Uganda Joins BCM Africa

By Lisa Biegert

In October 2021, BCM’s newest ministry field of Uganda was opened with Joshua Anguyo named as director. In eastern Africa, Uganda is a country where seventy-five percent of the population is under thirty years of age and twenty million are under the age of fourteen. So BCM’s focus on equipping children’s ministry workers and challenging the local church to reach children is what initially drew Joshua’s interest to BCM.

Joshua was born in northwest Uganda, the sixth child of Rev. Reuben and Yemima Avujoa. He spent his childhood in rural areas where his father pastored various churches. Growing up in church gave Joshua a false sense of spiritual security, accentuated by the lack of programs for children so that the Bible teaching he heard was directed primarily to adults. That faith needed to be personal wasn’t something he understood.

While in high school in 1997, Joshua was challenged by a preacher to make a personal commitment to following Jesus. This became a turning point in his life. In college, Joshua served in Christian student leadership. After graduation, he joined an international charity organization. But he felt God calling him into full-time ministry work. In 2009, he was presented with the opportunity of joining Scripture Union, an international evangelical ministry organization that promotes using Scripture to inspire children, youth, and adults. Joshua accepted the position of children’s ministry coordinator for northwestern Uganda and was later promoted to regional coordinator for both children and youth ministry.

In 2014, Joshua attended an In Step with the Master Teacher (ISMT) training course. This was his first exposure to BCM’s unique multiplication process of training children’s leaders who in turn return home to train more leaders. He soon became a Lead Trainer for Uganda. In 2019, Joshua attended Mobilize Africa, an event for top regional Lead Trainers to provide the additional training to be able to run the entire ISM program in their own regions. This event also gave Joshua more exposure to the ministry of BCM International and what God could do in Uganda through BCM.

“BCM gave me the concrete foundation I needed to serve children better,” Joshua expresses. “ISMT is the best curriculum I have ever experienced for training children’s workers. I became convinced that the transformation of the nations is possible by intentionally targeting and equipping children’s workers and challenging church leaders across the globe to do the same. BCM provides the best platform for this to happen.”

Upon returning from Mobilize Africa, Joshua began sharing this vision (see Taking the Lead, BCM World, 2019), including within one diocese of the Church of Uganda with over seven hundred churches, a two-day training event with two hundred church leaders, and ongoing training with Scripture Union coordinators and other church leaders. In 2021, Joshua stepped down from his ministry with Scripture Union. In October 2021, he and his wife Nollah attended BCM Africa Candidate Orientation in South Africa and were commissioned as BCM Africa (BCM-A) missionaries. Joshua was also appointed director of BCM’s newest ministry field— Uganda.

Along with the Anguyos, the BCM Uganda team consists of a seven-member national board of directors, three-member board of trustees, as well as volunteers serving in the three ministry areas on which BCM Uganda focuses—discipling youth, strengthening local churches, and holistic ministries.