 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

Dear Friends and Family,
First of all we would like to thank everyone for praying for us and Luke. He has adjusted very well. It is as though he has always been with us. We cannot stop giving thanks and praise to the Lord for this precious gift we have been given.

This month we wanted to focus on some of the mission trips that have been taking place. Right before Luke came home Brian and I along with another couple from Calvary Chapel Kampala, Greg and Josephine, went on a missions trip to Kitgum, in northern Uganda. This area was one of the heaviest hit areas during the time of the LRA. It left the people scared and untrusting. Now that there has been time of peace the people are beginning to open up and the fields are getting ready for harvest. We have had missionaries up there for about 5 years now and it is amazing to see how God has been using them to reach the people of Kitgum.

There were many purposes of our mission to Kitgum. First of all was to help out the McCourtney’s, a missionary couple who live there. The wife was going for a brief trip to the States and I went to help look after 10 of their children while she was gone. Brian went to help the husband with a church plant he has begun in a village about 2 hours away from Kitgum. The couple who were with us were on a mini vision tour. They are about to get married and are praying about moving to Kitgum to help with the ministry there.
Also while we there a team from the states was there ministering alongside another missionary, Erica.

We could not believe how quickly time flew by. I love Kitgum and the people speak Acholi so it reminded me of when I lived in the refugee camp. For the most part my ministry in Kitgum was to care for the children and I had a lot of fun doing so. I did get to go one evening with the team to an orphanage ran by a friend of mine called Lois. Brian preached at the village Orom church plant, which meets under a tree while Greg and Josephine taught Sunday school. They were blessed to see people come to the Lord. They also began to dig the foundation for a hut so Zane and others can stay the night there when doing ministry.

We were all able to attend Calvary Chapel Kitgum on Sunday and have a time of fellowship with all the missionaries and the visiting team.

What a blessing to be a part of the body of Christ and to have one another for encouragement and assistance.

Missions is the heart of Calvary Chapel Kampala. We desire to see people reached, discipled and sent out. At almost any given time there is some type of mission taking place from our church. Most often it is locally and som times further away like Kitgum or even a little further away like Kenya or Sudan. This month as a church we have done something we have never done before and that is to send a small team on an overseas mission trip. Mohan, who is the missions pastor at Calvary Chapel Kampala went with just one other, Carlos, to Sri Lanka. They both have had a burden for those who have been oppressed by the recently ended civil war as well as a desire to meet with and encourage the Christians there.

If you did not know I was able to go to Sri Lanka immediately after the Tsunami. Since that time Sri Lanka has held a very dear place on my heart. If it could have been possible I would have loved to have been on this trip.

Instead of telling you second hand about the trip I am going to include a personal update from Mohan and Carlos.

“Greetings from Carlos & myself from Colombo, Sri Lanka. Thank You very much for praying for us, as we have clearly witnessed the hand of God as well as His favor upon our lives.
We are partnering with BELIEVERS CHURCH (there are 98 of them all over the country). The hospitality that we have received is amazing wherever we go.
Our first week’s update is that we traveled to a village that is 180km from Colombo in Kurunegala district to work with a Pastor (Maindha) who hails from a Buddhist background and has his church for 10 years. By God’s grace, he has withstood many persecutions in his time over there and has about 40-50 believers. His prayer a few days ago was that he would go house to house and do evangelism because he has been only distributing tracts. Hence, the Lord met his desire to do the same as well doing a Jesus film in a believer’s home. The church has been blessed by the evangelism,teaching and praying for the people. On Wednesday night we had prayed for an old woman who had sleepless nights, but she came on Friday evening and witnessed that she was able to sleep well since then. Also, on a house visit a young son told his Dad (an alcoholic) to go to church and see the Jesus film, to which he came and even got prayed for. By the grace of God, we have done our responsibility and trust absolutely that God would do his part since he alone is sovereign.”
PRAYER REQUESTS
Pray for fruit to come from the missions trips to Kitgum and Sri Lanka and continued vision for further mission opportunities

Please pray for those who have come to Lord, to grow and get further discipleship

Pray for the up coming midterm exams at the Bible College.
Pray for Luke to continue to be healthy and for all the legalities involved with his adoption.

Pray for Brian’s pastoral ministries and teaching at the church.

Pray for Jill as she continues ministry to the women and overseeing the Home fellowships.

Pray for Brian and Jill’s finances as they need to raise at least $500 more a month

Thank you for your continued prayers and Support.
In Him,
Brian, Jill and Luke