UEM Sunday within the Africa Region

4 June 2017- Celebration of the UEM week in Africa region: Pastors Exchange Programme planned in 11 African UEM member churches-. The 2017 Pentecost Sunday coincided with the celebration of the UEM Sunday in the Africa Region. The Rev Dr Muke Nagaju and her colleagues in the Regional Office organised a visit exchange programme of Pastors from UEM African churches, a plan which will run during the whole month of June 2017. The main purpose of this exchange is to enable African churches to learn from one another about the UEM work and share on their achievements, challenges and solutions to faced problems in their daily work. The visits will enable to learn from one another on the implementation of the UEM Corporate identity, the organisation of the UEM United Action Campaign, the guest house management, children and women ministries, hospital and university work, etc…The program will take two weeks from 1^st to 14^th June. This exchange will enable pastors to learn and share their experiences from any aspect of the visited church. This year, the theme of the week is “Self-Reliance and Resource Mobilization” focusing on a Biblical text taken from Exodus 4:2. It says “What is that in your hand? God did not give Moses additional resources but rather affirmed and used what was already in Moses’ hand”. Working questions: “What is in your hands that God can use”, to put it differently, what can and God do with what you have to create what you need’. The picture shows a photo of Pastor Ezechiel Bahimba from NWD (third from right or left) who is received by Pastors and Bishop Nathan Amooti Rusengo of EAR Cyangugu Diocese who wrote a short message to say that “the pastor Ezechiel is in good hands and all is well with him and integrated with his sisters and brothers of EAR Cyangugu Diocese”. In addition, Bishop Nathan believes that the exchange program is very important because there is a lot the people of EAR Cyangugu can learn from other UEM member churches, for example this year, it will be possible to visit both the ELCT- KAD and the ELCT. NWD in Tanzania. For this reason the team of ten heads of department from your Cyangugu diocese will visit KAD and NWD starting on 6^th to 12^th of June in the framework of exploring the UEM south -south partnership. In his message addressed to Bishop Dr Benson Bagonza of KAD and Dr Abdnego Keshomshahara of NWD, Bishop Nathan stated “I realized that you people started before us and there are things that helped you to get where you are. We can learn from mistakes made that we can avoid, successes gained that we can replicate.” The UEM Africa Department through the Regional Office is thankful for the cooperation of UEM member churches in strengthening South- south partnership. Rev Dr Muke Nagaju and Rev Dr John Wesley Kabango, UEM Africa Department.