Bishops' wives worthy development partners - First Lady

The First Lady and Minister for Karamoja Affairs Janet Museveni has acknowledged the wives of Bishops of the Church of the Province of Uganda as dependable partners in development initiatives geared towards improving the quality of life of the people in the country.

She said the wives of Bishops have great advantage because people look to them as Church leaders and rely on them for guidance and therefore their forum can be used as an instrument to accomplish much good in the communities.

The First Lady made the observation while opening the annual retreat of wives of Bishops of the Church of the Province of Uganda at LwezaTraining Centre in Wakiso District.

Museveni said as wives of the top leaders of the Church of Uganda they have been appointed by God to play a unique and specific leadership role.

"When God appoints, He also anoints. Much is expected of you by your husbands, your families and households, and then beyond that by the people God has given you to shepherd in His Church", she added. 

She however noted that this is an awesome responsibility which requires to be held as a trust from God and remain plugged in to His Holy Spirit for guidance and direction.

She said the Bishops' wives should be natural partners, who have to be actively included and engaged by Government and other social development partners and their work can be empowered and enabled to become more effective and widespread.

The group can be a strong and reliable partner in development by playing the vital role of helping to disseminate life-saving information and guidance to their communities through their already existing organizations like Mothers' Union, she noted, pointing out the role they can play in informing women in the communities on how to avoid cancer which has become a real and rapidly growing threat to the lives of the people.

She added that they can also be strong allies in rescuing the adolescent girls who are currently faced with grave dangers including promiscuity which results in teenage pregnancies, school drop-outs, contraction of deadly diseases such as HIV and AIDS, poverty and ultimately death.

Janet Museveni however, observed that wives of Bishops do not usually engage in gainful profession or business enterprises, and yet their family obligations lace financial demands and burdens on them.

"In my view there is no reason why you should not be able to access the many institutions Government has put in place so that you can be helped to start income generating activities or grow the ones you already have". 

She emphasized the importance of petitioning the Lord for their needs and advised them to design a time for prayer to God.

"You need to have a committee in Church that prays for your needs. Together you can be a source of inspiration to this nation and can promote a lot of good this nation by being on your knees in prayer. If you invite the Lord into your life, He will surely use you and He will also supply all your needs according to His riches in glory", she advised the Bishops' wives.

She congratulated them on the wisdom to convene their retreat at the beginning of every year to fellowship with God and be strengthened so that they can go out renewed and refreshed ready to do the work of strengthening others.

"It is wise to withdraw and have a quiet time with the Lord before you plunge into the busy schedules of the rest of the year; to involve the Lord in your planning and allow Him to be the inspiration behind them because even the best-laid plans will fail unless they are anointed by God to succeed", she said.

The Chairperson of the Bishops' Wives Retreat Beatrice Ntagali said that they come together every first week of January to get to know each other, welcome new sisters to the fellowship, read the Bible and spend profitable time in prayer as well as discussing their various roles in the families, churches, dioceses and in the development process.

She added that they advocate for being role models as mothers and leaders and encourage women in their respective dioceses to offer leadership, guidance and counseling to their children and the youth.

The theme of the 2016 retreat was, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him He shall direct your paths".

Ntagali thanked Museveni for being a great leader and role model for all the mothers of Uganda and for her love and support to the Bishops' wives.