International Cooporating Ministries CHANGING LIVES TRANSFORMING COMMUNITIES Building a great future for ordinary communities faced with impossibilities Before After WOMEN EMPOWERMENT PROJECT Transformed Hearts Transform Nations CHURCHES CONSTRUCTED IN THE REPUBLIC OF UGANDA 00 ST. PAUL CHURCH OF UGANDA TONCWINY VILLAGE - PUPWONYA ATIAK S/CTY, AMURU DISTRICT We stood with the local community in this area to mitigate the challenges of praying under the tree without a decent church structure. People hear the gospel and give their lives to Christ but most people do not have a place to worship or share the Word of God. As a ministry, we partner with ICM to ensure that decent churches are built within a walkable distance in each village and the new believers are nurtured in the Word of God. In the year 2016, Favor with the support of ICM and the local community, constructed St. Paul's Church of Uganda in Toncwiny Village, Pupwonya. Before Today, the church is speaking life and hope into the lives of the congregation members on Sundays. During the week, women and girls are being empow- ered by different non-governmental organizations and government agencies who are using the building as their training place. A cotton development organization uses the church compound as their market point for buying cotton from the local communities during harvest season. Mini Bible studies have been established and the community of Atiak is being rebuilt holistically. After 01 BUSANO CHRISTIAN CENTRE CHURCH BUNGWANYI VILLAGE, BUSANO SUB-COUNTY MBALE DISTRICT Busano Christian Center Church is perched high in the craggy hills that form part of Mount Elgon in Bugishu Sub-region. Before the church was built and dedicated on Mar 19th 2017, the temporary structure used to be a drinking joint for ‘Malwa’, a locally brewed alcohol, and also as a shrine for male circumcision commonly known as ‘Embalu’. In the year 2003, a few family members led by Pastor Margaret Mutonyi started fellowshipping in this small structure. Later they were joined by other neighbors and they grew in number that soon became a community church in 2004. Before This growing group never stopped working as they prayed. They had faith that the Lord would provide for them a much larger and better church building. Today, the congregation has grown to more than 180 members who come and worship the living God every week in the building. The MBC (Mini Bible Course) has trained many believers to teach and preach the Word of God. Members also conduct group meetings for income generation projects, while youth also come together for livelihood training. After 02 PEACE MAKERS CHURCH LALOGI, CORNER AGULA VILLAGE ODEK SUB COUNTY, OMORO DISTRICT The large number of believers in this congregation used to pray in this small grass thatched structure which was highly susceptible to destruction by strong wind, rain and wild fire. The leaders of this church went out from door to door to evangelize and they passionately shared the good news of Jesus Christ – the death and his resurrection. Many people in this spiritually dark village gave their lives to Christ and they joined the church. The church grew in number and it became impossible for them to accommodate themselves in the small grass thatched structure. Before With the support of Favour of God Ministries and International Cooperating Ministries, the church were able to build a permanent structure. The church dedication was marked by water baptism where people witnessed a greater revival and move of the Holy Spirit. Today, the building has become a classroom for the pupils during weekdays, a center for community meetings on Saturdays, church for gatherings on Sunday, and a meeting point for women's groups on Sunday evening. MBC (Mini Bible Study) course has empowered the community in reading and meditating on the Word of God, and then putting it into action. After 03 PABBO KINGDOM CITY CHURCH PABBO SUB COUNTY, AMURU DISTRICT Over the years, the community of PABBO KCCI has been struggling to establish a convenient and modern church structure to help in sharing God’s Word, building moral ethics, and act as an epic center for socio- religious and economic transformation. First, as a small Christian entity, they conducted themselves and their activities in dilapidated building threatening to collapse, but they were constrained by financial resources and the general hardships in the community. Before Today, with the help of Favour of God Ministries, the above challenges and obstacles have been mitigated and on Jan 24th, 2018, the day came for putting smiles on the faces of the community as they celebrated the milestone achieved, of a permanent place of worship. We witnessed many mighty works of God in the lives of this community, ranging from the witchdoctor giving her life to Christ, and then this being the first church in the sub-county that has been able to conduct holy