BOOK REVIEW

Title: Jesus’ Africa

Author: Patience Museveni Rwabwogo

Published by: Nsemia Inc. Publishers

Available in: All Bookshops

Reviewed by: Barbara Kaija

Jesus’ Africa is a great, transformational piece and amazingly spiritual. In a very honest and passionate manner, Pastor Patience Museveni Rwabwogo tells of her personal encounter with God through the different stages of life; and whether it is through the mundane routine of life or significant development challenges, it is a captivating story of a true worshipper!

In addition to giving the reader a glimpse into the First Family, the intimate personal stories make the book warm and relatable.

Seeing the President and the First Lady through the First Daughter’s lenses is intriguing. Find out what the author thinks about her father and elder brother, General Muhoozi Kainerugaba.

Five major themes anchor the book:

• Pastor Patience’s intriguing biography and her deep personal encounter with God at various stages of life; childhood, teenage, university, finding love, marriage, her divine mandate and ministry.
• The African people and our identity.
• The national transformation journey with the Church at the pivot of a nation.
• The transformational leader and individual responsibility in transforming communities and the nation.
• It is also a spiritual call, invitation and encouragement to the reader to personally encounter God.

Jesus’ Africa is Pastor Patience’s personal and intimate relationship with God. In a car seat, on her way home from school, Patience encounters the Lord Jesus in a most intriguing manner for an 11-year-old:

The voice said, “Follow me.” I looked around me for the source of this unusual voice. My sister was sleeping peacefully beside me... Again I heard that voice, “Follow me.” Who are you? I asked in my heart. The voice answered me saying He was the Lord Jesus and He wanted me to follow Him for the rest of my life...

A deep spiritual encounter, ‘the Voice’, runs through the book, and whether it is on a personal or family matter or a big assignment, the author has clear guidance.

From the first time she hears God’s voice as a child, He is as clear as when He gives her huge assignments like contending with the demonic spirits over Buikwe district in central Uganda or when He commissions her to start the Covenant Nations Church.

The detailed personal stories make Jesus’ Africa an intriguing read. The chapters are beautifully woven together to make this deeply theological book a pleasant read.

Fruit does not fall far from its tree! In Jesus’ Africa it is clear that Pastor Patience is a Museveni. Her writings exude such a great passion for Africa, only similar to what one finds in her father’s writings and speeches.

Therefore, it is unsurprising that her calling, as exhibited in the book, is to remind Africa of her redemptive purpose. Her passion starts early, and it keeps growing:

“I would leave my lectures upset and go to my room. There, I would fall on my face and cry to the Lord. As I cried, my heart had just one question, “Are we not also your people?”

Africa has a unique purpose and plays a pivotal role in the Bible. In this book, Pastor Patience explores the redemptive gifts of Africa, which are:

• The gift of increase
• The gift of wealth
• Strategic leadership
• The gift of being a storehouse
• The gift of prayer and intercession
• A place of refugee

Likewise, she goes on to expound on the redemptive purpose of Uganda. God speaks to her:

“...Uganda is the heart of Africa, and just like a man is changed when his heart is changed, so as Uganda aligns with my redemptive purpose it will have dominion effect in the rest of Africa.”

Jesus’ Africa carries many such revelations that form a good basis for discussion for theologians, bible scholars and anybody who desires to understand God’s central place in the affairs of nations.

Some of the spiritual encounters in the book are extraordinary. One such example is the Buikwe engagement; Pastor Patience leaves the comfort of her home and camps in the rural district of Buikwe.

She leads a team to pray, fast and hold a prayer crusade in Buikwe, a district that is said to be a cradle of witchcraft and cannibalism. Convicted about judging God’s people, the First Daughter goes down on her knees to lead that community into repentance and spends the whole day doing that! She explains this as an encounter with the Edomite spirit: “I knelt on the grass and said, “I want to repent to you today... I despised and judged you in my heart. The Lord has shown me that I cannot claim to intercede for people that I despise. I have asked God to forgive me and I ask you also to forgive me.”

This humble act by Pastor Patience becomes a great spiritual weapon that starts off a full day of repentance and forgiveness over Buikwe.

Tribal barriers are broken as “the Baganda repent to the Basoga, the Banyarwanda repent to the Baganda, and the Badama repent to the Baganda and vice versa.”

The Church and the State

The litmus test for the Church’s success is the nation’s condition.

The state of the Church reflects the state of the nation. Pastor Patience uses Moses’ example in Exodus 17 to show that our nations often don’t succeed because there is no prayer intercession: “There is no one standing on the hill with their arms uplifted towards God.”

This is a strong call to the Church in Africa “to awaken to her role in discipling the nations of Africa in truth, holiness and the fear of the Lord...”

The author opines that the Gospel has the power to transform communities, cities, nations, and even continents. One of the highlights of this effect is the transformed prison of Mar del Plata in Argentina, which she visits with Maama, the First Lady of Uganda, Mrs Janet Museveni.

They witness transformation, where hardened criminals are all converted. The prison doors are left wide open, but the prisoners who have been transformed by the power of the Gospel, do not escape. They go about working, making goods out of leather, iron and other materials.

The prisoners have been changed, and though they must stay in prison to complete their sentence, their spirits are free from the bondage of sin.

In Jesus’ Africa, the author delves into the vital subject of identity. She digs into the controversial discussion on African hair; What does our coarse African hair say about our identity? Is treated hair just a style? Is it okay for Africans to perm their hair?

The author also tackles the contentious question of the African American people coming back and being reintegrated into Africa.

Having grown up as a refugee in Sweden, where her family lived in exile during the Uganda civil wars, she strongly feels for the return of the African American people to the mother continent.

She opines that it is incumbent for Africa to plan to reintegrate any African American who chooses to return home because a parent cannot neglect a child simply because she stays in another location.

This book is an excellent addition to Africa’s anthology on theology, spirituality, history, politics and a gratifying biography. It is a strong scholarly documentation of Africa’s divine mandate, a vital resource for national transformation, and a must-read. The years of research and hard work distinguish every chapter. This work is worth a PhD!

The reviewer is the Editor-In-Chief of Vision Group