2007 Honorable Mention
Makerere Community
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Recognized for their outstanding work on college campuses promoting prevention through abstinence and for being intentional about training up the next generation of leaders. |
Name and location: Makerere Community Church, Kampala, Uganda
Denomination: Baptist
Pastor: Dr. Martin Ssempa
Date Founded: 1997
Total Church Membership: 800
Outstanding Involvement and Effectiveness in the Fight Against AIDS:
The AIDS ministry of Makerere Community Church is directed primarily to college students and, since its inception in 1999, has been focused on preventing HIV transmission and mentoring leaders through church planting on college campuses. Activities have included a monthly university newsletter offering values-based information on sex education, abstinence and marriage; a drop-in center for discipleship and counseling; and establishment of a weekly rally promoting abstinence on the Mekerere University campus. The church currently has programs on 10 campuses in Uganda and is spearheading a seven-year “Break the Shame” campaign focusing on eradicating the stigma against abstaining from sex until marriage. Nearly 20,000 students have made an abstinence commitment over the last eight years. In addition, the church has established a partnership with a congregation in Las Vegas, the donations from which primarily pay staff salaries. Also, Makerere Community Church receives funding from several international AIDS organizations for its work.
Impact on the Congregation:
Most of the church’s members are students who have become advocates for sexual abstinence before marriage and faithfulness to your spouse after marriage. Nearly 80 percent of the members’ donations are earmarked for the church’s AIDS education and HIV prevention efforts. Also, members have established the “Care One” ministry that mentors incoming freshmen. At the end of each semester, congregants take students to HIV-AIDS peer education and training camps where students are “commissioned” to return to their home communities and schools to promote abstinence.
Pastor’s Quote: “Students were dying in great numbers, and yet no support program was available to them. Commonly, graduates were absent at graduation because they had died of AIDS.”
Comment from the Judges: “(Y)ou have steadfastly promoted God’s design for healthy relationships, the importance of abstinence and honoring commitments that have impacted thousands of young people. Your focused attention to the young who carry the weight of the AIDS pandemic, and the way in which you honor Christ’s directives with resourcefulness and vision, are deeply inspiring.”
