wfn.org | United Methodists plan projects for Uganda

[NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG]

Oct. 24, 2000 News media contact: Linda Bloom·(212) 870-3803·New York
10-31-71B{484}

By United Methodist News Service

A support group for the United Methodist Church in Uganda is planning
projects for 2001 now that the reorganized church is officially registered
and recognized by the Ugandan government.

Administrative and financial improprieties had led the denomination to
terminate the clergy membership of one church leader, Solomon Muwanga, and
re-register with the government. The new registration of the United
Methodist Church of Uganda occurred in May, according to Clyde Anderson, a
United Methodist Board of Global Ministries executive.

The Ugandan church is now in the hands of three able district
superintendents, led by the Rev. Daniel Wandabula, Anderson said. Relations
with the Ugandan government are good, he said, and new property has been
registered to the Board of Global Ministries to avoid the loss of property
that occurred before.

The mission agency is addressing needs in Uganda through its comprehensive
plan for East Africa and part of the $500,000 allotted to East Africa
through the board's Millennium Fund. "Those are the funds being used
currently," Anderson explained in an Oct. 23 interview.

The agency also works with U.S. partners on mission projects in the country.
One such group is United with Uganda, whose members have supported ministry
there during the past decade. At a September meeting of United with Uganda,
several plans were discussed, among them:

·	Building a United Methodist orphanage for 250 students with
assistance from Ashburn (Va.) United Methodist Church. Land has been
acquired, and teams could begin work as early as next February.
	
·	Deploying volunteer teams, coordinated through the Minnesota chapter
of United with Uganda, to assist in construction of a secondary school
building at New Hope Orphanage in Luwero, Uganda. The New Hope Orphanage is
an independent project supported by various denominations.
	
·	Sending a teaching team of four to six people, along with the New
Hope volunteers, to hold three to four days of classes in each of Uganda's
United Methodist districts.

The group heard from the Rev. Fred Bamalutira, a Ugandan pastor studying at
United Methodist-related Perkins Theological Seminary in Dallas, about the
extreme financial hardships faced by pastors in his country. In response,
they pledged to recruit churches to support one pastor each, at a monthly
cost of $50, and to work with the Board of Global Ministries to establish a
way of distributing the funds.

United with Uganda also is targeting the first phase of construction for a
district mission center in the Busia District next fall. The multipurpose
building would include an office, communication center, library, training
facility and worship space.

The organization's next consultation will be March 23-24 in Pittsburgh. More
information on United with Uganda is available by calling the Rev. Mark
Rader at (507) 937-3177 or sending an e-mail to msrader@clear.lakes.com.  

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United Methodist News Service
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