Moses Kalanzi grew up radically devoted to Islam, taught to him by his grandfather in school in the hope that he would one day carry on the legacy. But when Kalanzi became born again through Jesus Christ, his family disowned him.
He had lived with some Christians for several years, watching them closely.
“I wouldn’t go to their church, but they had loved me,” he recalls. “I hadn’t known a God of love. I didn’t need someone preaching to me as much as I needed someone to show me love.”
| GRACE CITY CHURCH Mpigi, Uganda Pastor: Moses Kalanzi Website: TheGraceCityMinistries.org Founded: 2013 Denomination: Independent (Evangelical Fellowship of Uganda) Attendance: 800–1000; 9,000 at church plants Multiplication: 44 churches planted |
Those relational experiences changed his perspective toward Christians, eventually opening his heart to their words about the gospel. Kalanzi tells his conversion story often because it has shaped how he does ministry.
“I’ve seen that the way you come into the faith will determine how you will be discipled—and also how you will lead others toward Jesus,” he reflects.
It also shaped a ministry approach that today has seen literally thousands become Christians and be baptized.
Youth Focus
After his conversion at the end of 2010, Kalanzi immediately got involved with a church in his city of Mpigi, about 25 miles from Kampala, Uganda’s capital. He had been trained as a secondary school teacher. “My teaching profession gave me a passion for children, and I had a burning desire that children would be reached,” Kalanzi says. So his pastor put him over the children’s ministry.
Unfortunately, the church’s facility had little space for children nor a structure or system to disciple them.
“A couple of months down the road, we realized the church was not ready to seriously take on children’s ministry,” Kalanzi recalls.
Soon after, he began sensing a call to plant a church designed to reach young people. His pastor and pastor’s wife both affirmed that call.
“Here I was two years into salvation, not knowing much about leading a church,” he says. “Yet our church grew because it was new and had a big focus on children and youth.”
Turning Point
By 2019, six-year-old Grace City Church had grown to 150 people. Kalanzi, feeling like he needed help, connected with Moses Mukisa at Worship Harvest Ministries, also in Uganda (profiled at OutreachMagazine.com/worship-harvest-church).
“He opened up a pastors’ mentorship program, and I eagerly did every assignment,” he says.
He learned about relational-missional discipleship in Scripture, and read books like Leading Missional Communities by Mike Breen, and Exponential by Dave and Jon Ferguson.
“Until that point, we had tried small groups, but our groups were too inward looking,” Kalanzi explains. “Because of that, they were low on both invitation and challenge.”
It was not easy to introduce Grace City Church to the idea of missional communities—gatherings that put emphasis on fellowship and on developing relationships for the gospel. When he asked, “Who is going to be with me in starting these outward-focused missional communities?” it was largely the younger people who took on the challenge.
At this point it was 2021—the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, which had reduced overall church attendance—yet his young people started seven missional communities. Outward-looking in their approach, participants kept inviting more people to join. The groups grew both by invitation and challenge, and because friendships were developing through the groups.
Kalanzi regularly unpacked Scripture to guide the missional communities. “Christ called us to make disciples, not just converts,” he would remind them.
This approach was new for Kalanzi, as well as for many people of the church. “In evangelistic crusades, you ask strangers to make a decision right now for Christ, but what if you first build genuine relationships as a way of bringing people into the faith?” he wondered.
The groups quickly began seeing more conversions, because at every missional community, people are regularly invited—within the context of loving relationships—to make a decision for Christ. New missional community groups were forming every week, and sometimes every day.
Three Years to 20,000
Incredibly, the church grew from 110 people to 20,000 in three years within their discipleship system—again, in the middle of the pandemic. “We were working underground,” Kalanzi says. “Schools had been closed for two years, and we had young people at home.”
In 2021, 5,095 people became saved through the church’s missional communities. In 2022, 14,018 received Jesus through these groups. In 2023, 15,083 received Christ—all through missional communities. In 2024, over 20,000 salvations were reported. The goal for 2025 is reach 30,000 and baptize at least 10,000.
“All this work is basically done by young people,” Kalanzi underscores. Around 70% of the church’s missional communities are made up of children and youth. “There is a growing movement of young people who are passionate and on fire for Christ. And we challenge each missional community to lead at least one person to Christ each week.”
Lessons Learned
What have Kalanzi and his church learned about outreach that could apply to churches in the United States and elsewhere?
1. The best way to reach a culture is to match the demographic. Half the population of Uganda is under age 17, one of the lowest averages in Africa. “To reach the younger generation, we must use younger people,” Kalanzi explains. “They have credibility and a high relational capacity with their peers.”
2. Gospel movements often start with youth. “We taught our young people that they can be trusted with the gospel,” Kalanzi says. “It’s not just for professional Christians. If John Wesley could send out bands of young people to change the world, we can too.” The church has missional community pastors who are 16 years old. “Of the 44 churches we’ve planted in the last three years, about half of the pastors are young—not yet 20 years, but they’re leading large congregations while still attending school,” he says. “We want everyone to think, I can plant a church.”
3. Simple is effective. “Our theme verse has been 2 Timothy 2:2,” Kalanzi shares. “One application is that when you share your testimony, God starts working through it.
4. Relationships should be a priority. “We remind our people that Acts 1:8 says we are witnesses; we build relationships with them,” Kalanzi says. “That’s how we love them.” By sharing their testimony, people become witnesses before they become evangelists.
5. When God shows up, don’t be surprised. “Our young people have seen miracles of healing: eyes opening, the lame walking, and miracles against witchcraft,” Kalanzi relates.
6. Schools must remain a focus. The church today is reaching about 90 schools across the movement of 45 total churches hosting hundreds of missional communities. Every church has been asked to adopt up to five primary or secondary schools. Some can focus on only one or two. Whatever their capacity, they go into the schools and preach and invite people into community.
Kalanzi believes the future of the church in Uganda—and beyond—depends on this kind of relational-missional outreach: “Take relational-missional discipleship, immerse it in the culture of the people, capture the DNA, and then you can spread it.”
What began as a handful of young leaders in a primary school is now shaping a generation, one relationship—and one school—at a time.