As mass media attracts increased attention in proclamation of the Christian message and plays a dominant role in many modern societies, there are areas of the world where personal, one-on-one communication continues to be the most effective way in Christian outreach. Such is a story of the recent lay evangelistic effort in Uganda.

A Seventh-day Adventist Church-sponsored evangelistic effort focusing on family life was held in the city of Kampala, Uganda, in December 2000. Four centers in Kampala were established for meetings during the outreach. Entitled “Building a Happy Home,” the outreach emphasized the importance and value of families coming together.

“Every fundamental belief of the Seventh-day Adventist Church was presented through the prism of the family,” says Adly Campos, lay evangelist and one of the four speakers at the event.

“We are living in a chaotic world and many families are disintegrating. We pointed out that God, who created family, has given us a day in which we can come together. That day is the Sabbath [Saturday],” Campos reports. Other topics included how to handle finances at home, emphasizing Christian responsibilities, and what to do when death touches the family.

“The fact that the campaign dealt with family issues opened many doors,” says Campos. “These doors would not have been opened if the people were bombarded with hard theology or presentations on the [biblical] prophecies of Daniel and Revelation.”

There was some resistance to the meetings before they opened, Campos says. Accused of imposing western culture, the leaders emphasized that they were there to impose the Christian culture. “The Christian culture is based on Biblical principles,” says Campos. “I was not preaching anything that had to do with the west. I told the people that I wanted them to know the lifestyle that Jesus wants us all to have as Christians.”

Campos believes that it was very timely and important to address women’s issues and family topics. These issues brought a dose of relevancy when the Bible teachings were presented.

“One of the unique factors of the whole event was that a woman was leading out and preaching in a country in which women are generally not given much respect,” says Mrs. Campos. “It was very challenging to see the way women continue to be so mistreated.”

“Building a Happy Home” outreach involved a combined effort of many people and institutions, locally and internationally. Organizing an event of this size and magnitude meant months of work in advance and called on the support of the so-called literature evangelists, those who witness to the general public through the printed page.

The literature evangelists were given Bible study courses and, while selling books, shared them with those who bought literature. These “Family Life Seminars” offered 21 lessons in which all the Biblical teachings of the Adventist church were presented through the family lifestyle.

The organizers of the Uganda outreach are very pleased with the results. “More than 10,000 were baptized, 500 couples renewed their marital vows, and 28 couples who had been living together were legally married so that they can have a home the Lord wants them to have,” Campos says. “The baptisms were a result of months of Bible study.”

According to Campos, the Kampala city government saw the campaign as a positive development. The meetings on each of the four Saturdays were televised in their entirety. “Many people were impacted in a favorable way towards Adventists,” says Campos. “Now they know that Adventists are not the people who just keep the Sabbath and don’t eat pork. They now know that Adventists have a great interest in family life.” [Wendi Rogers]