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By Moses Mulondo
Have you ever wondered why there are fewer gospel crusades today than in the past? Crusades — open-air gospel rallies — were a common occurrence in the late 1980s and 1990s in different parts of Uganda. However, today they seem to be a thing of the past.
Talk about gospel crusades evokes memories of prominent evangelists like T. L. Osborne, Reinhard Bonnke, Deo Balabyekkubo, Dr. Joseph Serwadda, Pastor Robert Kayanja, Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi, Father Joseph Bill and many others.
“I remember in the early 1990s I dedicated six years to evangelism during which I used to hold four gospel crusades in different parts of Kampala every day. Our gospel efforts laid a firm foundation for the Pentecostal church in Uganda,” says Dr. Joseph Serwadda, one of Uganda’s renowned evangelists
Serwadda believes the devil has deceived the Church into ignoring crusades and urges all born-again Christians to resume holding gospel crusades in different parts of Uganda. He says this will strengthen the Church and check on the soaring immorality.
“One of the major missions of the Born Again Faith Federation is to take evangelism to a higher level and we have already started with Jinja. We shall do the same frequently in different parts of Uganda,” Serwadda says.
But Bishop Steven Ssenfuma of United Christian Church, Kasubi, thinks the reason behind the fewer crusades today is that the churches are now full of Christians.
“In the past, we had to have many crusades because the Pentecostal church in Uganda was new and facing lots of resistance. That is why crusades had to be organised so that the public could understand our message so that we could get followers,” Ssenfuma said.
Pastor Simeon Kayiwa believes the reason crusades have reduced is because of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the Pentecostal churches which has resulted in the multiplication of miracles, signs, and wonders
“Just as people used to look for Jesus to witness his miracles and in the process he preached to them, non-believers keep flooding to our churches to witness the power of God in the process of which they get saved. That is why although fewer crusades are held nowadays, the number of people getting saved is skyrocketing,” Kayiwa said shortly after a woman called him testifying that her doctor had confirmed that she had been healed of HIV after he prayed for her.
Kayiwa said as more signs, miracles and wonders intensify in the churches, more and more souls will be won into salvation.
“A person can convene crusades but if there is no manifestation of the power of God, very few souls may be harvested,” Kayiwa said.
Bishop David Kiganda, the overseer of Born Again Churches in Kampala, admits that the reduction in the gospel crusades is the result of the shift in attention from evangelism to building and acquiring mores assets and projects.
“In the last 10 years emphasis shifted from evangelism to building churches and setting up projects like orphanages. As such, resources that would have been spent on crusades, have been spent on such new developments,” Kiganda explained.
“But I think we somehow went wrong because Jesus’ prime interest is the souls and not buildings and projects. As we are busy building, souls are perishing. We need to wake up and make the gospel our number one priority over everything we do because that is the major commission Jesus gave us,” he said.
Apostle Alex Mitala, the overseer of National Fellowship of Born Again Pentecostal Churches, argued that crusades may not be the most effective avenue of evangelism today.
“At the crusade, only one person preaches and others are just looking on. But if we could put emphasis on methods where everyone preaches, like door to door and encouraging every Christian to be the light and salt in his community, the impact would be tremendous.”
“The major reason immorality is skyrocketing yet over 80% of Ugandans claim to be Christians is because religious leaders are preaching the wrong message. There is a problem in the church leadership whether in the traditional or Pentecostal churches. The gospel has been corrupted. The messages are not transformational. And there are few people who practise what they preach,” Mitala reasoned.
Apostle Mitala said an effective gospel calls first for a shift from useless messages to messages that will transform people within the Church and after, that those who have been transformed can go out and preach.
Kabowa Redeemed Church senior pastor Elijah Kintu thinks the reason gospel crusades reduced is because believers have “fattened” themselves.
“A fattened person is more attracted to material possessions than investing in the gospel. That is why these days the gospel of prosperity is more common than that of holiness. The Church is in a backslidden state and all we need is a spiritual revival,” Pastor Kintu argued.
In both the old and new Testaments, preaching the gospel is the main responsibility that God gave to his servants. For instance in Ezekiel 3:17-18.
Apostle John Mulinde of World Trumpet Mission believes that it is the increased unholy priesthood and wickedness in the Church that has caused the reduction in gospel crusades.
“But if we repent and seek to restore godliness in the Church, the Lord promises to pour out a fresh anointing of His spirit and there shall be another wave of revival in the nation. He promises to restore a passion for the lost souls and will grant great soul harvests to the churches,” Mulinde said.
But suppose your commander assigned you to disrupt an opposition rally, whereby you inevitably have to flog or even shoot at innocent Ugandans, wouldn’t you obey the order?
Of course as a soldier, I am expected to obey the orders from my bosses. But Jesus, who calls us to salvation, always protects us from all kinds of dangers and temptations. When he was commissioning his disciples, he promised to be with them in every situation, till the end (Matthew 28:20).
Jesus also promised them the holy spirit, who gives courage, strength, wisdom and knowledge. I have a testimony to this. I have never been given an assignment which is perceived as controversial by the public. My point here is that God, who calls you to salvation, also makes sure that he protects you from assignments which are likely to jeopardise your salvation.
Published on: Saturday, 9th May, 2009
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