June 11, 2024
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Amani Sasa and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship have signed a partnership agreement for a “dialogue of discovery” that the organizations believe will open doors for deeper missional collaboration.
The agreement recognizes the 11 years of ministry of CBF Field Personnel Missy Ward Angalla in Kampala, Uganda, and provides support for the next three years. Possible areas of future collaboration also include short-term mission groups to enrich Amani Sasa’s work.
At the end of September, Missy will transition from her role of field personnel. Missy and her husband, Francis, Co-founders and Co-Executive Directors of Amani Sasa, will continue to lead the work and development of Amani Sasa in this next chapter of their ministry.
Amani Sasa programs were founded in 2013 and provide urgent relief and critical care to refugee women, men and children in Kampala. The refugees flee to Uganda from neighboring countries to escape war, violence and persecution. Amani Sasa is the leading organization in Kampala, Uganda’s capital city, for providing complete, holistic care to the most vulnerable refugees through comprehensive shelter programs.
Amania Sasa’s approach to holistic care includes crisis intervention, trauma healing and rehabilitation, equipping refugees for success and community transformation. It currently has 38 staff and serves more than 1,800 people and 622 families annually. Half of the staff members are program graduates.
Empowered by the Holy Spirit, CBF Global Missions cultivates beloved community, bears witness to Jesus Christ and seeks transformational development among people and places otherwise forgotten and forsaken. CBF Field personnel serve alongside congregations within three primary contexts: global poverty, global migration and the global church.
As part of the agreement, Amani Sasa becomes an Engagement Partner of CBF. From CBF’s inception, the establishment of 501(c)3 entities by Global Mission Field Personnel has been encouraged as a means of enhancing strategic capacity and/or providing creative access to areas where traditional mission approaches might be problematic or counterproductive. In some cases, now including Amani Sasa, these entities have grown into stand-alone organizations with comprehensive programing, extending the impact of CBF supported ministries in ways unimagined at their founding.
Pam Durso, board chair of Amani Sasa and president of Central Seminary in Shawnee, Kansas, expressed the excitement of Amani Sasa’s leadership.
“Amani Sasa’s Board of Directors celebrates this opportunity to begin a new partnership with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship as our organization moves into its next season of mission and ministry,” Durso said. “We are grateful for the continuing support and encouragement of CBF and look forward with excitement and eagerness as our co-executive directors, Francis Angalla and Missy Ward Angalla, strengthen and expand the beautiful work they are doing in Uganda.”
Laura Ayala, CBF’s coordinator for Global Missions, spoke of Missy’s passion for her ministry in Uganda.
“Amani Sasa is very close to Missy’s heart,” Ayala said. “The love and commitment that Missy demonstrates toward those she serves through Amani Sasa is commendable. The organization’s expansion and growth over time is a testament to the meaningful work it is doing and the positive impact it is having on the community it serves.
“We are proud to see Amani Sasa grow, and we foresee new opportunities under Missy’s leadership and a committed Board,” Ayala said.
Missy spoke about Amani Sasa’s mission and her passion for ministry with the people in Uganda.
“Amani Sasa exists because we believe that all women, men, and children deserve to be safe and have access to healing and empowerment,” she said. “They deserve to know and experience God’s love while living into their full potential. Over the last 11 years while serving in Uganda, this passion has deepened as I have witnessed the power of God to change, transform and restore people’s lives. This healing changes the course of their families and breaks cycles of poverty, abuse and exploitation. Francis and I are excited about what God has in store next at Amani Sasa, and I am grateful for the partnership and endorsement of CBF as we enter into this next chapter.”
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Amani Sasa exists to provide critical care and support to the most vulnerable refugee families in Kampala, Uganda through holistic, in-depth care. We walk alongside families through providing safety, wholeness and empowerment so that they can experience transformation. We believe in the God-given potential of every person who walks through our doors and our mission is to ensure that they have the opportunity to be safe, heal and live into their God-given purpose.
The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship is a community of individuals, churches and partners called to cultivate relationships with one another that reflect the love of Christ. It supports congregations and their leaders and invites churches toward thriving, equips leaders toward faithfulness and seeks God’s transformation of the world.