On Tuesday 21st July 2026, the church gathered not merely to mark a date on the calendar, but to bear witness to a theological sign of covenant and mercy in the lives of Bishop Professor Muwanga Daniel and Mrs. Victo Lillian Biwoye Muwanga as they celebrated 25 years of marriage and ministry.
The Silver Jubilee and Thanksgiving Service, delivered by +The Most Rev. Archbishop Elect Professor Mugume Bagambaki Richard, Ecclesiastical Patriarch of the Five-Fold Episcopal World Federation, Archbishop of Upper City Covenant Churches, and President and Chancellor of UCCSAT University, was anchored on the theme “25 Years of God’s Faithfulness: From Ebenezer to Legacy” drawn from 1 Samuel 7:12.
It was held at Kimaka Faith Fellowship Ministry International, adjacent to the Kimaka Aerodrome commonly referred to as Jinja airport, a civilian and military facility managed by Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA).
Apart from a theologically rich and well-presented sermon, the service was made even more lovely and memorable because the archbishop-elect demonstrated a rare combination of academic depth and liturgical sensitivity to the glory of God.
He is well equipped and anointed in all departments of ministry, including music and worship and he ably led and punctuated both the service and the sermon with hymns that lifted the soul of the congregants into worship.
The sanctuary resounded with “Tukutendereza Yesu”-the iconic popular anthem of the East African Revival which originated in the 1930s among the Balokole (Saved People/Born Again) from Uganda and Rwanda.
This was followed by the classic “To God Be The Glory” and “Blessed Assurance, Jesus Is Mine”,” I Surrender All” and a number of local worship and praise tunes in both Lusoga and Luganda and helped to uplift the soul of some who rarely attend Sunday services.
During the service, even some Anglicans who attended remarked that they felt as though they were in their own cathedral, because archbishop Bagambaki celebrated the Holy Eucharist in a solemn and orderly manner that followed the Biblical account with reverence and clarity.
Unlike the casual approach often seen in some Pentecostal settings where the sacrament is treated lightly as if serving dry tea to guests, the archbishop administered the Eucharist with scriptural order, prayerful dignity and pastoral care which deepened the sense of sacredness for the entire congregation.
This is rooted in 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 “For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread….” Do this in remembrance of me”. In the same way also, he took the cup….” Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me”. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes”.
Archbishop Mugume later pegged the occasion to Leviticus 25:10, describing the Silver Jubilee as a biblical season of liberty, restoration, and thanksgiving, and reminded the congregation that while culture often measures life by speed and productivity, Scripture invites believers to see time through God’s eyes.
He observed that when Moses was 80 and Aaron 83 God still used them, and when Caleb was 85, he testified that he was still as strong, therefore at 25 years of ministry and marriage this moment is not retirement but refueling for the next 25, especially in light of 2 Peter 3:8 which teaches that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day.
Drawing from Psalm 103:1-5, the archbishop developed the first movement of the message around remembrance, noting that God has been faithful in calling Bishop Muwanga not because he was already qualified but in order to qualify him, and that the journey from lecture halls to pulpits and from UCCSAT to the nations reflects Philippians 1:6 that He who began a good work will bring it to completion. He also celebrated the faithfulness evident in marriage, citing Proverbs 18:22 and Ecclesiastes 4:9 to describe 25 years of prayer together, ministry together, tears together and victories together as a covenant witness in a generation where homes are easily fractured.
He further acknowledged faithfulness through trials, affirming Job 42:2 that no purpose of God can be thwarted, and he urged the congregation to raise an Ebenezer today by writing down three things God has done in the last 25 years and turning them into thanksgiving.
The second movement shifted from memory to mission, using Psalm 145:4 to speak about legacy as the responsibility of one generation to commend the works of God to another.
A Silver Jubilee, he explained, is therefore not only about looking back with nostalgia but about launching forward with purpose, and in that sense, he commended Bishop Professor Muwanga for a ministry of teaching, ordination, church planting and discipleship that reflects 2 Timothy 2:2 of entrusting truth to faithful people who will teach others also, a model that the Five-Fold Episcopal World Federation has honored for its integrity.
The archbishop also lifted up the couple’s commitment to education, saying that through academic work and institutional leadership they have raised scholars for Christ and demonstrated that the mind and the spirit must go together, and he specifically noted their hunger for knowledge as evidence of a new generation in Africa that has embraced scholasticism.
This posture, he says stands in contrast to a past stereotype that jokingly suggested that if you wanted to keep secrets from an African you should put them in books, because today God is raising many African scholars, writers and thinkers who refuse the false divide between faith and learning.
