04.06.02 My Personal Experience on Becoming a Value-Adding Church Member

My Ministry in Churches

A Personal Experience

My husband (then boyfriend) and I got ‘born-again’ in March 1985 during one of TL Osborne’s crusades held in Lugogo, Kampala, Uganda, where Pastor Robert Kayanja was the interpreter. We had been consistently attending his lunch-hour fellowship called ‘Miracle Centre’ at William Street by then but had not accepted Jesus until that crusade.

Before getting saved, I was singing with two major secular groups, ‘Mixed Talents’ being one of them. Apparently, a guy from Kings College Buddo had come up with the idea of putting up music shows branded ‘Mixed Talents’ which featured the crème de la crème of musicians in Kampala City. And I had been invited as one of the singers-cum-solo artist together with a few of my schoolmates, having completed our A levels at Gayaza High School where I had been singing all the way from Gayaza Junior. That was how I got exposed to very high-quality music albeit secular, since all instrumentalists were professional musicians; rubbing shoulders with legends such as Philly Lutaaya, Elly Wamala, Afrigo band and many others. And indeed, in no time, I had become a celebrity. However, I had to drop secular music after being born-again.

The first church I attended was Home of the Redeemed Society of the Lord, which is now called Redeemed of the Lord Evangelistic Church (ROLEC); and it has been my home church to date. ROLEC had a resident choir, the Living Sound Gospel Singers, headed by Stephen Ogwang. We became friends with Stephen instantly. Surprisingly, I started ministering in special songs right away especially since he was excited that a reknowned secular musician had gotten saved. Plus, my unique performances were beginning to captivate some audiences in church congregations. However, young as I was in the ‘things of the spirit’, it did not take long before I heard the voice of the Holy Spirit instructing me to stop singing, saying that my style was not what God needed. I had to go off-stage for some months, be transformed and wait on Him until I got express instructions to start a band, Shalom Galaxy in 1987, which would strictly focus on gospel music as a ministry. With that came three visions which changed my voice to a completely different tone to the extent that I could no longer trust, rely on or pride in the one that I had used during secular performances. Since then, I have had numberless opportunities to add value to churches through ministering in gospel music.

In addition to being a member of ROLEC, I have had the privilege of attending other churches in the diaspora. The first one was Walsall Pentecostal Church which is now called Legacy Church in the United Kingdom where I had gone for a four-months course, having been awarded a scholarship by the British Council. Next was Armidale Christian Centre in Australia during my Master of Economics course which was sponsored by the Australian International Development Bureau (AIDAB). When working in Tanzania, we were members of Calvary Temple – Tanzania Assemblies of God (TAG) church in Arusha for 10 years after which we shifted to Dar es Salaam since that was closer to most of our clients. We were members of Dar es Salaam Pentecostal Church from then.

In addition to music ministry, God has offered us (my husband and I) many opportunities to add value to the churches we have attended. One which comes vividly to mind is our role as the Heads of the Marrieds Fellowship at Dar es Salaam Pentecostal Church, a responsibility which my husband and I held for some years. During that time, we were able to lead a team that organised several events for the marrieds, including conferences, couples’ weekends out, annual family day; and movie nights to mention a few. We witnessed many marriages strengthened. And although we do not live in Dar at the time of writing this book, we are glad to report that those events still continue; and glorify God for having given us that noble opportunity to serve.

I have also been involved in mentoring men and women of various age groups and professions in areas such as career development, courtship, marriage, parenting and christian walk in general; as well as offering financial and material support for start-ups and business expansion; as well as for personal use.