In this series, I explore conversations with friends my generation about the things our shared Christian faith has inspired, affirmed and challenged in our marriages, workplaces, church, etc. Dennis Mugume is a youth and Students Minister at St Francis Chapel, Makerere University.

1. Good to catch up again Dennis, which lessons do you wish to forever keep from the COVID19 pandemic?

It’s always a pleasure my brother. The one that comes immediately to mind is; ‘To treasure, love and serve your family.’ It feels like the pre-COVID home was only theoretical and conveniently escapable in a sense. You could avoid the patience it takes to know your family better by rushing to office. And bring home the latter and less fine parts of your time home and sleep it off. But then, it became 24 hours, 7 days a week with the family. Loving, serving, offending, and forgiving one another. At the end of the day, you can no longer run away from what you were always meant to be to your family.

The other lesson I would say is good personal discipline. There are many things that I remember saying to myself I would do if only I had a ‘clean uninterrupted’ 24 hours to myself. Well as you can tell we have had the last two months ‘clean and uninterrupted’ and I still haven’t done half of what I thought I would do. But nonetheless, I am glad for the time I have had to myself. I have learned that without discipline even if you had 2 months to yourself you would still waste them away. I miss the pressure of external deadlines. But I have also learned to set targets and commit to achieving them without external compulsion.

The last lesson that I will go with post-COVID 19, is always being thankful and never taking anyone or anything for granted. Life is such a fragile thing one minute you can think you have it all figured out and then the next, you realize that you had nothing at all figured out. Life is a loan, and one day it will be required of us to give account. I think we do well to prepare ourselves for eternity because our time here is too short. Let’s be humble, let’s be more trusting of God and more thankful and less entitled.

2. You work among University Students, which idols do you find enchanting millennials  more than others in our day?

That’s a good question, Eddie! I would say the idea of ‘love’ in our generation is such an attraction. Young people are fascinated by romance. They have all kinds of expectations about marriage, dating, sex. And unfortunately many have erred deeply in this area.  But if there is one thing that young people at university are crazy or anxious about. I would say romance. To be in love and to feel loved. How they process these two things informs their decisions, dress, language, and company they keep.

The second idol, I would point out is young millennial’s fascination with social media both as content consumers and as content creators. But mostly content consumers, we are fascinated by memes, funny videos, TikTok challenges, anything that is trending. So I would say it’s a mixture of the need for immediate quick entertainment and a thirst for novelty. These are such idols for young millennials, we all want to be celebrities, even if it’s for one minute!

3. Since you are dating, I want to suppose you are looking forward to marriage, in what ways have you been compelled to “renew your mind” along your romantic journey, where do you see social media affect the way young couples relate, benefits, and pitfalls?

‘On renewing my mind’ along the romantic journey; I would say, knowing a lot is nothing without application. It’s always easier said than done. You can read and wax eloquent all you want but until you are in a place where God demands you do what you always preach about that’s when things get hard. I have learned to be patient; things do not have to always go my way. I have learnt that a relationship is hard work, you get out only as much as you put in. Every beautiful garden has hours and hours of patience, commitment, and hard work.

Physical attraction is not enough to sustain a healthy relationship. You need commitment, the kind that only Jesus demonstrates in His love for us. Unless your mindset is deeply rooted in the love of God made available in the gospel, you will fight, complain, demand, and ultimately give up and still miss the point. I have learnt that romance comes from doing loving things for the other even when you don’t feel like it. And the more loving things you do for the other is the more you will grow deeper and intimate feelings for her, the reverse is true.

On social media, I would say to dating couples, be careful how you use social media. Sometimes we have those moments of deep disagreement or conflict that need to be resolved only through physical conversation. Instead, the easier alternative is to vent directly or indirectly and many times unkindly on our WhatsApp Status or Facebook.

This I believe is one of the most unhelpful usages of social media. Instead of getting genuine help, social media only fuels what we already believe and affirms us our right on often wrong positions. But it often does nothing to heal or mend the relationship.

We must understand that social media only communicates 30% of what a real face to face physical conversation offers. Behind those texts and funny or unkind memes is a real person that cannot, unlike a picture, be deleted, cropped, or edited for our convenience.

 Then the other consideration to make is; how many people am I exposing my relationship to online? Are there certain things I need to hold back off social media to keep the privacy and dignity of our relationship? If this does not happen, at some point you realize that there are so many people that are interested in your relationship that ought not to be. But then you remember because of how you used social media, you inadvertently invited them in. It has been said, ‘Two is a couple, three is a crowd’.

On the positive side, however, we have access to a wealth of resources on social media that can help out couples both dating and married. I have totally enjoyed the work of Drs. Timothy and Kathy Keller, ‘Cultivating a Healthy Marriage’—Gospel in Life Podcasts. I have also enjoyed the Pure Desire Podcast by Nick Stumbo and Trevor Winsor.

