Another year of ministry in Uganda has come and (too quickly) gone by. This has been YEAR 10 for our family serving in Uganda, and each year seems to get busier and go by faster. Here are a few highlights of the year in ministry:

Disciplemaking Groups – Life-On-Life Disciplemaking is the very CORE of who we are as missionaries and at the Mbale Mission. Seeing the Holy Spirit transform people in head, heart, and hands is our central goal, and relational disciplemaking is how we see Him moving. We are always focused on discipling people to follow Jesus, form their lives around Jesus, and be faithful to the mission of Jesus. At the beginning of 2025, we had one woman’s discipleship group and one men’s discipleship group, which Gina and I were co-leading, respectively. By June, both of those groups had concluded their monthly meetings and each member was “sent out” to make disciples in their communities. But something really cool began in April…two NEW women’s disciplemaking groups formed in LOCAL LANGUAGES for groups of churches who are nearby one another. Peace and Grace each helped to launch these new groups, one in Kumi (speaking Ateso) and one in Namisindwa (speaking Lumasaba), along with NEW co-leaders. These two groups have been meeting twice a month since April, and in October, began going through the Steps to Freedom with each member. This step in taking the disciplemaking groups into local languages marks an important growth in the Disciplemaking model of the Mbale Mission, and we are all very excited to see what comes next! Also in April of this year, I (Leland) started a NEW young men’s disciplemaking group here in town at the Mbale Church of Christ, with Peter as my co-leader. We invited all the young men to join us at 8am on Sunday morning, before church begins each week. We share about life, the Word of God, and how Jesus wants to impact EVERY aspect of our lives. It has been a really exciting group to walk with, and we’ve been so impressed by the 12 young men who are committed to meeting every week.

Discovery Bible Study – The ministry continues to emphasize personal and communal Bible study as a way to access, understand, and be transformed by the Word of God. We find the DBS model practical and feasible for ALL churches to create, build, multiply, and continue…so we continue training these churches. We also follow-up with churches and Bible study groups to see how they are doing, encourage them to form more groups, and also give Bibles and resources to those who have shown they are committed to studying God’s Word. We have been able to distribute more than 450 Bibles through DBS groups in 2025, including 20 audio Bibles (a new resource to us this year). We LOVE being able to share the Word of God – and we love to encourage churches to LOVE reading it for themselves.

Church Visits – Every year we spend many Sundays visiting local village churches to encourage, teach, and advise the church members and leaders. This is something that is very dear and special to all of us, especially because relationships require being together. This past year we visited 22 village churches for Sunday morning worship services, an additional 15 churches mid-week for different meetings, and several “Cluster” gatherings (groups of churches near one another who meet monthly to strengthen each other). These church visits allow us to maintain a level of accountability and understanding of the needs of churches, while also strengthening the bonds between us. In addition to these “regular” church visits, we also made two long-distance trips to visit churches several hours away. We took a trip in April to far Northern Uganda to visit the 12 churches in that area. We taught on DBS, Lord’s Supper, and shared a meal together (a MUST in Ugandan culture). Then in September we traveled to Lira and Dokolo and visited the two groups of churches in those areas. We followed up on previous DBS trainings we had done, as well as encouraged several churches in their construction projects. These long-distance trips are hard, and the relationships are even harder to foster, but we realize they are also important as long as we continue to work with these churches.

Conferences – Conferences give us a chance to gather many people together in one place, from different churches, and teach them all the same thing. MANY blessings came out of these gatherings in 2025! First we hosted 180 women in January 2025 to focus on Remaining in Christ. Then in April, we hosted our FIRST EVER Men’s Conference attended by 110 men from across Eastern Uganda, with teaching on Godly Manhood. In July, we hosted our annual Leader’s Conference for all church leaders. We had more than 140 leaders from 69 churches to help us Grow Up from Ephesians 4. That conference is our most important yearly conference and the participation was really great! In September, we joined our friends from other regions in Uganda at the NTCC National Conference, hosted by Jinja churches of Christ this year. That gathering is one of fellowship, encouragement, and mutual care. In October, we hosted a Marriage Conference for couples to attend and strengthen their marriages, so that they can become more Christ-centered. We were amazed to have more than 65 married couples attend and participate together, which is such a rare but incredibly important thing. We hosted our annual Youth Conference in December after schools went on break for Christmas. We hosted 386 youth from 58 churches, and taught about Developing a Resilient Faith amidst life’s ongoing challenges. And finally, we had planned to host a women’s conference in January 2026, but because of Uganda national elections we decided to bring it forward into December, as well. It made for a VERY busy December schedule, but we had 178 women attend, with spiritual focus on Colossians 2, Being Alive in Christ. Each of these conferences was encouraging and fun to be a part of, but they take so much effort, resources, work, and sacrifice from many people that we know we cannot sustain this pattern in the future. We have had planning conversations about how to can move forward with each kind of conference while also empowering and enabling clusters of churches to also organize for themselves such conferences in their local areas. We hope that our outlook for 2026 will include some of those much needed changes.

