Love
We EMBRACE people as God’s beloved – with mercy and loving kindness
Our Story
Never doubt that a small group of young visionary, committed people can change the world. Indeed, that’s the motivation that has kept us going. We started as a fellowship (Vadieshkol fellowship) of 8 young people way back in 2012. At first, this tiny community didn’t look promising but we kept pressing in, meeting every last Saturday of the month in Rev.Dr. Medad Birungi’s sitting room back at his home. New members started coming in and joining the fellowship. In every single gathering we had to carry out furniture from the living room to replace it with plastic chairs that would accommodate the growing numbers.
Together with his wife Mrs. Connie Birungi and Steve Happ from Memphis, Tennessee, Rev.Dr. Medad played a great role in fathering, mentoring, supporting, guiding and seeing that we became the people that God has called us to be. Often times we spent the nights at their home in our big numbers and got fully taken care of. For us it was the place we called home.
Tables then turned in 2018 when God blessed us with our own home and He led us to Genesis 28:10-19 where Jacob encountered God on his way to Haran; he named that place Bethel. We too felt our new home would be a place where a number of youth would come encounter and connect with God; thus calling our new domicile, Bethel Youth Hub. And like Richard James Molloy once said…
“Every mountain top is within reach if you just keep climbing.”
We are not where we want to be but we bless the Lord for how far He has brought us. In 2019 we became Bethel Youth Ministries with a burden of touching cities and nations with the love of God. We believe God is still writing our story and we are excited to see how this story unfolds.
Why we Love, Lead and Disciple
Youth in Uganda are the youngest population in the world, with 77% of its population being under 30 years of age. There are over 7 million youth from the ages 15-24 years living in Uganda. For this reason, as Bethel Youth Ministries, if we raise these young people now in leadership and discipleship, we believe that they’ll positively influence Uganda and the rest of the world since the young people are the leaders of today & tomorrow.
We are all tasked to MAKE DISCIPLES in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20). Jesus tells us to “teach them to OBEY all that I have commanded you.” This is more than classroom instruction on what His commands are. It implies walking together, showing HOW to obey.
- Our model of discipleship is Truth and life transference in the context of real/authentic relationships for the purpose of producing reproducers of Christ. This happens at Bethel Youth Hub where the wheel of discipleship is spun daily. We share our lives with young people that come to the hub regularly.
- We have been impacted by this model of discipleship. We are where we are today because of the guidance and discipleship from Rev.Dr. Medad Birungi and Steve Happ who have tirelessly invested their lives in us. Our Christian journey never remained the same after being discipled. We too now want to impact the next generation by producing reproducers of Christ.
- This was Jesus’ model of Discipleship. Jesus spent time with His disciples, led, taught and shared His life with them. Later they went out and turned the world upside down. Today the Church still stands because of the foundation that the disciples laid in the early church. As Bethel Youth Ministries we too choose to follow this model of discipleship.
