Missions
Bidi Bidi Refugee Resettlement Camp. Uganda
July 2024
• Breakthrough crusades!!!
• The first ever crusade in this camp
• Missions continue on months afterwards!
• Thousands of new believers recorded in churches!
Total Outreaches, including 5 gospel crusades, 5 women’s conferences, 5 Fire conferences,5 Evangelistic trainings, 36 youth crusades…..
Outreaches 66
Attendance 70,150
Decisions 33,194
Bidi Bidi Camp, at a size of 250,000 sq. kilometres, and with a population of a quarter of a million people, is the world second largest refugee resettlement camp. The people living there are refugees who have escaped the terrible ongoing wars in North and South Sudan, just across the border. It is very poor and supported by the World Food program. Its composition was 80% Muslim, and there were 4 different languages spoken. Before our visit, it had never had an international crusade mission come. But God was going to change all that and powerfully touch these people !
Before arriving…The first miracle, in a flash of lightening!
The camp had no signposts inside and to find it, and go around it, was not well mapped on google. I travelled there alone with a driver from the previous crusade. After we came across the White Nile river by ferry (see picture) the Google map plotted our journey over a mountain side. But as we got half way up the mountain, we found the road had long been washed away and the track quite literally disappeared in front of us. The way was completely impassable, blocked by ravines and rocks….. wherever Google was telling us was supposed to be there!!
We were on stuck the side of this deserted bleak mountainside trail, that came to a dead end with no other apparent route! It was 5pm, getting dark quickly, and my phone battery had only about 15% power left. The car was low on fuel. And we were completely lost!!! There looked a real possibility we could be spending the night in the open mountain side in the car, and we were at real risk of missing the first day of the crusade, as our schedule was tight! There was nothing else to do but pray!!!
Psalm 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble.
Suddenly, out of nowhere we spotted a man walking on the mountainside alone . My first thought was ‘What on earth was he doing up here on his own!’. We managed to get his attention and drove the car down a little to him. Winding down the window he came up to the car, and we explained our position and he listened attentively. Suddenly behind him there was a gigantic flash of arc lightening that seemed to go from the ground on one side of him, around his head, to the ground on the other side!!!
‘I can help you’ He said quietly.
He then got in the car and spent at least 45 minutes directing us onto the right roads so that we could drive directly to our host city, with no further problems or delays. Where he came from, how he could spend so much time with us, and how he got back to where he came from seemed like an absolute miracle. We thank God, that in all circumstances, he helps us, even when things seem lost and desperate. Perhaps he sent an angel to help us, but whoever it was, it was a miraculous provision of help!!!
It was a sign of Gods power to come !!!!!
5 separate crusade sites
A small team of evangelists conducted 3 two day and 2 three days crusades in the 5 zones of the camp.
The hut accommodation in the camp, built in small groups, were very spread out, and so in some zones the crowd numbers were not huge as people had little transport to get them to the crusade meeting site. There were no signposts in this vast camp!!
Preaching in Zone 1
The stage before the crowds
Kneeling before Jesus
We saw many amazing healings at the main crusades
There were challenges……
Some crusade nights there were invasions of new hatched moths attracted to the lights!! On another night it was a complete washout….but the rains stopped….and the crowd returned, and we saw a good evening with many salvations and healings! Glory to God!
Schools
Many of the school in and around the camp are large and we received a fantastic reception!!! We conducted 36 youth and schools crusades.
Amazing Mission Follow up!!!
We are seeing tangible results!
As with all crusade missions, the numbers making decisions and giving a decision card to the counsellors are higher than the number actually going to churches and getting discipled and baptised. A challenge for all crusades therefore is to have good follow up, where people can be contacted and encouraged and helped to join a church and be disciplined. Many crusades are rightly criticised that the follow up is inadequate and many who indicated they have made a decision to follow Jesus don’t actually end up in a church, and much spiritual fruit is lost.
Thorough Follow up
Our crusade values are, that follow up should be a priority, carefully planned and resourced, and not an afterthought! The Bidi Bidi crusades were carefully followed up. We spend additional funds on sending church counsellors on taxi bikes (‘boarder boarder’ bikes as they are known locally in Uganda) to visit and follow up people who are too poor to own telephones but only gave us their address. Also, we have helped with discipleship classes. We additionally have had a program of showing the ‘Jesus’ film based on Lukes gospel to capitalise on the impact of the crusades and the healings we saw to confirm the gospel .
These programs of follow up and further evangelism have produced impressive results.
So we know that there are 7,355 new adults actually attending churches (not including the decisions of children at youth crusades).
The Jesus film shown in many locations in the 5 zones of the camp.
Many more people have given their Lives to Christ after seeing them.
Well attended new believers church Discipleship classes – part of the follow up program.
