Dear Friends,
Thank you for praying with us this week for Dr. Emmanuel Mukeshimana in Uganda.
Located just north of Lake Victoria, Uganda is part of the African Great Lakes region, which also includes the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, and Rwanda. After nearly seven decades of colonization, Uganda gained independence from Great Britain in 1962. Today, Uganda is home to nearly 48 million people. According to the 2014 census, 84% of Ugandans are Christians (39% Catholic, 32% Anglican, 11% Pentecostal) and 14% are Muslims. Following six years of guerilla warfare, the current president rose to power in 1986 and has retained control ever since. No longer under threat by the Lord’s Resistance Army, Uganda experiences relative peace today, though corruption, unemployment, and poverty levels remain high.
Originally from Rwanda, Emmanuel teaches fulltime at Bishop Tucker School of Divinity and Theology at Uganda Christian University (UCU), where he earned his PhD in Theology. The first private university in Uganda to receive a government charter, UCU was founded in 1997 by the Anglican Church of Uganda from Bishop Tucker Theological College, which has trained Christian leaders since 1913. Today, UCU serves around 13,000 students from across the African Great Lakes region.
In addition to teaching, Emmanuel leads Square Ministries Africa, a Christian nonprofit that disrupts generational poverty in East Africa (Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, and South Sudan) through education and discipleship, job training, microfinance loans, medical services, and pandemic relief. With support from Scholar Leaders, Emmanuel investigated poverty alleviation in his doctoral research, focusing on Christ’s mission to the poor in Luke’s Gospel. Emmanuel and his wife, Emily, have five children.
Emmanuel shares the following prayer requests:
Thank you for contacting me for prayer requests.
Please pray for the following:
1. Pray for God to use me in my domestic and international speaking engagements. Pray for safety and provision.
2. Pray for my wife, Emily, and our children: Davis (15), Annabella (13), Daniel (8), Ariella (6), and Adriella (5). Pray that God will watch over them in their different schools.
3. Pray for Emily, who would like to enroll in a master’s class for counseling this September.
4. Finally, pray for Square Ministries Africa to get more partners, expand its area of operations, and get more funds to reach out to more people in need.
Love and prayers,
Emmanuel Mukeshimana