BY D SEBUNYA: Integration among Pentecostal church leaders in Uganda remains distant as leaders hold divergent attitudes toward the topic. This discrepancy has been highlighted as the Confederation of Pentecostal and Evangelical Ministries (COPE) celebrates its first anniversary.
COPE is a membership association that brings together 209 Pentecostal churches to advocate for and empower its members aimed at putting the church in order. Meanwhile, another Pentecostal faction bears a similar name, only changing the last word from “Ministries” to “Mission,” leading to conflict between the two groups.
Reading the group’s position paper, Bishop Ivan Wanda, the COPE National General Overseer, mentioned that this discrepancy extends beyond just the name but also includes organizational structure, work ethics, objectives, mission, vision, and ownership. “Whereas COPE is an umbrella of organized ministries, whose activities are driven by community demands and needs, focusing on holistic transformation, COPE-Mission is a personal identity whose identity and focus are driven by a specific individual’s vision and mission,” he added.
Wanda adds that COPE-Ministries operates as a confederation uniting multiple independent ministries under one umbrella for collaborative efforts; in contrast, COPE-Mission operates as a singular personal initiative. He further states that while COPE-Missions claims to have achieved its first anniversary this year, it is not true since the group was only registered this year, unlike COPE-Ministries whose anniversary was being celebrated.
“We are living in a church today where people don’t fear to lie while on the pulpits. The last time I checked, Jesus said you are like your father the devil and lying has no root in the Kingdom of God. If somebody wants to celebrate a year, and yet they have only existed for three months, then I don’t know whom they serve,” he said.
According to Wanda, the public ought to know the difference between the two organizations irrespective of their commitment to serving the same community.
Bishop Israel Mbuga, the COPE-Ministries deputy overseer, highlighted that they decided to form COPE-Ministries because they couldn’t fit into the existing formations due to leadership wrangles therein. He added that COPE-Ministries is a new chapter opened for the Pentecostal churches to unite and become better through working together.
When asked why Pentecostal Born-again churches have failed to work together and serve their community in harmony, Mbuga answered that Pentecostal church leaders have diverse mindsets which cannot be put together for a common cause, giving an example of how COPE-Ministries and COPE-Mission got divided yet they started as a single body.
“When we realized that some of our colleagues with whom we launched the confederation in Namasuba had changed from our objectives, we had to restart. And we cannot force anyone to do good or even to follow us. Whoever wants is free to join us if they are willing to do the right thing.”
Dr. Blessing Amara, the public relations officer of COPE-Ministries, alluded that as a body they are not considering legal action against the other party, but they will silence them by the impact onto the faithful.