Good news, we have received a final grant offer from Biffa Award for over £48,000! This allows us to begin the planned refurbishment of Clayton Brook Community Church. We are replacing all the gas heaters with a duel fed boiler system, giving heated radiators in ALL rooms. Plus replacing ALL of the wooden window frames with PVC and double-glazed tilt and turn units with a poly carbon external pane. The ceiling lights are being replaced with LED panels. The wall lights will also be replaced by LED fittings. The toilet cisterns are being replaced with a dual flushing system to reduce water usage and improve re-fill time. This project was funded by Biffa Award as part of the Landfill Communitie

Well this is it. Just arrived at Entebbe International airport and waiting for our overnight flight to leave in two hours time. The main event this morning was the graduation ceremony. Before that we had one last sermon from Acts 20, which was very helpful. It was a reminder that we cannot do any worthwhile ministry on our own, but must rely completely on the grace of God. Then we had a fascinating account of the life and ministry of Festo Kivengere, the Bishop who had to flee from Idi Amin after the murder of Archbishop Janani Luwum. It’s a great story but no space here to tell it. The ceremony itself was conducted with characteristic Ugandan pomp and circumstance. We congratulated the past

Today has run on extremely late, after an evening celebration event with inordinately long speeches in true African style. So forgive me for a shorter message today. The program followed the same pattern as the previous two days and I started the day preaching from a few verses from Acts 20, which was a joy. Unbeknownst to me someone was recording my sermon and I was informed afterwards that it would be broadcast this evening on Namirembe FM! You have all heard of that particular radio station, I am sure. So, fame at last. In the afternoon we had an hour and a half in our groups for more sharing of news and prayer. We are all amazed and humbled by these people’s dedication to serving Christ

The pattern of meeting and ministry today was pretty identical to yesterday, so not much of note to report there, except that it seemed to go well and was encouraging. So I thought I would write about food. Breakfast we have up at Chris and Ros’s house, and that is cereal, banana toast et cetera. Then, at mid-morning coffee break, we have some rather good deep-fried things that are a bit like a cross between bread and doughnut. They are served with very milky coffee. (Not quite up to the standard I’m used to at home, I’m afraid.) For lunch we have various forms of starch (extremely heavy) which you can see in the photos, served with a bit of meat stew (extremely tough) or rather good fish st

Today we had the full program of conference day 1, running from 8.30 this morning to 4 pm. My part was to preach a sermon from the beginning of 1 Corinthians, which I really enjoyed and seemed to be received well, praise God. After that I led one of the small groups and you can see a photo of them gathered together under a tin roof. Which was fine until we had 10 minutes of heavy rain and couldn’t hear a thing. They are a good group of men and it was both fascinating and moving to share news and prayer requests this afternoon. One man handed me the note you can see in the photo and when I pressed him for a bit more information it turned out that the dead relative is his three-year-old niece

The college alumni started arriving this evening and the conference proper begins tomorrow morning. We started the day with a team meeting. I will try to get a photo of the full team tomorrow if possible. A doctor called Paul, who is a missionary in the north of the country, arrived to join us. All 6 foot six of him! He trained with Andy Meeson and knows him very well, so that was a nice point of contact. In the afternoon we visited the museum on the site, which has life-sized and very gory depictions of the martyrdoms of the teenage pageboys in 1886. It is a quite remarkable story, and many people apply to Uganda the saying that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. I am inclu

Sunday today, which meant church. Four of our number travelled to different churches across the city. One of these was two 2-hour long services, with the same hour-long sermon at both. I drew the long straw, with one other of our group , and we went to church here. That meant an hour longer in bed and just one service, which suited me nicely. We stayed for half the service and then joined our hosts Chris and Ros with the Sunday school for 400 children. A bit different from back home. They are an amazing family, and I’d love to tell you more about them and their ministry when I get home. We had a quiet afternoon and then Chris took us on a tour of the college which, like everything else here,

Wonderful to be in Africa again ! It’s been a very long two days with very little sleep so just a short message today. I left Whittle at 9:30 on Friday, left Heathrow at 5:30, and enjoyed a bacon egg and cheese croissant breakfast at Nairobi airport at about 4 am ! Three hours wait then on to Entebbe and arrived here at NMS (Namugongo Martyrs Seminary) for lunch. Photos show our hosts Chris and Ros and one of their children, plus a few of the team. We have been very well fed, including an awesome fruit salad of pineapple, mango and passion fruit. Just what I came for ! Church tomorrow which will be interesting and enjoyable, and the conference proper starts on Monday evening. God willing I w