Here in the North Eastern Diocese we are towards the end of the season for confirmation worship services.  Almost quarter (1/4) of the congregations have had youths confirmation and adult baptisms ceremonies between June to this month. It has been, as it used to be, a blessing period. It is worth praising God to be engaged in these high moments and to witness very important events for the growth of our church. One among those blessed occasions I want to share with you is what we witnessed at Malibwi Congregation on Sunday 24th August 2008. This was my last congregation visitation of the said month as regarding confirmation/adult baptism worship services.

The worship service was scheduled to start at about 08:30 but to be preceded by dedication of church building at Kireti, one of the sub-congregations. After the worship service at Kireti we drove for about 10 km. towards the center of the congregation at Malibwi.  The service was to be held in a football pitch about 100 meters from the church building. When driving passing the grounds towards the pastor’s residence I said to my self, why these people did chose to have worship service in such a big place! By the time we were driving through the grounds there were just few people roaming around. The worship service started some minutes past ten. By the time we came back to the worship place already there were more people than before. Some of the Pastors went to collect the youths to be confirmed and the catechumens from the location they were. Together we marched towards the worship place led by trumpet group.

As we continued with the service we witnessed more people pouring into the playground from different directions. Despite the big number of worshippers yet the worship service and the things around were relatively calm and orderly. The service took about six hours and some minutes but it appeared from the crowd and the rest of us that all these hours of worship were hours of blessings.

There were so many things which impressed me, but one of them was related to a vote of appreciation aired from the speech given by those who were confirmed. Normally the confirmation groups collect money which they give on the day of their confirmation. This money is directed towards the two education institutions partly as their contribution and partly as a symbol that those institutions have much to do with the future development of young people. The two institutions which normally receive the contributions are Bangala Lutheran Juniour Seminary and Sebatian Kolowa University College (SEKUCo).

What I discovered during my recent visitations to the congregations and which touches my heart so deeply are words I heard from the mouths of those confirmed young people saying, WE ARE ADVANCING OUR CONTRIBUTIONS TO SEKUCo BUT WE OURSELVES ARE ON THE WAY THERE. These words sound to me to witness that the dream and purpose of this diocese to start a university is now towards fulfillment. People want to support the work they have started and people want to make use of the institutions they have started because they offer the best of their needs. We have been receiving contributions accompanied by such words from one congregation to another.  It is my prayers that words of the kind spoken by the confirmation groups will continue to come out of the mouths of the children, youths and adults of this diocese confessing that they have responsibility over their institutions like SEKUCo and the others which are intended for furthering the mission of God to the world.

As a tradition, after the confirmation we took those confirmed and baptized people to the church to have a last word and pray together with them. We were surprised to see that the church they have at Malibwi was not enough to accommodate those we confirmed that day. This was a clear challenge put before us that we need to have a bigger church at Malibwi. We are happy that the congregation members have started this honorable work hoping that other people and groups. It is my prayers that the Holy Spirit will continue to equip the people of Malibwi with different gifts needed for furthering the great mission work they are doing in their area.

Malibwi is just one among the experience I gain day after as I visit different congregations within our diocese. Young people are being confirmed and baptized in big numbers. Every time I stand infront of them to give a word of welcoming them after their confirmation I could feel flames of joy inside me that God has given us new people to strengthen us in his mission. But at the same time I could see the challenges we have ahead of us on how to assist these young people to have a better future. Therefore, what I come with from Malibwi congregation are both blessings and challenges which we have all over our diocese.