We finished the last evening of the three-week course on Worship Arts at Uganda Christian University, and came away with a tremendous sense of God's presence throughout. Scores of students crowded into the candlelit classroom for the closing ceremony of celebration and prayer that lasted almost three hours. Students spent most of the time in glorious worship, including deeply moving prayers and anointing by the Holy Spirit. It was a mountaintop encounter with the Living God, to be sure.

"I'm going back to Nebbi a changed person," wrote one student from northern Uganda. Her comment reflects the response of many of those who were impacted by the depth of the Worship Arts course, which offers a broad perspective of creative ideas for enhancing the worship of the church, with a solid foundation of Biblical principles. The result is a harmonious blend of rich historic traditions and the spontaneity of the Holy Spirit.

The Worship Arts course is for pastors, lay readers, worship leaders, praise teams, dancers, dramatists, singers, musicians, song writers and others with creative talents that can enhance the worship of the Church. It is designed to equip and empower men and women to fulfill their calling in worship. The three-week course imparts a Biblical understanding of praise and worship, and the powerful purpose of music and the arts in worship to accomplish our mission to the nations and among the lost.

I am very grateful for the team of facilitators who joined me to teach this year: Rev. Peter and Mary Minson, from New Zealand; Dr. Sylvia Tamusuza, professor of ethnomusicology at Makerere University; Rev. Ben Mugarura and Lynett Nsubuga, pastor and worship director of St. Francis Chapel at Makerere; and Tom Duku, director of worship at All Saints Cathedral.

The course is an extraordinary opportunity to bring students together from many denominations and nations to gain fresh insight into "true worship" without regard for the differences of tribe, tongue, national origin and tradition. Furthermore, it is an answer to many prayers that I would be able to utilize my Worship Foundations curriculum at Uganda Christian University to train the future leaders of the church and the nation. What an amazing privilege!

The Worship Arts course was offered for the first time in 2004 as I sought to expand the Worship Foundations seminars to include many other topics such as ethnomusicology, various arts forms in worship, instrumental workshops, and others. It is the only such residential course in Uganda that has people from many different denominations interacting for three weeks to learn about the power and presence of God through the Arts in Worship. This year nearly 100 people registered for the course. We had students from Uganda, Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania.

Each week of the program prepares students for important aspects of worship ministry through a series of intensive Biblical, artistic and personal development studies. Church leaders learn to apply sound Christian doctrine to every worship-related activity of the church. They are equipped to make a powerful impact in the community through the rich traditions of the church, contemporary culture, music and the creative arts.

Much like the USA, there is a gap between the denominations in Uganda and I feel in addition to learning about worship they will experience reconciliation at its best! The participants worship together, eat together and live together for three weeks. By the end of the course they went far beyond toleration for each other, but found they actually love and appreciate one another – despite their denominational differences. The program is rich in variety and took the students deeper in their understanding about worship "in spirit and in truth."

Thank you so much for your prayers and support throughout the past months of preparation. I have truly felt your partnership with me as I went through the course. Please pray with us that God will open the door to have this course become core part of studies in the School of Divinity and Theology at UCU. Pray also that the course will continue to positively shape the worship of the church throughout Uganda.