People usually do a double take when I tell them I go to church in Bunamwaya, more than 30 minutes’ drive from my home on a no-traffic day.
In fact, one time I took an SDA friend with me as a visitor to our fellowship and as we finally got to church after a long, dusty drive, she turned to me and said: “Malita, I have always thought of you as an intelligent woman, but this has made me have doubts. Why would you drive past Watoto, Lubaga Miracle Centre and all the good churches we saw on the way, to come here!?”
I could not blame her; back then in 2005 my church had just relocated to Bunamwaya-Ngobe and by all standards, that village was a God-forsaken place.
We had to drive into the valley through a thick sugarcane plantation to get to the new church that was mostly biwempe then, a far cry from the developed neighbourhood with tarmac roads and beautiful houses that Bunamwaya, Nalumunye and Katale are today. Ebenezer!
I remember the reason I was taking her to church was because she had been diagnosed with leukaemia and given seven months to live by her doctors, and a round of chemotherapy in Egypt had been unsuccessful.
I convinced her that just like in the days of the Bible, Jesus Christ still heals, if only she had faith and came with me to church. I remember after berating me for my ‘foolishness’ in fellowshipping so far out of town, I convinced her to enter the structure with a dirt floor (my friend is from a very affluent family) and she reluctantly sank herself into the midweek fellowship.
To my pleasant surprise, she called me on Sunday to let me know she would be waiting at the Constitution square for me to take her back to Ngobe for the main service. I can only guess how my church made her feel – she did not share – but kept going with me through the sugarcane shamba each week.
After a month or so, she called me excitedly from Nairobi, where her doctors had airlifted her to for further tests, because they were not understanding what was happening with her cancer cells.
Long story short, my friend’s leukaemia completely disappeared and she now lives a healthy life in Belgium. Of course, she never questioned my attachment to my church, regardless the distance again; besides, she had felt that indescribable spiritual bond with the congregation and our pastor.
I am telling you all this, because last week I met someone who told me she stays in Entebbe, but fellowships in Nakaseke! Yes, you read that right.
Some things we Pentecostals do cannot be explained or understood; which church we fellowship in is a very deep and personal issue. We don’t move house and also move church… unless God instructs us to.
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