He also honored Mrs. Victo Lillian Biwoye Muwanga for hospitality, prayer and steadiness, referencing Proverbs 31:26 and describing the home as the first pulpit where children and grandchildren learn what covenant looks like, and he reminded the church that silver in Scripture speaks of redemption according to Exodus 30:12, which means the last 25 years represent redeemed time that God now intends to multiply.
The final movement was built on Hebrews 13:15 and Psalm 50:23 as a call to thanksgiving as a sacrifice that pleases God, because thanksgiving honors Him, unlocks further grace according to Philippians 4:6, and silences the accuser.
The archbishop then turned to the present cultural moment and lamented what he called a thankless spirit, where couples fail to appreciate each other, children do not thank parents while parents remain critical, citizens grumble even when they see government action, and sports fans condemn teams that have given their best without offering encouragement, and he insisted that a grateful church is a growing church and that thanksgiving must become culture and not just a once-in-a-while event.
In giving thanks today the church acknowledged health and strength to continue serving, a marriage covenant that has remained unbroken for 25 years, ministry fruit in souls saved and leaders raised, and divine protection from accidents, attacks and scandal.
Standing on Deuteronomy 33:25 and Psalm 92:12-15, Archbishop Mugume pronounced a prophetic declaration over Bishop and Mama Muwanga, that as their days so shall their strength be and that the next 25 years would be stronger than the first, that the righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon and will bear fruit even in old age, and that the Lord will bless the work of their hands according to Deuteronomy 28:12 so that every project they touch shall prosper.
The archbishop also specifically commended Bishop Professor Muwanga for leading a scandal-free life and ministry over the last 25 years, noting that in a season where the church is constantly in the news for the wrong reasons, such consistency is itself a testimony.
He observed with grief that many men and women of God today are either walking under the heavy cover of sexual and moral compromise, or have had their ministries publicly exposed and shattered.
He warned that Satan delights in seeing anointed and charismatic leaders bogged down by sin, because that is the only way the enemy feels safe — when those called to preach, teach, and lead with power are silenced, distracted, or discredited.
Therefore, he called the entire church to take seriously their responsibility to pray for their spiritual leaders, to cover them, and to uphold them, so that the work of God may continue without reproach and the next generation may inherit ministries that are both powerful and pure.
He concluded with a charge to the church and to the couple, urging them to keep the fire burning as in Leviticus 6:13, to keep pouring into others because the greatest sermons are the leaders they raise, and to keep their first love as warned in Revelation 2:4 so that ministry does not degenerate into machinery, and he reminded the congregation of 1 Timothy 5:17 to give double honor to elders who rule well. The service ended with a prayer of blessing and the benediction from Jude 1:24-25.
The Exposure Uganda (TEU)Explainer: Understanding the Language of the Sermon.
For many readers, some of the terms used in the message may sound academic, and so, a brief explanation helps the story to land more clearly.
Ontology is simply the study of being and reality, and when the archbishop spoke of marriage as having an ontology, he meant that marriage is not just an agreement but a real state of being where two people become one life before God.
Teleology refers to purpose, and the message was that a Jubilee must be read teleologically, meaning we ask what God intends this milestone to accomplish for the next generation and not only what it remembers from the past.
The distinction between chronos and kairos was also important, with chronos meaning clock time and kairos meaning God’s appointed season, and the call was to stop being enslaved by calendars and to discern the season God is opening.
Doxology means turning life experiences into praise, so that even deserts and trials can be offered back to God as worship. Apostolic succession was used not in a narrow institutional sense but to describe the passing of faith, character and doctrine to the next generation as in 2 Timothy 2:2.
Public theology describes faith that is visible in everyday spaces, especially in the home, and scholasticism describes the intentional embrace of both deep spirituality and serious scholarship, which the archbishop said is now rising across Africa as God raises thinkers who will write, teach and build institutions for the Kingdom.
Why Celebrating Milestones Matters.
The importance of celebrating marriage anniversaries was also underscored, because such celebrations function as an Ebenezer that helps a community remember God’s faithfulness and resist the temptation to forget, they provide a living curriculum for the next generation who learn covenant by watching, and they renew the vows publicly in a way that strengthens the home against cultural pressure.
In a time when quick separations are normalized and gratitude is scarce, a Silver Jubilee stands as a counter-witness that long obedience in the same direction is both possible and beautiful.
25 Years Down. The Best is Yet to Come.
