{"id":85,"date":"2026-01-21T15:50:58","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T15:50:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/omagor.com\/blog\/?p=85"},"modified":"2026-01-21T15:51:00","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T15:51:00","slug":"a-living-testament-reviewing-this-awesome-gospel-by-elder-charles-christon-sessanga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/omagor.com\/blog\/a-living-testament-reviewing-this-awesome-gospel-by-elder-charles-christon-sessanga\/","title":{"rendered":"A Living Testament: Reviewing “This Awesome Gospel” by Elder Charles Christon\u00a0Sessanga\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There are books that inform. There are books that inspire. And then there are books that bear witness\u2014testimonies etched in time, written not merely with ink but with the residue of tears, prayers, and unwavering faith. Elder Charles Christon Sessanga’s “This Awesome Gospel”<\/strong> belongs firmly in this third category. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As someone who has served at Makerere Full Gospel Church through various capacities\u2014from youth ministry to children’s ministry, and as a communications officer during the challenging COVID-19 period (2019-2022)\u2014I have had the unique privilege of observing Elder Sessanga from both a distance and, occasionally, in those sacred corridor moments where wisdom is shared in passing. Yet it wasn’t until I read both “The Gospel of Power”<\/strong> by Rev. Hugh Layzell and this remarkable response that I truly understood the depth of legacy I had been walking alongside. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Elder\u00a0Sessanga\u00a0has crafted is not simply a book; it is what he himself calls “a loud graphic way of saying thank you.<\/em>” It is a son’s tribute to spiritual fathers, a witness’s testimony to miracles\u00a0observed, and a curator’s careful preservation of a movement that transformed Uganda’s spiritual landscape.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The book opens with characteristic humility: “This is but a humble, symbolic work which should not be overestimated and taken for a comprehensive narration of all the events and achievements of the church.” <\/em>Yet in this very humility lies its power. Elder\u00a0Sessanga\u00a0has given us something precious\u2014a ground-level view of what happens when the Gospel takes root in turbulent soil.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having read “The Gospel of Power,” a couple of years back I approached “This Awesome Gospel” with curiosity about how a national voice would respond to a missionary’s narrative. What I found was not contradiction but completion. Where the Layzells documented the planting, Elder Sessanga chronicles the harvest. Where they recorded the foundation, he celebrates the building still rising. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The genius of this work lies in its conversational intimacy. Elder\u00a0Sessanga\u00a0writes as one who was there\u2014not as a distant historian but as an active participant. His memory of that “tall, wiry, exuberant young figure in a typically white T-shirt with a bow tie” who led him to salvation in 1961\u00a0isn’t\u00a0just historical record;\u00a0it’s\u00a0personal testimony. When he describes Pastor Hugh\u00a0Layzell’s\u00a0favorite\u00a0verse\u2014Matthew 24:14, quoted with that “characteristic pause to let it sink”\u2014we’re\u00a0not reading about a preacher;\u00a0we’re\u00a0meeting a spiritual father through the eyes of a devoted son.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Power of Eyewitness Testimony<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What makes this book invaluable is its eyewitness quality. Elder Sessanga doesn’t merely tell us about the turbulent 1970s under Idi Amin’s regime; he lived through the church ban, worked under Javan (the foreman) with “wheelbarrow and mattock” digging foundations for what would become a sanctuary, and witnessed firsthand the miraculous provision that kept the gospel advancing when every natural circumstance screamed retreat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His description of the Layzells’ deportation is heart-wrenching in its immediacy: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“If only my tears could be recorded and imprinted on this page as Dad Hugh narrated this very moment in time!”\u00a0<\/mark><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not sanitized history. This is lived experience, still tender enough to provoke tears decades later. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elder Sessanga’s literary style deserves special mention. For a man who describes this as his “maiden literary journey,” the prose reveals surprising sophistication. His poetic interludes punctuate the narrative with prophetic power: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Christians either wailing or looking stunned<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or else asking why, what, where, and when<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time and fate strangling each other<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Devil inflating blackness into hollowness<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Almighty ripping rocks like mushrooms<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Impossibilities turning into ‘mashabilities’?”<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These aren’t mere embellishments; they’re theological declarations wrapped in accessible language. They remind us that African Christianity has always had its own voice, its own cadence, its own way of declaring God’s faithfulness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Succession Narrative: A Model for Kingdom Building<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the book’s most valuable contributions is its documentation of leadership transition. Elder\u00a0Sessanga\u00a0traces what he calls “the divine line”\u2014from Rev. Hugh\u00a0Layzell\u00a0(the pioneer, 1960-1973) through Pastor Joshua Kamya Musoke (the sustainer through persecution, 1973-1991) to Pastor Fred\u00a0Wantante\u00a0(the builder and expander, 1991-present).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This isn’t just church politics; it’s a masterclass in succession planning that every ministry leader should study. Elder Sessanga shows how each leader brought exactly what the moment required: <\/p>\n\n\n\n