My last two posts about the depressing state of youth ministry need to be offset by signs of hope - we Jesus-followers are consumers and purveyors of hope. So where in the world can we find some hope this morning? The answer is "Uganda."

The World Race Blue team reports from Uganda:

In total we planted three churches and assisted three other churches in open air evangelism. In the nearly three weeks that we have been here, we have recorded 473 people that have accepted Jesus Christ into their hearts. This number is not including so many children under the age of 12 that
accepted Jesus into their hearts. We have literally been blown out of the water with the work that the Lord is doing in Uganda.

Chad Mast describes how the Lord showed him in advance of his arrival that he would see many salvations. According to his blog, here's what happened next:

"We pulled into a remote village deep into the jungle of Uganda and the sliding door opened on the van. As soon as my first foot hit the ground an older lady by the name of Lucy said through our translator to me “I have heard about Jesus Christ and I want to accept him into my life as my personal savior”. I actually froze on the spot and started to laugh. She wasn’t joking around. I could not believe what I was hearing. I then began to take her through the Gospels to inform her of this decision because this was going to be the biggest decision of her life. She was ecstatic and accepted Jesus with great joy."

What I love most about this kind of ministry is that it is locally led and has a guarantee of follow-up built in. The 473 new believers is a real number and, as opposed to, say, converts from a traveling evangelist, these new believers will be discipled. Because they are planting new churches, local Jesus-followers will continue to disciple and encourage new believers.

We may be struggling here in the West, but overseas, the Church is on the move!