1. Congratulations on your newborn Benjamin, which truths have kept you steadfast amidst COVID 19?
Honestly, if there is anything that has proved to be true, and now reinforced in my life, it is this, that God is on control of everything, COVID19 caught all of us off guard, not even our ‘prophets’ saw it, yet it affected everyone. For me knowing that God is in control is what kept me going, knowing who he is, I am not scared at the moment even if the lock down extended (of course I wish otherwise), I trust that God will take me through, he’s accomplishing something, it’s an opportunity of growth, the hymn Christ is the rock the rest is sinking sand makes more sense now. I mean, anyone who had anchored their hope onto anything else other than Christ has helplessly watched it melt under the scorching heat of COVID19. The big idea is that God has proved himself that relying on him in faith is what absolutely matters, absolutely.
2. Where should we change most after this Pandemic?
Going forward, there are things we thought were important and now because of what has happened, I am in the process of rethinking my priorities, asking questions like, can I offer myself to serve the people God has put in my life, do I have a sense of urgency in my service to others? Knowing the days are evil and tomorrow is not assured? What if today (not tomorrow) is the last opportunity I have to serve God and his people?
3. Why should anyone listen to you, who should anyone listen to more than you, why?
I don’t know if I get this question right but you can correct me, anyone should listen to me if am speaking the truth, Paul says if we or an angel came to you with another gospel other than what we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse [Galatians 1:1-9]. It is that serious! The gospel is everything. It permeates every aspect of our lives, I am convinced God’s word is the foundation upon which every philosophy should be built upon, not the other way round, God has put has already put his mind out on how what we should believe and think and live out, and so long as that’s still my pulse, I think anyone should listen to me, but If I ever go off course (it’s my prayer that I don’t), please pray for me to be restored.
Who else should anyone listen to apart from me? Anyone attempting to proclaim the truth, I say attempting (because people grow and change their thinking). Remember Apollos in Acts 18:25, who taught about Jesus accurately though he only knew the baptism of John? Until he sat under Priscilla and Aquila, he would never have known the way of God more adequately. It takes humility and a teachable spirit to learn and grow. So if anyone is attempting to preach the truth, first, let him preach the gospel, that’s the person you should listen to.
The Mukisas: William & Toppie, Son-Caleb and daughter-Zion. Earlier photo without newborn, Benjamin (Family Photo)
4. How has your faith shaped the way you parent, love your wife?
Having been raised from a dysfunctional family, my Dad died when I was just 4 years, raised by a single mum, so there was no father figure, I learned by seeing others, I spent most of life in boarding school, without an anchor, I had nobody to look up to and say this is how things are done, thankfully, when I came to Christ, I was privileged to be part of a church community where marriage was celebrated, that began to change my perspective, but only gradually. It is in this church community that monogamous family life, respect for husbands, love for wives were modeled, and that had a great impact on me. It is there that God gave me an opportunity to start my own family. By God’s grace, I have been faithfully married to my best friend Toppie for the last nine years and my faith has shaped me into a better husband,
Before coming to Christ, I knew husbands and fathers as the kind that barked orders around the house. Children only did what dad said, not what he did, it was the “chief” mentality, my faith turned that around, thinking of Ephesians 5 “as Christ loved the Church” I realize husbands here are now being called to die to self, by serving my wife, I am now loving her, my serving her is expression of my love, a contemporary African father spends the evening away from home, returns to meals only and is often aloof to the nurtured welfare at home – save for paying rent and filling the wardrobe, today, I intentionally return home early to spend time with kids, I share house chores with my wife, I put her first.
And because I value human life, I don’t see my wife as property but a fellow human in God’s image who I have to love irrespective of her weakness, being convinced that through me God shows his love to my wife, by how I treat them. That’s how my faith is shaping me.
5. What threats exist for young families and marriages in our day?
There are many philosophies today, schools of thought, we have a light take on vows, modified marriage vows, “poorer” is edited, and love today is often conditioned on finances and body shape, yet all those are fleeting. If God decides in his providence that childlessness is your take or some permanent sickness, our generation of lovebirds won’t have any of it.
Yet I realize although we are called to love another, no one loves the Church more than Christ, so husbands, it better be you ready to sacrifice more. If a woman sacrifices more, it’s bound to fail, if many men stand in grace without dropping the ball, many marriages, and relationships, will stand. Indifferent men will always sabotage things, so I put it to men, we have a unique opportunity to keep relationships standing, and we should give of ourselves, 1000%, as long as God grants grace, we should go all the way because many of the threats to young families begin there.
