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Our Mission
ELEVATE
pastors and leaders, partnering with them in their call to fulfill the Great Commission, supporting them by locking arms for the Lord and working for His Glory.
ADVOCATE
for disadvantaged African children and youth in Uganda by providing humanitarian and medical assistance, opportunities for academic, Biblical, and vocational training through scholarships for young people.
COLLABORATE
with like minded organizations who seek the physical and spiritual transformation of the next generation of Africa’s leaders and role models. Click here to read more about our partners.
The Full Story
In 2004, a young missionary couple, Craig and Loren Linquist, sent out from San Jose, California to Uganda, the place Winston Churchill coined “the Pearl of Africa”. Their mission: to teach, and plant churches. Not long after arriving, they went out on a limb, and did what they thought at the time had to be one of the unwisest things anyone could do… purchase an putrid garbage dump, in a third world country, in a very poor community, for a large sum of money, to plant a church on! You may have seen the 2008 movie “We bought a Zoo”. Well, the Linquist’s bought a garbage dump! Why? That is a story in and of itself, needless to say God used time, a curious set of circumstances and a verse from Isaiah 58:10-12.
If you extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, your light shall dawn in the darkness, your darkness shall be as the noonday. The LORD will guide you continually, And satisfy your soul in drought, And strengthen your bones; You shall be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. Those from among you Shall build the old waste places; You shall raise up the foundations of many generations
These verses were the words and direction Craig and Loren needed to step out in faith, use the proceeds of the home they had just sold on leaving America, to buy that dump, believing this to be the work God wanted to do. Months of digging, clearing, hauling, and burning ensued before the first church service in a hot 50 person tent was held on the redeemed piece of land. While the adults were few, the children were many. Each Saturday more than 150 children, and as many as 1000, would come for the weekly kids club, where they were given a meal, taught the Bible, and given the opportunity to have fun! Each Sunday and Wednesday a small number of skeptical adults and hundreds of children would come and hear the word of God taught in a way they had never experienced. The Linquist’s soon knew that these little ones, the children, were the ones God had brought them to teach. They were the ones who would build the broken down foundations and waste place of the nation of Uganda.
While they were aware of the recent history of the garbage dump, and the disdain and fear that the locals had for it, it would be some time for them to learn the real history of that piece of land. Two years later, at the dedication of the first building, a simple auditorium that could seat 150 people, Pastor Craig was sharing how this redeemed dump was in reality a visual illustration of the redeeming work God wants to do in every man, woman and child, in ALL of our heart’s. Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor… to heal the brokenhearted… to proclaim liberty to the captives, and to comfort those who mourn, to give them beauty for ashes. All of our lives are a refuse pit, full of sin and death, without peace, without beauty, without hope. BUT GOD. God has purchased and redeemed us. He brings order out of chaos, beauty for ashes, giving us hope, joy, and purpose. Redemption in the ravaged “Pearl of Africa”. Well that is a good message. But what happened next was the surprise. The guest of honor, the city council man got up to share. He said “Pastor Craig, what you have said is true, but I want to share with you something you don’t know. When I was a child in the time of Idi Amin, this part of Entebbe was the bush. We all feared coming here because this land was the land Idi Amin used as a killing field, a place to murder his enemies. Many hundreds of people were killed on this land!
Isn’t it interesting the way God works? God chose what was an ugly garbage dump, a place that was feared and avoided for its past as a killing field, God chose that land to be the place, of all places, to plant a church. Today, a beautiful church, Calvary Chapel Entebbe stands on that once rejected ground, boldly proclaiming the redemptive work that God wants to do in every person’s heart. Out of the church have been birthed ministries that further serve to illustrate Christ’s grace and love in that downtrodden community. 7 churches have been planted by pastors raised and sent out by the church. Hundreds of children come every Saturday for Kid’s Club, where they are taught the Word of God, enjoy a nutritious meal, and generally have fun as they experience the Love of God in a beautiful and safe environment. Calvary Chapel Christian School provides an excellent education and a solid spiritual foundation to nearly 300 children in the community, many of whom would not have an opportunity for an education. Hope for Restoration Medical Mission provides hope and help for sexually abused girls, and medical help and spiritual hope to the hard to reach Island communities in Lake Victoria. And most recently, Calvary Bible Institute, a one year ministry training school, is raising up men and women to go into ministry, become church workers and pastors, and plant churches.
While the ministry certainly has experienced opposition over these past 20 years, God’s Word and God’s promise in Isaiah 58 continue to be fulfilled, and continue to be the purpose and guiding light for the church. Those from among you Shall build the old waste places; You shall raise up the foundations of many generations.
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