Nixon and Chasity Katabira are the co-founders of Love All Ministries Uganda|Canada, a youth empowerment ministry started in Uganda around 2012.
Their mission is to love, disciple, and empower young people in all aspects of life.
“Our goal is to be the church beyond worlds.” Nixon explained. “We don’t want to be tied in the church. We give this example, when I have my vehicle and I take it to the garage for service, I don’t drive it in the garage. It has to go back on the road to do the work. We are called to reach out. We are called to be the church, the light and the salt in the world. So that’s our major goal.”
The ministry grew from a relationship that began after the two met in Africa.
A chance meeting
Chasity recalled the circumstances leading up to the union between her and Nixon.
“This goes so far back, but I think the Lord from young put our hearts on the youth of Africa, especially. That’s how we met. We were both working with Youth With A Mission (YWAM).
Love All Ministries Uganda|Canada, youth – photo from LAMUC website
“I was doing an outreach in Congo, DR of Congo – training pastors and church leaders deep in the village. We weren’t even supposed to go to Uganda, but my leaders decided, okay, why don’t we extend a week? Do you want to extend a week in Uganda, they asked?”
Chasity explained that she was single at the time so she decided, why not? That’s when she met Nixon, getting to know him over the course of that week.
Love connects amongst shared mission
Nixon continued the story of their meeting.
“For me, I think even when we met, it was not like, oh, you’re so beautiful, or you have blue eyes, it wasn’t that. It was like, what do you do? After doing my discipleship training, my leader, was supposed to join us. He was supposed to be the translator to join them, but that time he didn’t go, so maybe I would have not seen her.
“They had come to report back what had gone on in Congo. I was already working and pastoring young people at Discovery Center, in Wyoming. When Charles came, I was in charge of the staff house and then I located them, where they were supposed to stay.”
Nixon expanded more on the week that unfolded for the two.
“That week, we talked, and the way we talked were like, I had a small studio, and then Chas was asking, so you have a studio. I’m like, yeah, I have a recording studio. Eventually she asked me, what do you do? She had already seen what I was doing. That’s when she told me, oh, I work with pastors in Congo. And then I asked, what is your dream? She told me that her dream was working with young people.
“At that time, Laval Ministries was already brewing. That’s the reason why I went to YWAM, to be trained to come back to my home community to serve. After we talked, I wondered, is she the lady? Because my prayer was, God, if you’ve called me this way, I need a partner who is going to walk the same journey. That was my prayer. And eventually, we started talking and the friendship grew.”
Chasity and Nixon Katabira
The pair have done ministry in Uganda and in the Pembina Valley. Chasity shared her favorite part about what they get to do.
“I think it’s just like seeing the impacts. When people get to know truth, when people are empowered with skills, when they get these things, it just brings a whole new life and purpose to them. We’ve seen it countless times, it’s just been so awesome. That’s what makes us go through the challenges, just to see that.”
Inspiration from action
Nixon added a story of one such experience.
“This young man came to the youth center when we had just started. He had totally lost hope. He had an incurable illness. He had given up and he’s like, you know what? Even when I try, I’m going to die. Why should I even try?
“He didn’t have school fees, he had dropped out of school. So seeing him, seeing the progress when God is actually working in his life, every time we talked, every time you speak the same thing, you go to the roots where he came.
“Of course, you will know that the disease could not be healed.” Nixon said. “But today, he’s very healthy, and honestly, he’s even actually believing that he’s going to be healed, because right now, if you looked at him, you may not even think that he’s sick. He has started his own business. He has a boutique, and he works. He built his own home.
“God has really raised him now. Seeing his life, you reach a point and be like, man, it’s worthy doing this. This is one of the stories, there are so many more.”
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Nixon and Chasity Katabira with family – photo from Facebook
The Katabiras intend to continue working towards similar heartwarming stories of recovery, and in that effort Love All Ministries Uganda|Canada is hosting a fundraising lunch; a community meal bringing together connection as well as comfort.
Ministry works to build connection
“In the Pembina Valley, we basically work with the community We see the need in building tangible relationships.” Nixon explained. “One of the challenges that we see, and I don’t know whether it’s really spoken so much, is the loneliness. So we were asking God, how can we reach out to people and build tangible relationships?
“We started a food ministry, and this food ministry is basically to build relationship, but also for those who really need to have a meal.”
What better way to connect people than with food?
Nixon further explained the fundraiser.
“Basically, it’s divided into three. We have the meal share, the open door dinner table, and then the village. We ran one last year at Bergthaler Mennonite Church. People turned up, which was good. That was the village.
“The idea is it takes a village to build a community. It takes a village to maintain the values. It takes a village to care for one another. So basically, village means the community.”
Welcome one and all
Nixon outlined who will be welcome to attend.
“Basically we prepare a meal, and then invite people. We invite the people who struggling, but also we invite whoever can come. Also Christians, the body of Christ who can come. So when we meet together, we have a meal, we are connecting to one another and also have a chat about the importance of a community, the importance of relationships.”
Chasity talked further of the community aspect of the lunch.
“One thing that I have found here is, there’s a lot of tight-knit family groups, people have deep roots here, but you get a lot of new people coming in as well who find it harder to break through those circles. They struggle. So we want to find ways of pulling them in and connecting them to individuals who maybe wouldn’t meet these people in their normal day-to-day life.”
The fundraising lunch runs Sunday, Jan 11th, at Bethel Bergthaler Church, in Hochfeld
“We are going to be having a taco lunch.” Chasity explained. “These are going to be amazing tacos. They’re not your average tacos here. They are going to be delicious and made with love too.
“We are welcoming people to come and there will be gluten-free options as well. Those who are concerned about that, there will be a provision for that.”
The lunch is by donation and starts after the service. As long as food is there, they will be serving.
The funds are to be split between the local community, and the Uganda ministry.
“When you donate, the money goes to, firstly, within this community helps us to reach out with the food ministry.” Nixon said. “But also in Uganda, there’s kids that we sponsor and we are also running two youth centres there.”
Uganda mission faces obstacles
The Uganda centres bring unique challenges.
“The places we work in are kind of a slum area. When you Google, you’ll see that.” Nixon shared. “So you find young people or families that cannot even afford a meal or two meals a day. Basically, when we meet young people in our daily programs, we provide something to eat before they leave. and all that costs money.
“The staff that we work with, maintaining paying bills and all that, it takes money. So when people come to support us, they know that they are reaching out. there are people who ask, how can I really serve? I would love to be a blessing to someone. Hey, this is the opportunity for someone to be a blessing and know that when I’ve given my money, it’s actually I’m reaching out to someone else. We are just used as funnels to reach out to someone else.
The Love All Ministries Uganda|Canada fundraising lunch runs Jan 11, at Bethel Bergthaler Church, in Hochfeld.
with files from Jayme Giesbrecht and Ty Hildebrand