THE GOD OF AGAPE
I bounced up and down as the old Toyota Hiace made its way over the winding dirt road. The window open, red dust coating my arms and face. The smell of cooking fires wafting in and out of the 14 seat van. This seemed to be the most appropriate setting for the story I was listening to.
As we passed home after home, Alex, an AICM staff member, began to tell me about what this community was like 13 years ago. It was dark. It was hopeless. It was divided.
If you drove through the bumpy dirt roads back then you would have experienced a totally different community than we know today. Islam and witchcraft were the two largest influences. Each of them shaped the village in profound ways. Islam brought an exclusivity in business and relationships. Muslims preferred to work with, associate with and do business with other Muslims. Witchcraft brought all the darkness of hell into the light. Child abductions for human sacrifice, curses and demonic possession was the rule, not the exception.
As I listened to him speak I took in the information as best as I could. Admittedly, this is hard for a westerner to understand. Witchcraft? Curses? Child sacrifice? Demonic possession?
Does this stuff really exist? Sure, we read about it in the Bible, but it seems so far removed from our reality. This is, however, not far removed from the reality of every day life for many people in Uganda.
“And now?”, I asked. “What is the community like now?”
“Everyone is talking about the powerful God of Agape” he said with joy.
Agape Chapel, Agape Children’s Village, and the Agape International Children’s Ministry offices sit high on top of the hill that this community is built on. Together they are bringing the hope and love of Jesus through the Gospel to the surrounding community. Families are being changed. Boys and girls are being changed. They are discovering the incredible God of Agape.
Agape is the greek word used to describe the incredible love that God has for people. Agape love is a decisive, unrelenting, unconditional, faithful love that God demonstrated for us by sending His Son, Jesus, into the world. Agape love was demonstrated on the cross of calvary when Jesus paid the price for our sin.
This is why we’re called Agape International Children’s Ministry. Because in everything we do we seek to make the Agape love of God known in the lives of everyone we come in contact with.
13 years later, at a women conference, 450 women from this very same community gathered under a large white tent. 450 women representing as many families. Would you be surprised if I told you that they invited their Muslim neighbors?
I’ll never forget the three women that sat in the front row. With their hijabs (head-covering) on they sat in stark contrast to the other women around them. “Raise your hand if you would like to make Jesus the Lord and Savior of your life” Sandi Balli spoke to the crowd with zeal. Hands went up everywhere, but the three I’ll never forget were the hands of the Muslim women in the front row.
Everyone is talking about the powerful God of Agape.
