When Jesus had been walking with a crowd for three days, he did not simply send them home with a blessing. He stopped, looked at the multitude, and said, “I have compassion on these people. They have been with me for three days and have had nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may faint on the way.” (Matthew 13:32)
This was not just a miracle . . . it is a model for ministry.
Duncan Ojiambo, a Ugandan alumnus of African Christian College, made this text the foundation of his ministry.
Duncan began his work across Uganda, helping people grow in their understanding of God’s Word. While serving at Busoga Bible School, he noticed something missing: they were training ministers, but they were not giving them the tools to survive.
“Yes, we were training people to be ministers, but we were not giving them tools to provide for themselves,” he recalls.
For most congregations across Uganda, paying a full time minister is simply not possible. Sending someone into ministry without equipping them to provide for their own family was setting them up to struggle. Duncan had seen that pattern too many times. So he decided to do something about it.
“I got a clear view when I was still a student at African Christian College that it is very important to not just get theological education, but also empower preachers to provide for themselves, the same way the Apostle Paul did,” he says.
A vocational school was added to the Bible training programme at Busoga. The model worked so well that Duncan took it further, establishing a second Bible and Vocational School in Karamoja, one of Uganda’s most underserved regions. Students now graduate with skills in fashion and design, carpentry, construction, hairdressing, and farming. Back in their communities, those skills become businesses, and those businesses become the foundation for sustainable ministry.
“This model ensures that we do not produce half Christians who resort to harmful means to survive, but full believers who provide for themselves and transfer those skills to others,” Duncan explains.
Alongside his work in the schools, Duncan continues to serve as an evangelist and Director of Missions at Gospel Chariot Mission in Uganda.
“The system of teaching, baptizing, and holistically discipling believers motivates me to keep preaching every day, because people can truly witness the goodness of the Lord,” he shares.
Like Jesus on that hillside, Duncan is not content to send people away with only a spiritual encounter. He wants them to leave equipped, sustained, and ready to thrive. That is holistic discipleship. And in Uganda, it is changing lives.
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