On Wednesday, 20th July 2016, the aircraft carrying the Chief Apostle Jean-Luc-Schneider landed at Entebbe International Airport. Entebbe is 40km from Kampala, the capital city of Uganda. The Chief Apostle was accompanied by District Apostle Michael Deppner (Congo West), District Apostle Noel Banes (Cape), District Apostle helper Arnold Mhango (Malawi) and the host District Apostle Joseph Ekhuya (East Africa).
On Thursday 21st July 2016, the Chief Apostle and his entourage left Kampala city for Jinja, some 79 km away. They visited Nyenga Congregation on the way. The congregation of Nyenga has 110 members and it origin dates back to 1988 when some brothers among them Apostle James Kimera preached the gospel at Nyenga Market. Since 1988, the congregation has relocated three times around the region, but today they have a permanent building constructed by members with financial assistance from the church administration. The excitement and joy of the congregation to receive the chief apostle was evident. The children’s choir welcomed the Chief Apostle to their well maintained and clean compound with songs and poem. In his 10 minutes speech, the Chief Apostle taught the congregation the importance of prayer and planted a tree in the church compound before leaving with his entourage for a tour of the source of River Nile. At the same time, Apostles from all over East Africa started arriving in Kampala to join the Chief Apostle and to participate in the scheduled Divine services and meetings.
On Friday, 22nd July 2016, the chief Apostle conducted the ministers and their wives Divine Service. Ministers with their wives from all over Uganda started taking their seats in the hall early in the morning. It was the first time that they have experienced this kind of divine service by the Chief Apostle. As a basis for the divine service, the Chief Apostle used the word from Mathew 9:37-38 (“Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. “Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”). He expanded on the word by saying that the ministry is a holy mission. Ministers have been sent by the Lord Jesus to his harvest to do soul care. This entails knowing the children of God, sharing their concerns, crying with them, praying with them and not only serving at the altar”. At the end of the divine service, the congregation of 468 attendees sang a happy birthday song to the retired District Apostle Shadreck Lubasi. The Chief Apostle wished the retired District Apostle a happy and blessed birthday.
On Saturday, 23rd July 2016, it was time for the East African apostles and Ugandan Bishops to have a meeting with the Chief Apostle. The topic of the meeting was on Humility of the servants of God and the humility of the church as a whole. In the afternoon, Chief Apostle and his entourage attended a one hour music concert that was arranged by the main and children’s choirs. A colorful concert brought a lot of happiness to all who attended.
Sunday 24th July 2016 was the climax of the visit. The Chief Apostle conducted a festive divine service from Imperial Royale Hotel. Many children of God had travelled by buses to come and attend the Divine service. 3,064 members attended the festive divine service and over 80,000 were connected via television in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya. As a basis of the divine service the Chief Apostle used the word in; Luke 8:16 ’No one, when he has lit a lamp, covers it with a vessel or puts it under a bed, but sets it on a lampstand, that those who enter may see the light’ . By expanding on the bible text, the children of God learnt four meanings of the light that God sends. Jesus as a light; the word of God as a light, Living Apostles as a light and all believers as a light to the world. “We are the light sent by Jesus to lighten the world, let’s accept his mission, concluded the Chief Apostle.