[…] this series, I explore conversations with friends my generation about the things our shared Christian faith has […]
[…] 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.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. […]
[…] 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. Jackie Mbaziira (Mrs), goes to Calvary Chapel Kampala and is a Christian educator running a homeschool in the Kyanja area. Having instructed under an international curriculum, her teaching experience has unveiled a new-found commitment towards shaping the whole person. 1. A little bit about yourself Jackie, what passions keep you awake, and get you up early?I am passionate about education and I love the kind of education that’s free and inclusive, no matter how slow or paced children are, rather than the kind that bundles all kids together as if we all learn at the same pace. Christian education is specifically a joy because I love teaching and watching children turn and grow, not only their dreams but their character into reality. The education I love does not only equip with facts but builds character, that for me the kind I am passionate about, it keeps me up and takes me down late, daily.2. Why should Christians be talking about education in the first place?Although the term Christian Education does not occur in the Bible, the Bible speaks of the moral and spiritual instruction of believers in general and of children in particular. The purpose of Christian Education is the directing of the process of human development toward God’s objective for man: namely, godliness of character and action. It bends its effort to the end “that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Tim. 3:17 […]
[…] 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. Geoffrey Mbaziira goes to Calvary Chapel Kampala and works with Interface Uganda, an Institute that provides space for conversation dialogue and collective thinking on faith, religion, and culture issues in public life. Married to Jackie, we explored conversations on related.1. Now that lockdown has introduced online Church, why is Chuch as a “place” still important in the Christian life? First of all, the church has never been a building or a place, the New Testament where we find its concept doesn’t define it like that, rather it’s a people called by God, as the Apostle states, “called by God, a chosen race, a holy nation, a people for his own possession” (1 Peter 2:9) it’s important to have that very clear.Jesus didn’t die to save a building, but a people joined to himself from eternity past, so even as we think about worship, we think of it not as a 2 hour Sunday thing, but a way of life, a daily living bowing to his rule, so when we are not meeting like now, we are not forsaking God, rather, we forsake him when we don’t live before him in our hours, days.Does that mean we shouldn’t gather, no, church as “place” as you mentioned is important, because when we do this, we spur each other unto holiness, love, when we lift our voices as the elect, its beautiful, it rises, like the OT metaphor puts, like “a sweet-smelling aroma”, the bonds of togetherness should have been established long before we come together on Sunday, they are developed in our communal settings, family to family, individual to individual, this seems like our present opportunity.Maybe it should even be our major focus now that we can’t meet, strengthen the joints that make up this chain, grow localized home groups, when we do that, that’s what it means to be a people of God. That’s what eventually makes our gatherings meaningful. That’s what church should be. So church as a place is important but only after we have understood what it means to be a body. […]
[…] 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. Geoffrey Mbaziira co-leads Exegetes, a city Bible Study, goes to Calvary Chapel Kampala and works with Interface Uganda, an Institute that provides space for conversation dialogue and collective thinking on faith, religion, and culture issues in public life. I asked him about healthy preaching, Bible interpretation, and why his house is full of old books.1. Geoffrey, why do I need theology when I have the Holy Spirit? In a nutshell, theology is the study of God,” theo for God and logos for “study” now while that can be the intentional pursuit of learning, it also means everyone is a theologian, so for as far as you think about who God is, the nature of salvation, the nature of man, if you have a view of who God is, or if you think he does not exist, so R.C Sproul argues we are all theologians.Yet as Christians, to study God is our highest and noblest pursuit, to love God and to know him is not just a commandment, but a pursuit we are supposed to find pleasure in, and we only realize it with the help of God’s word and the power of the Holy Spirit.So from the onset, it’s important to make clear that the study of God and the leading of the Holy Spirit cannot be separated. Attempts at proper theology mean it’s the Holy Spirit guiding too, I insist on that because the greatest danger we have today is the separation of rigor in Bible study and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. That’s our danger today, it is more pronounced today even when we may have witnessed it in Church history, a lot of well-meaning Christians conceive of Holy Spirit guidance in a sort of mystical way, as if they can wait on a special word straight from heaven, more like God whispering to you personally, such understanding of the Holy Spirit’s work is wrong. This is where the idea of “I don’t need to do theology” comes from. Because we have reduced the Holy Spirit to a mystical force that bypasses my mind and goes to the heart to lead, or “drops a word in my heart” which is totally wrong. […]
[…] 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. Jackie Mbaziira (Mrs), goes to Calvary Chapel Kampala and is a Christian educator running a homeschool in the Kyanja area. Having instructed under an international curriculum, her teaching experience has unveiled a new-found commitment towards shaping the whole person. […]
[…] 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. Jackie Mbaziira (Mrs), goes to Calvary Chapel Kampala and is a Christian educator running a homeschool in the Kyanja area. Having instructed under an international curriculum, her teaching experience has unveiled a new-found commitment towards shaping the whole person. […]