DELIVERANCE CHURCH UGANDA

Edward Kiwanuka: Imprisoned for worshipping

I was born in 1958 in a village called Nkonge in Mukono District 30 km from Kampala. I went to Gaba Primary School and later St. Mary’s College Kisubi from 1974 to 1979.  It was while I was at Kisubi in S. 2 (1975) that I met the Lord through an outreach that was organised by some Christian University students who were from Deliverance Church Uganda. The school was a catholic one, so the Protestants would hold their own services. SU had the liberty to invite guest speakers from Church of Uganda, depending on the contacts.

This Deliverance Team had a strong evangelistic move that was doing a great work in schools. At our school, they preached a sermon which I don’t remember very well, that got me hesitating when the alter call was made. When some people went forward I joined them – a little more jokingly than I was serious. Little did I know that what I had done was a landmark in my own life. It changed the whole of me, beginning with the friends I had at that time. They were catholic and even serving in the chapel, but they were misleading me. So I had to terminate my relationship with them. I have never turned back since.

I attended All Saints Cathedral during holidays, until a friend of mine who was also saved suggested that I go with him to the church where the people that had preached to us stayed. I was staying in Kamwokya and he was staying in Kitante. We made arrangements, and one Sunday we attended our first service in Deliverance Church which was meeting at YMCA. For starters, I had been used to the service at All Saints which started very early in the morning and went on for only 1 hour. This one started at about 9:00 a. m or 10:00 a. m and went on for almost the whole day! Then I got to witness strange things that I was not used to – a lot of noise, and some strange language they bubbled and called ‘tongues’.