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Micro Enterprise Development Through the Church
TentMaker Profile: Fred Kabenge The following article, written by one of the recipients of a loan from The TentMaker Project, is reprinted from the April 2005 Update Newsletter from Westminster Seminary in California. In Uganda, when a person becomes a Christian, he may face social persecution. This is ironic in a country where the majority of the people profess to be Christian. Since the first Anglican missionaries' arrival in 1877, the Anglican and Catholic churches have had significant numbers of people subscribing to their memberships. However, as time progressed, the commitment of those who had embraced the faith started to decline. For many, being a Christian is a mere formality. Many feel they qualify to enter heaven because the bishop laid his hands on them to be baptized. They believe they are Christian because they attend church, go to church activities, and participate in the communion. But when they go out of the doors of the church, they believe they are free to do whatever they want and firmly engage in traditional African beliefs, such as animism. Personally, I'm a case in point, because my entire family believed strongly in animism. We used to go to an Anglican church, actively participating in all the church events. However, back at home, we strongly believed we couldn't survive just by faith. We needed to trust in ancestral spirits, pay allegiance to the spirits and appease them. When troubles came our way, we had no problem consulting a witch doctor. In 1983, I became a Christian through an article distributed at my high school by local preachers. Through the article, I learned about the sin problem that hovers over all mankind and what God has done to bring reconciliation between himself and man. What struck me was the fact that although all men are sinful in the sight of God, God through Christ had dealt with the sin problem. The door was made open for all who recognize they are sinful and cannot save themselves. As I reflected on this truth, I was aware of the kind of situation I was in: although I went to church, I was far from the fact I read in that article. It drove me to ask God for forgiveness, pardon my sins, and give me new life. From that point onward I was convinced that the Lord had made a transition in my life. I left the Anglican Church in 1985. This wasn't good news to my dad. He was so angry when he came to learn that I was now a serious believing Christian, wanting nothing to do with mystic practices. He thought I was rejecting the roots in which I had been raised. I tried to explain to him that I had discovered true faith in Christ through the gospel, and this was something I had not at any given point heard at the Anglican Church. My father gave me two choices, to quit the Christian church or to be disassociated from my family. Disownment is one of the most severe punishments in Uganda because family is the totality of a person's identity. Unlike the western world where the nuclear family is emphasized, in Uganda, family is about extended relations. Families make up clans. Disownment extends to the clans. Membership to a clan is essential in Ugandan society. Basically, apart from a clan, you are a stranger - you don't belong anywhere. I decided that I couldn't give up my Christ and was ready to pay the price. As a result, my father kicked me out of my family. Since I left my father's house with only the clothes on my back, I had nothing. But I trusted the Lord to take care of me. My brother let me stay in a partially built house he was constructing. There, I started sleeping on the ground with a small covering. For almost three years, I lived in that kind of destitute situation. Whenever my father would see me having any interaction with my family, he would try to strike me. In 1989, my father died very bitter against me. I'm the second youngest of a family of 12. After my father's death, my siblings decided to welcome me back to the family. From what I was going through, some of my family members were challenged and saw the Lord's faithfulness. One of my sisters and a brother came to faith. Looking back, I am glad I went through that period because I grew closer to the Lord. God gave me a deep love and desire for his Word, a great comfort to me when I was alienated from everybody. What really kept me going was the understanding that I had a bigger family, a bigger clan - a clan that didn't consist of a narrow understanding of aunts or uncles, but a universal, eternal clan. This understanding made me know that what I lost from being disowned wasn't too difficult to endure compared to what I gained in Christ. The Lord took care of me, sheltered me from whatever danger I may have run into, and kept me alive. From that point to now, I've come to realize I don't have a friend in this world like our Lord Jesus Christ. It took me 14 years waiting for the opportunity to study at a seminary. I chose to come to WSC to be exposed more to conservative Reformed faith. With the generous and faithful support of the First Presbyterian Church in Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia and North City Presbyterian Church in Poway, California and through a scholarship from WSC, I have been able to study here. I really appreciate all the support I have had. Undeniably, the Lord provides. When I get back home to Uganda, I'm planning to resume pastoral ministry in Mutungo Community Presbyterian Church in Kampala and to teach the New Testament again at WTC. I also want to engage in further church planting and evangelism, as I did before I came to WSC. Ministry in Uganda is not as it is here in the U.S. You don't graduate from seminary and get a call somewhere with a financial package and housing in place. In Uganda, you get placed in a church without being certain how you will survive. The people in the church are in a sadder financial situation than you and cannot support you as a pastor. We understand our people's poverty. They love the Lord and want to support the ministry but are unable. When I came to the ministry in 1995, the church tried their best to pay me. But what can you ever do with ten dollars a month? But that's the best they could do. Yet if you feel that God has called you to ministry, you feel the obligation to serve. We cannot just sit back and start lamenting about our poverty. There is a need to step out and try to find possible solutions to this dilemma. As a minister, you understand your situation and try to find a way to best live and to do ministry.
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Thus, those in ministry need to engage in tent-making. My former pastor
used to do house-painting. When I began working in the ministry, I bought
a motorbike [using a loan from The TentMaker Project] which was rented out
for my weekly income. But when I came to America, I left that small
business in the hands of a nephew. Another guy, who wasn't a Christian,
was operating my motorbike and took advantage of my absence. The bike
broke down, and the whole establishment has been ruined. When I return, I
am going back to that situation. But as I said before, those of us in
ministry in Uganda feel obligated to serve because we have been called. I
know my situation. Yet, more than that, I know that the Lord will provide
and will help me survive. Of this, I am certain.