Pastor Peter is very work know. He started as the pastor of New Life Baptist Church, and now works as the General Secretary of the Baptist Union of Uganda, overseeing 2000 church’s across Uganda. We met and had a good discussion about our future relationship. He’s very keen that this isn’t a once off trip, and that we start small by focusing on New Life Church, and then in future widen the scope to the other church’s he over sees, which is really exciting. He’s also keen for me to bring a team with me at some point to minister in Uganda, and also to organise to Ugandans to come here on mission. A very exciting opportunity, which I’m sure we will explore further when I do some work with them later in my trip.
His vision for the Baptist Union has two strands, one is in the work they are currently doing, supporting the local ministers. The second a more business perspective, which would then fund the work they are doing. He wants to see the local church forming credit unions, and putting away small amounts of money so they have finances available to lend, and then teaching entrepreneurial skills and using the credit unions to support the starting of businesses. I think the aim is the church comes in like an investor, with the startup capital, that allows the business to grow and find its feet. Then the dividend paid enable it to help more people start them own enterprises, buying cars for taxi services, or animals for farmyards. Whatever the enterprise in the church becomes a central point that facilitates that changes and lifts people out of poverty and into independence. He saw his church’s becoming providers, and then he would be able to facilitate get the product to market, with 2k churches involved, you could create a pretty good supply, and start looking at some bigger distribution platforms.
Profile: Pastor Peter Mugabi
