The Golden Jubilee Celebration Highlights the Need of the Golden Rule

UGANDA: In Need of Core Values

We always felt that the Philippines had a better grasp of what it meant to celebration than our own culture…and now we have experienced an African celebration…every bit as jubilant, although also different. It was a privilege to join Scripture Union Uganda’s (SUU) two significant and climatic events this week—the Jubilee Dinner on Oct. 31 and the Grand Celebration on Nov. 02. The “dinner” was scheduled to begin at 6 PM, but really got rolling around 7 with music, greetings, prayer, and introductions. A children’s choir beamed as they sang several songs throughout the program. Among other things, the program also included an instrumental piece using a Ugandan harp (quite small compared to ours but vibrating with beautiful music), other soloists, several testimonies, a strong message from God’s Word exploring the meaning of the Theme: Freedom in Christ, several speeches from SUU past and present leadership, and a stirring closing challenge from a rather high government official who was greatly influenced by his membership in a Scripture Union Club during his high school days…with the delicious meal tucked in there about 10 PM (we left around 11:30 PM). Many wonderful things were shared, but what really struck us was the frequency of the word/topic of “values” mentioned by virtually everyone who spoke. The final speaker informed us that government officials in his department now realize that the wisest investment of government money is not in pursuing/investigating/prosecuting corrupt people, but rather in training the next generation to be people of integrity—Amen!!

The final speaker during the Jubilee Dinner,
pushing for the teaching of values to our children.

Seemingly without any human planning, that theme continued to surface during the Nov. 2 grand celebration. God provided a sunny day for several thousand students to march with their school/Scripture Union banners through Kampala to the grandstand for the more than 6 hour program. None other than the President of Uganda came and gave a 30 minute speech, quoting from Genesis 1 and asking an assistant read Ecclesiastes 3 plus another scripture. He commended Scripture Union Uganda for their work and encouraged the students in Bible reading and prayer in order to be good citizens of this great nation. An added bonus of the day was to see each student receive a “God’s Offer” Gospel tract, the cost for printing of which was provided by Star Kids in Hamilton, Ontario.

Perhaps the “capstone” for us, was reading the “The Chairman’s Word to Scripture Union at 50” in their “More Than Gold” Jubilee magazine. The SUU National Chairman said toward the end of his article “The…challenge before us is that of Secularization of the Schools where core values have been lost…..Unless an appropriate action is taken, we stand at a very high risk of losing our children and eventually the nation to secularism and Satanism. SU has such has a role to play in instilling lasting values. May the Lord help us to arise and do something as long as we still can. SU is ready and willing to receive anyone who has ideas and practical support of helping the situation around us. Please do give this careful thought!” After all that we've heard and read, we both sense a deeper sense of urgency and commitment as well the awe of perhaps being here “for such a time as this.” Please pray!