Who are we
Welcome to the website of Reconciliation Baptist Church
RBC is a Reformed, Christ-centered, family-integrated and elder-led church found in Kampala-Uganda, in East Africa.
By “Reformed” we mean that we strive to uphold the ideals of the Protestant Reformation as summarized in the “five solas”, that is:
1) Sola Scriptura (by scripture alone); 2) Sola Fide (by faith alone); 3) Sola Gratia (by grace alone); 4) Solus Christus (by Christ alone); 5) Soli Deo Gloria (glory to God alone)”.
We’ve discovered that, some churches are seeking to be more doctrinal than spiritual, while others are striving to be more spiritual than doctrinal. At RBC we believe that a balance between the two is needed and that, bending only on one of the two sides can be dangerous. “What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also” – 1 Cor.14:15.
By “Family-Integrated” we mean that we do not divide families at the front door. The church and the household work together for the glory of God.
Why we exist
Through years of God's providences and sovereignty, we exist for the following reasons
Our History & Faith
Learn here about our history, faith statement, vision and mission statement, what we believe, our core values and meeting place
It is amazing what the Lord has done in the history of this church! RBC began as a Pentecostal church, and it was called ROM or Reconciliation Outreach Ministries. How did it change to being reformed?
After being disappointed by many Word-of-Faith mega churches for a long time, in 2007 pastor Bill and his family decided to join a small congregation that was beginning in one of the suburbs of Kampala, called Bunamwaya. After a while, Bill was appointed assistant pastor and started serving the Lord in that church. At first, the doctrines seemed to be sound and biblical, but after some time, the senior pastor started leaving the truth of the bible. It didn’t take Bill long to realize that he was fellowshipping with another Word-of-Faith church. After some time there was contrast between the teachings of the senior pastor and those of his assistant, who wanted to remain faithful to the doctrines of the Bible. The pastor was more on prosperity and healing gospel while on the other hand Bill was more on what he now knows as the “Doctrines of Grace”, although by that time he did not know them by that name. By God’s grace many church members happened to like Bill’s teachings more than those of their senior pastor. This brought jealousy into the heart of the pastor.
One Sunday after service, the pastor decided to chase Bill from “his” church! This was the second Pentecostal church Bill had been chased from because of his, so-called, “strange” doctrines.
Bill was so much discouraged and decided not to join any other church. He thought that his doctrines should be to blame because, almost all the churches in Uganda believe and teach the same things that are contrary to what he was preaching. He started having worship services with his wife and children in their living room every Sunday, as he was praying to God to direct him on how and where he should serve Him.
It is during that time when, providentially, God joined Bill with Michael Miller, pastor of Grace Family Bible Church, a reformed church found in Sand Springs, Oklahoma. The Lord started using Michael to encourage Bill not to abandon what he believed and was teaching (the doctrines of grace) because it is the true gospel that saves. For the first time Bill had someone who accepted his doctrines! Michael encouraged Bill to start moving into the community sharing the gospel in order to plant a biblical church in Kampala, which Bill and his family started doing. After a few months, the numbers grew to 45 people that Bill’s living room could no longer contain. Grace Family Bible help us hire a place of meeting.
The Lord used Michael Miller, his family and church mightily to support whatever we were doing. Michael Miller connected us with Brother Paul Washer of HeartCry Missionary Society, who also connected us with Pastor Conrad Mbewe of Kabwata Baptist Church.
Pastor Mbewe invited Bill to Lusaka in order to discuss the possibility of replanting Reconciliation Outreach Ministry (ROM) as a biblical church. In 2013 Bill went to attend to the Reformed Family Conference in Lusaka. That was the turning point. Through that conference the Lord put the fire of reformation in Bill’s heart that, he came back to Uganda saying “We have to reform our church.”
When he came back to Kampala, Bill had been put on fire to reform the church. When he informed the members of ROM that the church was not fully scriptural, and therefore, needed to be conformed to the pattern of Scriptures, they resisted judging him of backsliding, and decided to leave the church following the assistant pastor who was a woman, especially when Bill said that it’s not scriptural for women to be pastors. All the 45 members left leaving with Bill with his wife and small children.