matrimonial weddings, organizing annual youth conferences lining up with the MBC (Mini Bible College) teaching and the church becoming the center of this all. After 04 JIMO CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP CENTER JIMO VILLAGE, AMURU DISTRICT The building has created a great impact in the lives of the community members around the village. Today, Justice for Peace, an NGO, working to restore peace in families and eliminating domestic violence is using the building as a training center. Government community development officers use the same building for training youth and other women's groups in income generating activities. Before The local leaders use the same building for holding community meetings whenever needs arise. Youth, women and children choirs conduct their training in the same building. The village had no school before but now, the building is being used as classroom for children within the community, Monday through Friday. Cell fellowships and MBC (Mini Bible College) studies are changing lives, and being held within the church. One of the witchdoctors within the community gave her life to Christ during a cell group fellowship, and now she is praying in this church and has even given her home compound as a space for weekly a cell fellowship and home Bible study. After 05 GOSPEL CHURCH – LAKANG LAKANG VILLAGE, AMURU DISTRICT The testimonies are overwhelming by the community who was conducting prayer in this makeshift structure. Born again Christian families in this village used to have church in a small grass thatched house and it was the only church stretching as far as Adjumani District, also covering about 50 km radius from Otwee Inland Center to Lakang and about 100 km south of Gulu District. The village is highly hampered by the muddy and dusty road with pot holes, posing difficulties in accessing the place. Before The history that surround the community makes it more demanding for a permanent church building and this village still had fresh scars of conflict, relating to the highest contested land issues ever documented in Acholi Sub- region, Lakang and Apar in particular. The church is now serving a great purpose of promoting socio- religious growth and empowerment, which is a reason the ministry ventured into such an environment galvanized by land wrangles, political hostility, and under development. The church is bringing detached communities together and promoting unity in sharing of God’s love, wisdom, kindness and mercy, as well as promoting peace and co-existence in environments where Christianity hadn't prevailed in most core After aspects of life. The church has established the first Christian school within the village using the church structure as the classroom. Because of the building, the leaders of Gospel Ministries, Kampala came and drilled a borehole in the church compound, bringing to an end the unclean water problems. 06 PATALIRA ASSEMBLY CHURCH PATALIRA PARISH, PATIKO SUB-COUNTY ASWA COUNTY, GULU DISTRICT For many past years, the community of Patalira has been struggling to establish a convenient and modern structure as a church to help in disseminating God’s Word, building moral ethics and actions and acting as an epic –center for socio religious and economic transformation. They started as a small Christian entity conducting themselves and their activities under a tree. Then they later met in a video hall, and afterwards in a dilapidated structure which they erected by themselves using locally available materials. Before This temporary structure has now been renovated and turned into a classroom for kindergarten. It is an initiative that the church has started to mitigate the challenges of education that they are facing within the community. It is visibly clear that the nearest school is over 7 km and children in the community cannot endure such a long distance of walking for the benefits of education. This has greatly contributed towards the delinquency in the community as put forward by the local leaders while addressing their concerns to the media team during the church dedication. Today, the community is enjoying the convenience of the modern structure that has been put in place, which is now promoting socio- religious growth and development, bringing the commu- nity closer to God, as well as promoting peace, love and co – existence. After 07 AWERE ASSEMBLY CHURCH ODEK SUB COUNTY, OMORO DISTRICT We thank God for this life changing structure because we are all familiar with the dark history that surrounded Odek Sub-county which was the birth place of the Lord Resistance Army (LRA) leader, Joseph Kony. What stands here today is a clear testimony, because it is the only permanent church building in this village that has been built from ‘scratch’ through faith in Jesus Christ! The church has also, since grown into a full kindergarten and primary school, which meet within the building.