Resources

Link to this individual blog entry:
http://www.disciplenations.org/dna-news/stay-connect-with-the-dna/upcoming-events-and-priorities-for-2010#EgSxDvyD69MvGq7MBLEJPg or click here

Link to this individual blog entry:
http://www.disciplenations.org/dna-news/stay-connect-with-the-dna/darrow-and-scott-speak-at-covenant-community-church#wP1PXB2cHxec0yX9b_3pjA or click here

Link to this individual blog entry:
http://www.disciplenations.org/dna-news/stay-connect-with-the-dna/year-end-impact-report#4AW3aRhTCjLBULLi4UPqig or click here

The Disciple Nations Alliance has appeared in the news recently in relationship to our friend Stephen Langa and his involvement with Uganda’s Anti Homosexuality Bill, 2009.  We first heard of this bill when a reporter contacted us to gain our opinion on the bill last Friday (December 11). We have since obtained a copy of the bill and are now examining it.

 We have been friends with Stephen for nearly ten years. We have tremendous respect for him, and for what we know of his work to strengthen families in Uganda.  Stephen is an elder at Watoto Church in Kampala, which we consider to be a model for other churches in its care for thousands of Ugandan children orphaned by HIV AIDS.  Watoto Church ministers to hundreds, if not thousands of people who are dying of AIDS and their surviving family members. It has been actively involved in AIDs education, encouraging young men and women to act in morally responsibly ways in order to avoid the ravages of sexually transmitted diseases. Seeing the profound devastation of families in Uganda, they are actively working to strengthen families.  

The Disciple Nations Alliance is a network of individuals and organizations in over 60 countries who share a common vision to see the global Church rise to her full potential as God’s agent for the healing, blessing and transformation of the nations. We share a common set of core beliefs and operating principles (see www.disciplenations.org/about).  While we have affiliates around the world, there are no legal or organizational ties between them; including Family Life Ministries and Transforming Nations Alliance that Stephen helps lead. Stephen’s opinions are his own. The governance and decision making of the Ugandan organizations he leads are independent of the Disciple Nations Alliance.

We believe that people who engage in same gender sexual activities are image bearers of God possessing profound, inherent and equal dignity. They have a God-given right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. As human beings, they are to be treated with love and respect. Like all people, they are sinners and can be saved by the death of Christ on the cross.

Churches have a responsibility to love and engage with those who have chosen to live a homosexual life in the same way they would reach out and engage with any other person. The church is to call its members to personal and public purity, and to govern their lives in ways that comport with biblical standards of ethical behavior. Such internal self-government creates the framework for free nations. The church is also called to serve as the conscience of the nation by humbly, lovingly and prophetically addressing the wounds and moral failings of their society.

The state has a different, yet compatible role. It exists to defend and protect the life, liberty, and property of its citizens. Its principle role is to suppress external evil such as murder, theft, and rape. It does this largely by creating and administering just laws and maintaining an active military.

With this in mind, we do not believe that engaging in consensual homosexual acts in the privacy of one’s own home, or failure to report such acts, should be criminalized.  However we are opposed to efforts to re-define marriage laws which are based on the historic and traditional understanding of marriage as the covenantal relationship of one man and one woman for life. We are likewise opposed to efforts to normalize homosexual activity through the use of books and curricula in public schools. We oppose these and other public advocacy efforts whose intent is to lead to a state sanction for something that is immoral, which will seriously undermine the family, and will eventually lead to the collapse of a society.  We endorse and support the recently released Manhattan Declaration (www.manhattandeclaration.org), and specifically its statement on marriage.

We believe that sexual crimes such as rape, incest, child prostitution or pedophilia should be appropriately prohibited and punished under the law regardless of whether victim or perpetrator practices same gender sexual activity or is heterosexual.   

 As the Uganda bill currently exists, we have some concerns: specifically the criminalizing of private, consensual homosexual practice, the severity some of the penalties, and the tone of the language. We recognize that this bill is in process and will reserve further comment until a final version is submitted to the Ugandan parliament.

We recognize that sovereign nations have the right to establish their own laws; at the same time, other nations, international bodies and individual citizens have the right and responsibility to challenge laws that are unjust. We would encourage Christians, as citizens of nations, to seek to engage as free citizens in the market place and Public Square. They should contribute to the challenging of unjust laws and the creating of just laws. Christians, like any citizen are to contribute to the building of their nations.

