Uganda: Commissioning

In just four days, a team of our brothers and sisters in Christ - men, women and children - will depart West Texas for Christian mission in Uganda. Through a wide-ranging ministry, this annual effort has impacted the lives and spirits of so many people in so many ways.

Today, we commissioned our 2008 Uganda Mission Team - 32 men, women and children, some of whom are making return visits to Uganda to continue the mission and the ministry they began in past years. It was a time for celebration, for prayer and for music. Among the hymns we sang today was "The Summons," an especially-appropriate, contemporary hymn by John Bell. The first verse begins with Christ's call ...

"Will you come and follow me
If I but call your name?
Will you go where you don’t know
And never be the same?
Will you let my love be shown,
Will you let my name be known,
Will you let my life be grown
In you and you in me?"

In the fifth verse, the people respond to Christ's call ...

"Lord, your summons echoes true
When you but call my name.
Let me turn and follow you
And never be the same.
In your company I’ll go
Where your love and footsteps show.
Thus I’ll move and live and grow
In you and you in me."

If you would like more information about the Uganda Mission, or if you would like to contribute to their programs - providing treated mosquito nets to combat malaria, for example - you can contact First Presbyterian Church of Midland, located at 800 W. Texas Avenue, on the northwest corner of A Street and Texas Avenue, on the west edge of downtown Midland. The church office is open Monday-Friday, from 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Their phone number is 684-7821.