Emmanuel Youth Outreach, in short EYO, is a youth ministry at Kasana Community Church with the sole purpose of reaching out to the youths in our community and Uganda at large (to be a blessing as we have been blessed). We believe that the young people are the future of our nation and if they are reached with the word of God and trained in the ways of God, Uganda has a bright future. We are a chosen generation to change the world and changing the world starts with reaching individuals who will not compromise with evil.
EYO ministry began in 2008 and has touched the lives of many youths both here at Kasana and across Uganda. These young people are reached out to in several ways which include youth camps, youth seminars, youth debates, discipleship and outreaches. In EYO we believe in being practical with the Gospel such that whatever is learnt is required to be put into practice. Therefore, opportunities are provided for these youths to be involved in building the Kingdom of God. After reaching out to the youth they are required to reach out to other people too. We normally have community outreaches where we go and weed people’s gardens, build houses for widows and orphans, share the word of God with other people and also share physical things such as clothes, shoes , soap etc with the needy.
We thank God that each time he has provided amazingly and we can gladly say we have never failed to reach out to people because we didn’t have provision. The youths here at Kasana have always worked hard to see to it that they raise money to support this ministry in several ways. One of them is the EYO bazaar. The EYO Bazaar is more like a market that is held at Kasana once every year. In order to have this bazaar, different people give things from their homes that they may not need but yet are still usable. As time has gone on, people no longer give only what they do not need but out of a heart that is filled with love toward the needy, they now even give their valuable things.
When we have finished collecting this stuff, we then buy some more and top it up in order to satisfy our customers and then we sell all of it at the bazaar. We invite all people from Kasana and those who are interested from the community around Kasana. When the bazaar is over, we evaluate how much profit we have made and all of is used to fund our annual outreach to the poor, lowly and those who have not yet been reached with the good news of the gospel.
This year, we held the bazaar on the 16th of July 2011 at Kasana. We invested Shs 1.5million and made a profit of Shs 2.2 million. This was a very big improvement in comparison to the past years and we thank God for that improvement.
The money we made from this bazaar will be used for funding an outreach which is going to be carried out in Masaka. We will be preaching the good news of the gospel and doing community work helping the poor and the needy in this place. This will run from the 21st to 26th of August.
By Ronald Mugabi, New Hope Son and Recent University Graduate