It was a testing moment for us, but the urge to be faithful to the Lord and His Word was burning in us, and the Lord used brother Michael Miller and other brethren to encourage us not to look back. We were ready to start from zero for the sake of God’s glory. We started moving in our community preaching a new gospel about the sovereignty of God, the doctrines of grace and the five Solas of the reformation. A lot of change took place in our church, among them:
- The name of the church changed from ROM (Reconciliation Outreach Ministries) to RBC (Reconciliation Baptist Church) for the sake of identification with like-minded churches.
- The mode of worship changed short and meaningless chorus to meaningful and biblical hymns, psalms and spiritual songs,
- Church leadership changed from the focus on one man to the biblical plurality of elders,
- Expository type of preaching was introduced,
- Many unscriptural practices were removed and replaced with how they are in Scripture.
Grace Baptist Church Kisumu, led by pastor Sam Oluoch, adopted Bill and his wife Priscilla as their church members, after that sent them back to Uganda to replant their church. “HeartCry Missionary Society” also came in to support the new work the Lord had started in our country through us. Therefore, Bill Issa became the very first missionary of HeartCry in Uganda. That’s how RBC came into existence, first in 2009 as ROM then in 2013 as RBC. RBC’s status then later in 2017 changed from being a Church plant of Grace Baptist Church, Kisumu to being a fully independent Church with 2 Elders and 3 Deacons.
Soli Deo Gloria.
Our Vision & Mission
“To make disciples of all nations by ” &
“Reconciling the world to God through Christ in whatever we do” 2 Corinthians 5:18-19
Our core values
Prayer
Biblical preaching & worship
Accountability
Unity
Love of the brethren & of sinners
Teamwork
Hardwork
Financial stewardship
Building
When we meet
At RBC we follow the following program:
Day
Sunday
Friday
Time
10am – 11am
11am – 1pm
1:30pm – 2:30pm
1:30pm – 4:30pm
5:00 – 7:00pm
Activity
Adult Sunday school
Children Sunday school
Main Worship Service
“Kiki kyoyize?” (What have you learnt Q&A session)
Leaders Training Classes
Prayer Meeting + Bible Study
What we believe
Reconciliation Baptist Church is a Reformed church, meaning that we studied the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith, found it rich in doctrine and therefore decided to adopt it as our confession of faith.
At RBC we do not break fellowship with anyone who holds to the essentials of the faith (i.e., the Trinity, the Deity of Christ, Jesus’ Physical Resurrection, Virgin Birth, Salvation by Grace through Faith alone, Monotheism, and the Gospel being the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus) but does not affirm Calvinist Theology in the non-essentials. We strongly believe that God’s grace and mercy are so extensive that within the Christian community there is a wide range of beliefs and as long as the essentials are not violated, then anyone who holds to those essentials but differs in the non-essentials is our brother or sister in Christ.
At RBC we also believe that:
- God is sovereign (1 Tim 6:15), good (Psalms 86:4), loving (1 John 4:16), Holy (Isaiah 6:3;Rev 4:8), and righteous (Psalms 7:11). God exists as a Trinity ( 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14) of three distinct persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
- Jesus is God in flesh (John 1:1,14; 2:9; Phil. 2:5-8) who was, for a little while, lower than the angels (Heb. 2:9). He lived a sinless life (1 Pet. 2:22) and bore the sins of human beings in his body on the cross (1 Pet. 2:24) and in so doing cancelled out the certificate of debt for all for whom he died (John 19:30; Col. 2:14).
- Every unregenerate person is a sinner (Rom 3:23), dead in his sins (Eph 2:1), possessing a deceitful heart (Jer 17:9), is full of evil (Mark 7:21-23), unable to understand spiritual truth (1 Cor 2:14), does not seek for God (Rom 3:11), is a slave to his own sinful nature (Rom 6:14-20), is hostile in mind and deed to God (Col 1:21), and naturally and rightfully are objects of God’s wrath (Eph 2:3).
- Because of their sinful condition (Rom 6:14-20), the unregenerate do not and cannot freely choose to believe the gospel (Rom 3:10-12;Rom 6:14-20) and that they cannot come to God unless it has been granted to them from the Father (John 6:65) who appoints them to eternal life (Acts 13:48) and grants that they believe ( 1:29).
- God in His love and mercy and out of the kind intention of His own will (Eph 1:5), from before the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4), elected (Mark 13:20;Rom 8:33), chose (2 Thess 2:13-14), and predestined (Eph 1:5,11) some of the lost to salvation and left the others to go their natural way, to damnation (Eph 2:3).
