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> November/December
Revival the Hard Way
In Uganda, an evil tyrant shut down churches and massacred people by the thousands. Still, the people prayed.
By Jackson Senyonga
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The Christian church in Uganda is thriving. Despite the legacy of Idi Amin, the evil dictator who ravaged and plundered the East African country during the 1970s, Uganda is experiencing what many say is a spiritual revival. Under Amin's regime, violence and oppression prevailed, churches were ordered closed, and people died by the hundreds of thousands. But as the devastation spread, a remnant of believers began to pray. Here Jackson Senyonga, an international prayer leader and senior pastor of the 22,000-member Christian Life Church in Uganda's capital city of Kampala, explains how God brought transformation to his beleaguered nation.
In Uganda, we got our revival through devastation. The suffering of the people was beyond description, and no one came to our rescue. But God used the opportunity to wake a nation from its spiritual coma.
A remnant of believers went into the jungle. They gathered in underground caves. In desperation they prayed, "Lord, we don't know what to do. But you know." These people prayed continuously. They prayed desperate, deep, consistent, groaning prayers that never took no for an answer. They prayed until they saw a change.
Today, researchers say Uganda is one of the most transformed nations on the face of the earth. We've seen God transform the political system, the marketplace, and the church.
At 8 A.M. in the State House, people pray. The Parliament doesn't want to discuss things until they pray. The judges don't want to judge until they pray. The police are faxing prayer requests to the judges. The crime rate is dropping—down 70 percent in some communities. A major bank in the capital city of Kampala plays praise and worship music on all 11 floors.
Because God is everywhere, people are dreaming spiritual dreams. We've had Muslims and witch doctors come to our church saying, "I have never been to church in my life, but I had a dream. In my dream, I was putting on rags and rotten stuff. Somebody was telling me that I should come to church to get clean, white clothes. So I am here to find out if you give out clothes." They don't understand the dream. When you tell them the meaning of it, they burst into tears and give their lives to Jesus.
People come to our intercessors, who spend the night in the church, and say, "I cannot sleep. Something is telling me that I must give my life to Jesus." These people end up receiving Christ in the middle of the night.
At one point, aids in Uganda was at 33.3 percent. The World Health Organization predicted that Uganda's economy would collapse by 1999 or 2000 because there would be only widows and orphans left. So people sought the Lord and prayed. Today, thanks to prayer, education, and abstinence campaigns, aids has dropped to 5 percent.
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