Restoring Hope One Child at a Time

About Dove Uganda Children’s Fund

History

Pastor Mark Schmutz and Pastor Brian Strom, from Northlake Baptist Church in Longview, Washington, felt led to attend the Promise Keepers Clergy Conference in February of 2003. There, Bruce Wilkenson delivered a powerful and compelling call to form a sister church relationships for the next 3-5 years in Africa.  HIV/AIDS has decimated whole generations throughout the continent of Africa and he believed that those churches in the west would be held accountable by God for their apathy.  We, as Christians could not sit idly by while almost the whole of Africa died before our very eyes.  The Holy Spirit stirred in the hearts of both Mark and Brian, and both responded in faith to visit Africa by the end of the year.  That next month, March of 2003, Mark and Brian met Ephraim and Jova Tumisiime.

Ephraim Tumusiime dedicated his life to Jesus Christ in 1981 while employed as a primary school teacher in Kampala.  God used his gifts of preaching and evangelizing in a powerful way, resulting in over 400 churches planted during the 1980’s. In the early 90’s Ephraim attended Daystar University to obtain his masters in theology.  Daystar is a branch of Wheaton College in Nairobi, Kenya. He is pictured above with his wife Jova.

 

At Daystar, Ephraim met Ibrahim Omondi who is the overseer for the DOVE Kenya churches in Nairobi.  As Ephraim became a part of the Omondi’s church, he was impacted by the love and support provided by a cell church structure.  Once he had experienced church in this way, he determined to return to Uganda and start a cell church.

 

As a result, in 1996 the  DOVE Kampala church was born in the Tumusiime home.  Later the congregation attended services in a local school building. The DOVE Kampala church celebrated their first Sunday at their present location in February, 2003.  It is amazing to consider that the first Sunday this dear congregation was rejoicing in the Lord in their new building location, was the same Sunday that our congregation responded to the call of God to partner with them in ministry!

 

Ephraim continued to plant churches in Uganda and 35 churches were added to the DOVE family over the next decade.  Ephraim and Jova serve as overseers of the DOVE network of cell churches in Uganda.  More can be learned about DOVE at their website.

 

Ministry Together

          

Pastor Mark and Brian went to Uganda in October of 2003. The first mission team in 2003 gave birth to the DOVE Children’s Fund which now sponsors over 200 children from multiple congregations in the USA.

 

As you can see our congregation has been just one of many, many churches in America and around the world to respond to the AIDS crisis in Uganda. As we were traveling on our last trip it struck me that most travelers on the flight from the UK to Entebbe were “westerners”. Most were from churches doing some kind of mission work. I filed that observation in the back of my mind. Many days later the connection came. We were travel ingout west to visit some churches planted by our host, Ephraim and his son, Martin. The journey is approximately an eight hour bus ride from Kampala. During conversation with our host, Ephraim, the topic of violence in the north came up.

 “Why,” my friend asked, “is there violence in the North?”

“It is from the Sudan,” Ephraim replied.

“Is it a land dispute?” Scott asked for clarification.

“No,” Ephraim continued, “it is a holy war. The Sudan is a Moslem nation; they seek to take over Uganda for Islam, therefore gaining control of the continent of Africa from Cairo to Cape Town.”

Then, the realization of what I had observed on the plane hit me: Uganda, this tiny country in East Africa, the one Christian nation that has persevered under tremendous affliction from within and without is being bolstered up by the Almighty God to protect His kingdom there. Just as a General reorganizes his troops to engage and subdue the enemy, such is what the Lord is doing for Uganda. Pastors and congregations have cried out in prayer for help and deliverance and we have the glorious opportunity to be His vessel of answered prayer! He is pouring his troops in from all over the world to keep this tiny pearl of Africa from falling into the hands of the enemy. Not that we, from the west, can ride in on our white horses with guns blazing to save the day.  God’s kingdom doesn’t seem work that way. No, His plan is much more humble and gracious. He leads us in rolling up our sleeves and laboring alongside our Ugandan brothers and sisters to walk the dusty roads with them proclaiming the gospel of truth. We toil together; we pray together, we are knit together in unity as we share our successes and our failures. In the process the kingdom of God in America is being transformed and renewed through our partnership with the churches in Africa. As we support them with our presence, and yes our money, we become students of a faith that has been refined in the furnace of suffering and persecution. Isn’t God’s plan for all of his saints so complete, so amazing and so efficient!

 

In the summer of 2006, the DOVE Uganda Children's Fund became organized as a  501(c)3 not for profit organization.  Our goal is to partner with the local church of Uganda through child sponsorship to restore hope to this war ravaged country, one child at a time!  For more information you may contact us.