Scott Allen, Darrow Miller and Bob Moffitt

Link to this individual blog entry:
http://www.disciplenations.org/dna-news/stay-connect-with-the-dna/the-uganda-anti-homosexuality-bill-2009#1qiB_JayS5c6CpL4BTJ6dw or click here

The Disciple Nations Alliance is a worldwide movement of individuals, organizations and networks united by a common conviction: The necessity of Biblical Truth, expressed through church-based wholistic ministry for social and cultural transformation.  DNA “Global Affiliates” are self-governing organizations that share a common purpose, and adhere to the same core beliefs and operational principles.  There are currently ten affiliates in Asia, Africa and the Americas.  The DNA affiliate in Uganda is called Transformation Nations Alliance.

The first DNA Vision Conference in Uganda occurred in 2000. It was facilitated by Bob Moffitt and Scott Allen, and several of the key leaders of the influential Kampala Pentecostal Church (now called Watoto Church) attended. The second conference held the following year (facilitated by Darrow Miller and Bob Moffitt) was hosted by a committee led by Watoto Church elder Stephen Langa. Today, Stephen is Director of Transformation Nations Alliance and Moses Mengwau is Head of Operations.  

Stephen Langa is a member of the Africa Working Group of Samaritan Strategy Africa, the network whose objective is to spread DNA training across the continent of Africa. In addition to serving as an Elder at Watoto Church, he also provides leadership to the Family Life Network, a pro-family advocacy organization. He also serves as Director of the Uganda Youth Forum, a youth ministry organization founded by the First Lady of Uganda in 2001.

The mission of Transformation Nations Alliance is to engage and disciple all sectors of society, through a biblical worldview centred, holistic approach to ministry, leading to the restoration of God’s original plan for creation. Towards this end, TNA has trained and mentored a team of certified Ugandan trainers who regularly facilitate Vision Conferences throughout the nation. Hundreds of Ugandan church leaders have been impacted. In addition, these trainers have been called upon to train the local staff of several large mission and development organizations, including World Vision and Compassion International.

Churches that have been impacted by TNA have gained a new vision for their role in society, and as a result, have begun to reach out and bring healing to their communities. 

On October 3, 2008, a Ugandan ministry called Caring Hands was officially recognized by President Museveni for the work they were doing on behalf of the poor. Caring Hands was started by Milla and Hanu Happonen, missionaries to Uganda from Finland who live and work in Mbuya, a suburb of Kampala. Mbuya is characterized by both immense wealth and extreme poverty. 

After attending a TNA Vision conference at Kampala School of Theology where Hanu serves as Principal, Milla Happonen decided to demonstrate God’s love in the community by planning for a Christmas meal for the poor in the community. In their words:

There was no intention of starting the organization “Caring Hands”. It began by accident. There was no funding to start the organization. It was set in motion to meet an acute need that we were confronted with. It all began when we reached out to our community at Christmas 2005 with the “You give them something to eat” campaign. We ended up reaching 120 families (600 people) living in poverty. The original purpose of providing a nice Christmas meal ended up feeding these families for one month. The question soon arose: “What happens when the food runs out?” Caring Hands was created as a result, to address this challenge and the causes leading to it.

Lives have been transformed as a result of this demonstration of God’s Love to the community.  People should never give up on their dreams. One orphan dreamed of becoming a pilot. Others tried to discourage him away from his “illusion” until Caring Hands saw his potential and assisted him in having his dreams fulfilled. He is now a licensed pilot.

Another significant project of Caring Hands involves supporting impoverished women in the community by marketing jewellery they produce from refuse available in the community. They work from home and sell their products to Caring Hands who then markets the product to buyers worldwide. These jewellery-makers, who include single mothers, widows, grandmothers, people living with HIV, and people with disabilities, come from diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds. The one common factor and “qualification” for anyone making products for Caring Hands is they are living in absolute poverty.

The intervention has transformed the community and the neighboring communities where by they have been able to build permanent houses, can afford school fees for their children as well ARVs for those with HIV.

The work of TNA envisions and empowers Christian leaders like Milla and Hanu Happonen to launch these kinds of transformational initiatives, and it catalyzing a movement of church-based transformation throughout the country of Uganda.

Link to this individual blog entry:
http://www.disciplenations.org/dna-news/stay-connect-with-the-dna/affiliate-spotlight-transforming-nations-alliance#fot2mujr6cf5-5k3TMzMnw or click here