By Kefa Senoga
While growing up, Beatrice Masendi says some aspects of Christian salvation did not make much sense to her. And that forced her to begin equating her faith to politics. All this happened despite Masendi being a child of a lay reader. Lay readers are non-clergy who are authorized to preach and to conduct some religious services, but are not permitted to celebrate the Eucharist.
However, some of the mysteries that Masendi had regarding her faith were unraveled when she joined Navigators, a ministry that shares the gospel of Jesus and helps people grow in their relationship with Him through Life-to-Life discipleship, leading to spiritual generations of believers.
Soon after joining the Navigators in 2011, Masendi says she was mentored in faith.
“It’s hard to understand the Bible sometimes,” she said. “But at the ministry, I was advised to pray before I read it, so that the holy spirit would guide me when interpreting the scripture.”
According to Masendi, it was initially challenging to fit in the group, but because she was attached to great mentors in the ministry, she was able to successfully go through this process.
At the time Masendi joined the ministry, which is marking 90 years of existence this year, she was nursing a son who had cancer. That meant that there were occasions she missed worship and prayer sessions to be at her son’s side. But it did not deter the people she often prayed with from always following up on her, to establish if all was well with her and her family.
At Uganda Christian University (UCU), the Navigators organization works closely with the chaplaincy. Masend, a Mukono resident,i says members of the ministry have not only had an impact on her life, but also on those of other members of the UCU community.
“There is a man who joined the Navigators and, after some few months, he invited his brother into the ministry. After a few weeks, he invited two of his sisters,” Masendi stated.
Narrating how most of the people join the Navigators, Masendi explains that when new believers are called upon to give their lives to Christ during the church service, the navigators team is always there to take them up for discipleship.
“They take your phone contacts and continue to follow up on your spiritual growth by mentoring you,” Masendi says.
“Sometimes, if my son needed urgent medical attention, I would miss the prayer sessions. I would call and tell them I was taking my son to the hospital,” Masendi said, noting that whenever they returned home, some of the people from the prayer group would visit them at home.
Eventually, her son died of cancer at age 15, in Senior Three. Two months after the death of her son, Masendi separated from the father of the boy.
“The Navigators did not abandon me, they were always calling me and sending me messages to strengthen me,” Masendi recalls. And this is despite the ministry being mostly composed of young people, some of whom have parents as old as Masendi, who is now 53 years.
“I got depressed after losing my son; when you face such issues, you need to have counseling,” Masendi explains, adding: “I am at peace now; I don’t have a high-paying job, but I’m satisfied. I have never slept hungry; my daughter is currently in Senior Five, and I pay my rent dues on time.”
Masendi earns a living by selling clothes, snacks and juice.
The mother of two says that she has also mentored many students into knowing Christ, most especially when she still had a business at the UCU School of Business at the Ankrah facility.
