Pressure is increasing on Christians in Uganda, despite the fact that they make up around 85% of Uganda’s population. Among the Christians of Uganda are around 35,000 Orthodox Christians. The Uganda Orthodox Church website informs us that “Uganda is the first country below south of the Sahara on the African continent where the Orthodox faith germinated among the indigenous Africans in 1929. Gradually, the faith was echoed to many parts of the country from central Buganda to the East, North, West and beyond in the Eastern Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi. The government of Uganda recognized the Orthodox faith in 1946. Currently the Orthodox faith in Uganda is headed by Metropolitan Jonah Lwanga and the Metropolis is located at Namungoona a suburb of the capital city Kampala (6kms on Hoima road). The clergy consists a team of 76 priests and 5 deacons. There are over 100 communities, 41 brick and mortars churches, 17 medical clinics and one Holy Cross Orthodox Hospital.”
This is a growing Church that is in danger of being crushed by persecution. Please continue to pray that Almighty God would grant peace and safety to the Orthodox Christians and all the Christians of Uganda.
For previous coverage of Christian persecution in Uganda, see here.
“Muslims Allegedly Poison Pastor over Plans for Church Building,” Morning Star News, May 2, 2021:
NAIROBI, Kenya (Morning Star News) – Muslims in eastern Uganda upset with a pastor’s plans to build a church on land they sought to buy are suspected in his death by poisoning, sources said.
Pastor Yolonim Oduchu was poisoned on April 5 in Raraka village, Oloki Sub-County, Pallisa District after he declined to sell a five-acre lot within the Raraka trading center to Muslims who wanted to build a school and mosque on the land, said his brother, Francis Okirya.
“Aliasa Opeduru and a number of Muslims had approached my brother to sell them the piece of land several times, but my brother declined because their offer was small, and he also wanted to have part of the land set aside for constructing a church structure,” Okirya said. “Later my brother received a threatening message from Opeduru saying he would not negotiate with him again.”
The Muslims had found a sponsor in Turkey to fund the construction of the mosque, he said.
Opeduru told Pastor Oduchu the Muslims did not want a church building close to their proposed mosque, but a week later the pastor began clearing the parcel of land, Okirya said.
A resident of Raraka village, Pastor Oduchu usually ate at a small hotel at the Raraka trading center when visiting his land. The hotel is owned by a Muslim.
The pastor’s wife said after a light meal at the hotel on April 5, he arrived home feeling ill.
“My husband took a motorcycle and arrived at home complaining of severe stomach pains, diarrhea and started vomiting,” Mary Oduchu told Morning Star News. “We rushed him to a nearby clinic, and he succumbed to poisoning.”…
“Uganda: Muslim arrested for murdering Christian pastor,” by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News, May 4, 2021:
A Muslim man has been arrested for the April 5 murder of a Christian pastor in eastern Uganda, Morning Star News reports. Pastor Yolonim Oduchu died of poisoning in Pallisa District after he refused to sell a piece of land to Aliasa Opeduru, one of a group of Muslims who wanted the land to build a mosque….
The father of eight children, Pastor Oduchu lived in Raraka village and habitually ate at a Muslim-owned hotel restaurant in the Raraka trading center when visiting his land nearby, Morning Star News said. According to his wife Mary, Pastor Oduchu came home feeling ill after eating at the hotel on April 5.
“My husband took a motorcycle and arrived at home complaining of severe stomach pains, diarrhea and started vomiting,” Mary Oduchu told Morning Star News. “We rushed him to a nearby clinic, and he succumbed to poisoning.”
Morning Star News reports that angered residents confronted the hotel owner, who confessed that a group of Muslims had given him poison to put in the Pastor’s meal. Opeduru was subsequently arrested by police in connection with the murder. Mary Oduchu has requested prayer and financial assistance for her children’s schooling.