YouTube videos from Kingsley Okonkwo on relationships have been quite helpful as well. Of course, these are not all they are but the wonder of social media is you don’t have to travel for conferences, there in the comfort of your bedroom or living room, you can learn from anywhere as long as you have a smartphone and can spend some money on internet bundles.

4. Speaking of our generations’ latest phenomenon – social media (which has basically turned the whole world into a stage) as a youth Pastor how do you see this obsession affecting our spiritual bandwidth?
Social media taps into the generations longing for connection. And in many ways fills that space with over 500 friends that you may never get to meet in the next 5 years of your life. I believe what this does is create a false sense of belonging. And when the complexities of life kick in, they realize how lonely they actually are. There is more to friendship than a request or a reply to a WhatsApp status update. The point is that the place that was only meant to be filled by the deep and intimate friendship of a savior is filled with a JPEG, an image, a text, an emoji. Consequently, shallow short-term relationships emerge.

The other thing about social media is the host of information that it brings to young people. Gone are the days when we sat under one pastor or reverend and followed his message and teaching faithfully Sunday in, Sunday out. We now have many online Churches and many preachers who speak in the name of God.

The Pastor today must pastor their flock with the full knowledge that they (his flock) listen to other pastors out there who may or may not be Biblically faithful. So those days one would prepare a sermon with a local audience in mind but these days one must prepare a sermon with a global audience in mind. It’s both a threat and a challenge to pastors.

 As a threat, it means one must preach with a sharp sense of scriptural discernment to address the falsehood that the flock consumed during the week in the name of ‘devotional material’ from other so-called ministries. And yet as an opportunity because, in some sense, the flock have access to a wide variety of traditions and spiritualties to learn from online. And yet another opportunity this presents is for pastors to challenge one another to be biblically faithful and yet culturally relevant.

One cannot end this conversation without discussing the influence of pornography on the spiritual bandwidth of (mostly) young men. There are all kinds of young people caught up in this vice some can even be Bible Study group leaders in our churches or what we would in some sense see as well adjusted and behaved young people. Porn is eating away at their hearts gradually. It does not have to be out right ‘hardcore’ pornography but the countless number of pages on Instagram that dedicated to nudity and sensuality are appalling. And all it takes is just one look, and the targeted advertising will get you hooked. I think the young person needs to be more alert and aware of this danger than ever before. Only Jesus can satisfy the real hunger of our hearts, and pornography is a luring and yet empty alternative.

Of course on the positive side to the usage of social media to the spiritual life of young people is more or less in the light of Titus 1:15; ‘To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; both their minds and their consciousness are defiled.’ Social media also gives young people the chance to listen to channels or pages that they would have otherwise missed out on. But again the guiding principle this what Titus says in that text, that for those who are earnestly seeking after truth, they shall find the truth even in a world filled with all manner of lies and deception. To those who consciences are pure, social media has been such a platform for Jesus conversations and edifying resources including blogs like this one.

 5. Which book did you last read, what have your reflections been?  

I am currently reading John Stott’s: ‘Radical Disciple, Some Neglected Aspects of Our Calling.’   I think one of the fine points John makes is the call for us to follow Jesus all the way through. He says that if Jesus is Lord, we cannot pick and choose which aspects of His Lordship we are comfortable with and leave out ones we aren’t. Every area of our lives must be submitted to the authority of Christ.

This got me thinking about how sometimes I am happy to speak about Jesus with fellow believers and yet when I am around people I clearly know that they are not believers all my eloquence just vanishes and I am comfortable speaking about anything else but Jesus.

Which brings me to my next reflection, John shares about the two pitfalls we believers could easily fall for. We can easily fall for the pitfall of conformism which means we compromise our Christian convictions to fit what the environment around us demands for us to be. Let us not talk about the exclusivity of Christ, let’s keep our truth to ourselves, and let everyone else hold on to their truth. That is conformism.

And then he shares the other pitfall as escapism. Which is that let us escape the enchantments of this world and like the ancient monastics withdraw away from the world to live Christian lives of devotion away from the corrupting world. Over and against these, John Stott argues for what he calls a Christian counter-culture. One that seeks neither to conform to the pattern of the world nor to escape from the corruption of the world. But rather one that seeks to engage this world and yet without compromise. I found that very profound for our post-modern age.

6. You are part of the mainstream Institutional Anglican Church, which many young Ugandan Christians are abandoning for “shiny” town fellowships, reasons include “lacking signs and wonders” “boring religion” etc. What dangers lurk in this mentality?

I think the issue of young people leaving the Anglican or more traditional Churches for their ‘shiny and more youthful’ ministries or fellowships is a complex one to analyze. Because as many as leave traditional churches for more charismatic ones, many also return from the Charismatic churches to the Anglican ones. Youthfulness comes with a great sense of adventure and a hunger for something new, or what Al Mohler called the ‘Quest for Novelty’. Most young people want something newer and they get bored with the routine.

