I am reading a 1904 classic, The Wonderful Story of Uganda, by Rev. J. D. Mullins. It chronicles the genesis of Christianity in our country but especially in the kingdom of Buganda.

The first Church Missionary Society (C.M.S) missionaries arrived in Buganda in 1877. When they left England, they had a very sketchy idea of their destination. Yet they were willing to suffer and to die as long as the light of the glorious gospel of Jesus penetrated into Africa.

The living conditions then are very hard for those of us living in the twenty first century to imagine. The only mode of transport from Europe to the coast of Africa was by sea. Ships in the 1800s were not as fast (and comfortable) as the current ones. Upon reaching the East African coast, one had to walk not less than 700 miles to the southern shores of what is now Lake Victoria. That trek of many months came with grave dangers. The roads, if you could call them roads, were simply terrible winding paths, not lacking in bandits. There was the constant risk of being killed by wild animals. Many chiefs were hostile to foreigners of any kind who sought passage through their territories. Tropical diseases with no known cures abounded. In fact, because of severe illness, Alexander Mackay, who is better known than his colleagues, did not arrive in Uganda with the very first missionaries with whom he left England. When they finally arrived at the shores of Lake Victoria in Buganda by dhows, they were greeted with flying stones and arrows from the unfriendly natives whom they had come to tell about Jesus.

Many people falsely believe that these missionaries were sent to “soften the terrain” ahead of the colonialists. They often say that, “Religion is the opium of the people.” However, if you have come to the knowledge that eternal life only comes through faith in the atoning work of Jesus Christ, then you should be grateful for the White man who forsook all he had, and did not count his life dear to himself, that he might bring to your ancestors the knowledge of God’s salvation. Of course we know that later, other greed-motivated Europeans joined the gospel-motivated missionaries. For that matter, we must always distinguish between the two different parties, and thank God for the latter.

Seeing then that we are encompassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses (the missionaries who gave up their lives to bring us the gospel), let us take heed how we build on the foundation they laid. Alexander Mackay and all the other C.M.S missionaries were like Paul the apostle – wise master builders. According to the ability which God gave them, they laid for us the foundation, which is Jesus Christ. We the beneficiaries and continuances of their ministry must therefore heed the Spirit’s warning: “. . . if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the (judgment) Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss” (1 Corinthians 3:9-15).

The missionaries who preceded us must be our example in many ways. They sacrificed much. We too must daily be ready to make sacrifices when God demands so. Their desire was to save souls by preaching Jesus. We too must continually be driven by the desire to take as many souls as possible with us into the Kingdom of Christ and God which is just around the corner. We should not be motivated by greed, but by the gospel and the eternal rewards. We should always remember that God shall judge us based on why and how we carried out the ministry of the gospel.

God bless you.