A Beacon of Hope

Africa Renewal Ministries is the ministry that Bethany Village was birthed from. This ministry is operating all over Uganda.

They are educating orphans.

They are providing food, shelter, medicine, and other basic needs to many.

They are providing homes for orphans.

They are training pastors.

They are training youth to be leaders.

They are teaching youth about AIDS and other concerns.

They are giving kids the opportunity to go to university.

They are being Jesus to a hurting country. It is quite beautiful.

There is this group of believers that make up a church community in a certain town in Uganda. They thought, “how can we be a part of bringing the Kingdom of Jesus here to the broken people around us?”This group of people discovered what Jesus said for us to do, in order to be a light, or to be a beacon of hope, is to love the hurting, to restore the broken.

They discovered what Jesus meant about the Body of Christ when he said “be as one so that the world will come to know me.”These believers depend on one another, encourage one another, admonish one another, and simply love one another. And the hurting people around them have seen it. And the hurting people around them said, “I don’t know what to do with this child. Who will take care of it?. . . Let’s bring it to the church.”“I cannot afford to get my child food or an education and I don’t know anyone who can help me—Let’s talk to the church.”“I don’t know what to do with my life. I have no education. I have nothing. What can I do? I will go to the church.”“I have a disease. . .I am sick. . . There is nowhere to go to make me better. What will I do? I will go to the church.”

And so they come to Ggaba community church. And the people that make up the church give orphans homes. They transform the lives that these kids could have. Literally. They transform them.I’ve seen it with my own eyes. These people find other people who have lots of money (called “sponsors”) who will give just $30 a month to pay for one of those kids who’s parents have no money so that they can go to school and get a couple of meals a day. Five-thousand children are going to school, getting food and a future because 5000 people around the world give them $30 a month.

And because a group of Believers said, “I’ll stand up for the weak. I’ll seek justice for the helpless. I’ll stand in the gap. I’ll be the middle man. I’ll raise awareness. I’ll use my voice for the voiceless. I’ll do whatever it takes.” These people help pay for young adults to go to university so they can further transform Ugandan society. These people give hurting people a “future and a hope.”

These people are God’s plan of salvation--in action.

Ggaba Community church, the primary and secondary school here, the ARMs offices, the day care, the Clinic—this all makes up the compound of hope.

And this place is literally on the same street as complete poverty. Like, one second you are surround by children learning, people working hard to care for others, Christians singing and praying—and then the next step you take, you are surrounded by poverty, shacks, brokenness.

This is what the church is meant to be.

A place where hurting people go for a future and a hope.