For those that leave they are dissatisfied with what’s on offer as the gospel in mainstream Anglican Churches. And I find that as a place we as Anglican institutions need to improve. We must return to expository preaching and keep the teaching of the gospel and demonstrate how that gospel answers the questions of millennials today.

I find that the model of ‘Doing Church’ in many of our Anglican Churches is answering questions young people are no longer asking. Later on, an awareness that they are even there. The Anglican Church in Uganda is big on building infrastructures (which is helpful), but I wish there was an equivalent effort put in exegetical preaching, apologetics, and investing in good online content to interact with the digital world on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Any ministry today that has a poor digital footprint is bound to be obsolete. The gospel is beautiful and we must pray and ask God for beautiful ways to present it. If the gospel is preached and does not bring about a radical character change to those that hear it, one wonders if it is the gospel. 

For those young people that return to the traditional or mainstream Anglican Churches, many of them return mostly from the abuse of power in the Charismatic or Pentecostal circles. Unlike the Anglican Church, many of the Pentecostal Churches are founded by individuals, and their authority is taken in ‘ex-cathedra’ so to speak. The ‘man of God’s decisions are unquestionable and has taken the authority of scripture. Where they once used to quote the scriptures, now they quote the pastor, apostle, or prophet. Then the other reason young people return is that they somehow realize that religion is inescapable. It is as William Boekestein writes that; ‘religion’ is a neutral term for an ‘institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices.

 Beyond doubt, Christianity is a system, the ideals of which are institutionalized by the standard of scripture and the organization of the Church. He then adds that; ‘Religion-less’ Christianity wants a relationship without ritual, routine, and regulation. Try that in your marriage. Tell your wife you love her but that you don’t want the relationship to get complicated with rules that insist on things like fidelity and commitment. You hate restraints such as regular date nights. You despise observing such rituals as birthdays and anniversaries. Such a ‘pure and unfettered’ relationship is a pipe dream. Religion structures a vital relationship between God and man the way your skeleton structures your body. When we remove the religious skeleton, of the Church, we get a slippery, unstable, and spineless body.’ I believe that many young people are slowly recognizing that. That it was never about religion per se, but about whether that religion is good religion or bad religion as James would have it in James 1:27. Religion is like marriage, at the heart of marriage is the duty to faithfulness.

There is a need for our brothers in the Charismatic/Pentecostal movements and all Christian traditions to return to preaching and teaching of a biblical message of repentance especially from greed and materialism.

 Yes, there is prosperity that follows the diligent hand and yet Jesus did not die to satisfy our greed. He died to reconcile with the Father whether or not we are rich and affluent or we are poor and lowly. Our deepest need as a people was not material prosperity otherwise God would have ‘sent us his only begotten Tycoon, so that whoever invests in him will not be poor but have ever-growing wealth.’ No!

Our deepest need was salvation and therefore God sent us a Savior. Young people too are estranged from the love of the Father. This relationship was reconciled by the atoning work of Christ on the cross. Our job as preachers is to let them know that. And by the power of the Holy Spirit, we shall see deep character change as a fruit of the Gospel. If we commit ourselves to keeping the main thing the main thing. Not turning our Churches into self-help therapeutic motivational financial centers.

 I believe that is the fundamental difference between the calling of the Church and the role of an NGO.

 The chief danger of obscuring the two lies in diminishing the power of the gospel and doing what any unredeemed, unregenerate person can do, and yet there is only what the redeemed and regenerated believer in Christ is called to do and this cannot be done by anyone else in the world. We have a message that the world needs and we cannot exchange that for what they think they need. Let us maintain the centrality of gospel preaching, it is the only sure thing that has changed lives over countless generations.

7. How should Christians faithfully engage issues of social justice?

I think Christians, believers; all those who would follow Christ do well to give their lives to preach the gospel and to live out the gospel. 

“Social justice” is a word from sociological studies. Why social justice is even mentioned in the first place, is because its a fallen response to our fallenness and sinfulness as human beings. “Social justice” is an attempt by sinners to correct the consequences of sin outside themselves before dealing with the sin inside. God knew that all this is our Genesis 3 attempt at covering our nakedness with fig leaves, so He made for us garments of skins and clothed us (3:21) through Christ and His atoning work on the cross.

Unless Christians live out a Gospel narrative that points to a Savior outside ourselves that shows us that our greatest need is being reconciled to our Creator, and not another _ism_ among the many (communism, capitalism, feminism, racism and counter racism etc.) social justice is an exercise in futility. It is bound to fail because it misdiagnoses humanity’s biggest problem. 

Of course not to say that there are no positives that have come out of it, but like any other humanitarian approach devoid of the gospel of Jesus Christ, it quenches one fire by starting another.


ENDS