Messiah Theological Institute – MTI continues to train, equip, and disciple leaders from local churches. This was our 24th graduation of MTI, and it was a great group of students. There were 16 students who graduated in the Basic Level and 12 students who graduated in Advanced Level. We had 4 students attend all year from FAR northern Uganda, which required a full day of travel each direction for them. This allowed us to pour into them in ways we had not been able to do previously. The classes focused on basic theology principles, such as the authority of Scripture, OT and NT Survey, the Life of Christ, and the Holy Spirit. We also offered courses on Spiritual Warfare, Servant Leadership, Practical Christianity, and Restoration Principles for Africa, building on the basics and going deeper. The teachers did a great job throughout the year of teaching, engaging, and building up the students. Beyond the classroom, our efforts on relational disciplemaking continue to be the CORE of ministry, even inside of MTI. We had four disciplemaking groups led by all Ugandan leaders who have been discipled over the years. These groups focus on life-on-life discipleship and discuss transformation of everyday lives. And from all of this, we also witnessed the students leading their own DBS groups AND Disciplemaking groups in their churches/communities…the spirit of multiplying in real action!

Construction Projects – Every year we try to partner with churches who are constructing church buildings, as friends are supposed to do here. Sharing resources and contributing to one another’s efforts is a HUGE part of relationship here in Uganda, so while constructing buildings isn’t our vision, it does play an important part in the relational connection between us and churches. This work lays a foundation for relational disciplemaking! This year, we were blessed to be able to help ____ churches construct permanent church buildings on land that they own, providing long-term stability for the congregations and strengthening their presence in the community. We always share with them that discipling people to follow Jesus, form their lives around Jesus, and be faithful to the mission of Jesus is MUCH more important than constructing church buildings, but they do appreciate the protection from rain and sunshine that the roofs provide.

Community Development – When Jesus cares for the physical suffering and condition of the people who were following Him, He demonstrates for us that Christ-like disciplemaking should also include elements of physical growth. This is ever-present in a country where poverty is the most common reality, and within the churches we work with, it is the norm. So when Jesus tells us to feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, care for the sick, and visit the prisoners, he is telling us that we can’t just care for the spiritual condition of people we are discipling; we must also help when and where we are able. This is the heart of the community development projects that we’ve started here in Uganda. In recent years, we have been able to help launch goat and sheep projects in local churches, where the church members work together to raise animals and, as they multiply, each member is able to benefit from the project. In these instances, after all the church members have received their goats/sheep, the church then blesses the neighbors with gifts from the offerings the church receives. We have seen these animals multiply and increase so that more families benefit from the security of owning animals. It’s the right kind of pyramid scheme, where the blessings go down to all members! In addition to livestock, we’ve also customized a small-scale savings group model for churches that work with us. This is called Village Savings & Loans (VSL) groups, and it provides access to capital for local farmers, business people, and families. This year, we have trained 8 new churches on the VSL model, forming 12 savings groups. One such group, after only six months of saving and small loans, had a total value of over $3,000 (which may not seem like a lot to most Americans, but to Ugandans who live on less than $2/day, that’s a HUGE impact). Each groups requires $100 to begin (savings box and kit) and less than $100 to hold the series of four trainings over the course of a year; so for $200 or less, each group can begin saving and providing small loans to its members. It’s hard to grasp how big of an impact this is on a nation of 45 million people but only 6 million bank accounts – the limits that banks have put on families and businesses to grow, adapt, and deal with emergencies can’t be overstated. VSL is a low-cost way to create massive impact for large swaths of Ugandans.

Personal stories of reflection, growth, transformation…
Beyond the numbers of churches visited or students trained or projects started are the STORIES of people who are impacted by the Lord through the ministry. These lives tell a deeper story about what God is able to do – and IS DOING – when people wholeheartedly submit to His will!

Freedom From Bondage – One young men, who I will call E, experienced freedom from bondage to the enemy through the power of Jesus and the Spirit of God. He had been struggling with sexual temptation, dreams, and sin for many years, and he reached out asking for advice. So we spent a day walking through Steps to Freedom to address different elements of his life where he had continued living by the flesh and given permission to the enemy. As we moved step by step, I watched as E openly confessed all kinds of areas that he had not given over to the Lord’s presence: past sin, generational sin, witchcraft and idolatry, other religious practices, unforgiveness/bitterness, fear, and so much more. And with each step, E gained more clarity and freedom from things that had chained him to his old self, before Christ took ownership of him. When we finished, E felt (and looked) lighter and more joyful. In the weeks after, E testified that his temptations had not only reduced, but that his ability to overcome them had been strengthened; all by the power of the Lord Jesus Christ!

Born Again In Jesus – Early in the year, Gina and I had been talking to Adalyn about her own faith journey and where she stands with Jesus. She was asking important questions to personalize her relationship with the Lord, and genuinely seeking how to grow closer to Him. She has obviously grown-up around the church and Jesus, but her own faith journey was kickstarting. We studied God’s Word and looked at how we reply to God’s call to be His children. Then in May, she made the leap of faith to give her life to Christ in baptism. We were so overjoyed and excited to celebrate her rebirth into Jesus, and I was honored to baptize her here in Uganda. It was a special day full of celebration!