- God’s sovereign predestination was not based upon God looking into the future to see who would pick Him (this would mean that God learned) for no one would pick Him because they are slaves to their sinful natures (Rom 3:10-12;6:14-20), full of evil (Mark 7:21-23), enemies of God (Rom 5:10), with nothing good dwelling in them (Rom 7:18), hateful, disobedient, and enslaved to their lusts (Titus 3:3).
- The elect’s believing is based solely on the grace of God (Eph 1:7;2:8), not the will of man (John 1:13;Rom 9:13), and not based upon any foreseen goodness in man (Rom 9:11-13). If God elected based upon the foreseen goodness or choice of someone, then God would be a respecter of persons since He would be showing favoritism based on something in the sinner. God’s decisions are according to His own will, according to His own purpose (Eph 1:5), because God is not a respecter of persons (Rom 2:11).
- Furthermore, those who receive Christ (John 1:12) are justified by faith alone (Rom 5:1), through grace alone (Eph 2:8), in Christ alone (John 14:6).
- God loves the world (Matt 5:43-48;John 3:16), not just the Jews (John 7:35; Rom 1:16; 2:10), and gave His Son as a propitiation (1 John 4:10), not only for the Jews to whom the Son was sent (Matt 15:24; Acts 13:46), but also for the whole world (1 John 2:2), both Jews and Gentiles (Rom 1:16).
- As many as receive Christ (John 1:12) do so because they have been appointed to eternal life (Acts 13:48), granted that they believe (Phil 1:29), granted that they repent (2 Tim 2:25), and caused to be born again (1 Pet 1:3), not by their own wills (John 1:13).
- The atoning work of Jesus who is God in flesh (John 1:1,14;Col 2:9), who became sin on our behalf (2 Cor 5:21), who bore our sins in His body on the cross (1 Pet 2:24), who died, was buried, and rose from the dead (1 Cor 15:3-4), in the same body that He died in (John 2:19-21; Luke 24:39; John 20:27), whose sacrifice was sufficient to save all, was intended only for the elect and therefore, Jesus only bore the sins of the elect (John 10:11,15; Rom 5:18; 2 Cor. 5:14).
- God first regenerates the hearts and minds of the unsaved so that they are then able to respond to the gospel message and then, by faith, they receive Christ as is evidenced in the fruit of the Spirit ( 5:22-23) and that they are born again not of their own wills, but of God’s will (John 1:13) who has caused them to be born again (1 Pet 1:3). Because salvation is by faith, water baptism is not necessary for salvation (Acts 10:44-48;Rom 4:1-6).
- Because the salvation of the elect is completely grounded in Christ, they cannot fall away (John 6:37-40;10:27-28; 1 John 2:19).
Our leadership
Bill Issa (Elder)
From Kasese district, Uganda. Went to Glad Tidings Bible College (Kampala-Uganda); Pan Africa Christian University (Nairobi-Kenya) and Africa Reformation Theological Seminary (Kampala-Uganda). Bill is married to Priscilla Namakula and they have six children: Gloria, Jonathan, Daniel, Victor, Joshua and Esther.<br /> Phone: +256 772 658 231 and +256 706 358 231<br /> Email: billissa7@gmail.com
Nasaba David (Elder)
From Manafwa District, Uganda. Married to Brenda Nabazibwa Nasaba.
Mukisa Emmanuel (Deacon)
From Wakiso district. Single.
Asuman Musoke (Deacon)
Married, from Wakiso district.
Ssuuna Marvin (Deacon)
From Mukono district, Uganda. Single.
Worship Music
Following Colossians 3:16 and Ephesians 5:19, at RBC we use Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs as our worship music. We use both traditional hymns and some modern songs that glorify God. What we follow is whether the piece of music has a solid theological content, because the Bible says “Whether ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God” (1Cor. 10:31).
However, we refute some of the musical genres, even if the name Jesus Christ or whatever biblical doctrine/theology is mentioned in them, for having evil origins and purposes. Some of those genres include:
1) Power electronics that often utilizes far-right (fascist/Nazi), racist, homophobic, and misogynist themes, as well as themes of child abuse and torture;
2) Rap and pop because here people with no talent try to brain-wash others with pretty bright lights and over sexualized music videos;
3) Heavy Metal and Rock Music because they are so much linked with Satanism;
4) Any other genre that doesn’t glorify the Lord our God.