Activities to Date

Working to release God’s power in the lives of women and men around the world

Empower International’s Activities to Date

Empower International’s support and encouragement gives whole peoples a rare opportunity to introduce a truer understanding of the Christian ideal for relationships into family and marriage. Surprisingly, the Christians we have worked with to date in Africa are extremely receptive to the biblical message of unity and equal-regard relationships between men and women. Indeed, all of our visits have been at the invitation and urging of native ministries eager for support in their endeavors to promote biblical equality, marital unity, and ethnic reconciliation.

As of 2007, most of International’s activities were undertaken in conjunction with Medad Birungi and his organization, World Shine Ministries, in Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda. In 2002, Anne Mikkola was invited by Medad Birungi to teach in Kabale Uganda. She and two other women from Finland attended a week long conference organized by Sagiwom (Stand Alone for God International Women’s Ministries), a women’s organization in Kabale.

In 2003 Medad and Connie Birungi, accompanied by Margret Kiswiriri and Janet Dutki came to Finland to help promote biblical equality there at a two day-seminar. Anne found that Finns were more open to this message by means of the African testimony.

In 2004, Anne, Patti Ricotta and Leslie McKinney toured southern Uganda and Rwanda presenting one day seminars on the basic biblical equality and equal regard marriage message. Patti and Anne went again in 2005, teaching in Kampala at a “Healing of the Nations” conference organized by World Shine Ministries. They also visited pastors in Entebbe, discussed cell church organization with the cell pastor of Kampala Pentecostal Church, and preached in churches. Patti went to Rwanda with Medad, his team and some workers from the United Kingdom while Anne stayed in Kampala to visit and teach at cell groups, and consult with Fellie Bisamunyu on neighborhood efforts to promote a women’s savings program.

Carrie Miles’ visit to Uganda in 2005 included participation at Kyambogo University’s mission week, giving two evangelical sermons, the sermon at a women’s prayer breakfast, and three speeches to the Christian Students’ Union. She reports that the students were very receptive to the ideas of the biblical ideal marriage being one in which the wife and husband both strive to serve each other and build each other up. Carrie also gave an academic lecture on the impact of economic development on the family and sexual morality that was also well-received, as was her summary of this talk given at a Full-Gospel Businessmen’s Fellowship. Perhaps the most useful part of her visit, however, was the day she spent working with the women’s unit of World Shine Ministries in a “train-the-trainer,” teaching and encouraging them in how to teach material from her Bible study guide, Male and Female in Christ. As a result of that session, several of the women are now teaching this message. Besides the obvious advantage of having more people involved in the teaching ministry, another enormous benefit is employing local knowledge in applying biblical equality.

In 2006 Anne, Patti, Jewel and Amy held a two day seminar in Kampala on biblical equality (Leaving a Legacy of Biblical Equality) attended by church leaders and some selected men and women from 8 churches. They taught for the first time together with WSM associates Margret Kiswiriri and Connie Birungi. The team of American-Europeans and Ugandan women continued with one and two day seminar in Kabale and Gahini, Rwanda.. The teaching done together was powerful. Connie raised the self-esteem of African women using local examples of things that keep women down. Following Margaret’s sermon in Gahini, several pastors came forward to repent of hiding money from their wives – a problem we Westerners did not even know existed.

2007 saw a flood of Empower visitors: Patti Ricotta, accompanied by Marilyn, Holger, and Johannes Raatz, visited Kampala and the site of a proposed school in Rwentobo, Uganda; Anne MIkkola with three Finnish colleagues; and Carrie Miles, accompanied by attachment specialist Linda Ikeda (click here to read Linda's report!). Patti and the Raatzes put on a youth conference attended by over 300 young (and not-so-young) people; Anne coordinated the Healing of the Nations Conference at Kyambogo University; Carrie and Linda put on conferences on the Christian Family, marital unity, and workshops on dealing with orphans, abused and neglected children in Kampala and Rukungiri. Carrie, Patti and Medad went on to a week in Burundi. Pierre Kwizera, a physician from Burundi, has translated Carrie and Linda’s Bible study guide into Kirundi, the language spoken in Burundi, Rwanda, and parts of Uganda. Carrie and her husband, Larry Iannaccone, provided Pierre with a laptop computer to carry out this work, which Patti carried to him in January. Patti, Medad and Carrie spent their week in the beautiful mountain town of Matana, where they taught unity in marriage and conducted evangelism.

There is demand for this Bible study guide, as a tool for the local instructors and also as a “leave-behind” piece. Many of the Africans are interested in examining the Bible verses referred to for themselves. Working with Arinaitwe Bright, WSM’s filmmaker, Carrie had the book reprinted in Kampala and worked with a group during her May 2007 trip to customize it for an African audience. Emmanuel Akatukunda, from LEADIA, an organization that provides training for Ugandan ministers who do not have formal theological background, immediately requested fifty copies.

Anne Mikkola and Carrie Miles presented papers at a conference on gender and food security in Ghana in May 2007. Carrie visited Kampala on the way and conducted a train-the-trainer. It was very successful, with 30-37 people in attendance each day. One of those in attendance, Frank Tweheyo, conducted a couple seminar based on this material on June 1-3. He reports they were "in heaven."