Saving a Nation of Forgotten Youth

There’s a revolution taking place among the youth of Uganda. And Matt and Angela Catinella, 2000 and 2001 RHEMA Bible Training Center graduates, are right in the middle of it. In a nation ravaged by the AIDS epidemic and increasing moral decline, a nation where youth are left to fend for themselves with little or no parental guidance, they are reaching out and making a difference—one youth at a time. “If we can train 20,” said Matt and Angela, “and 20 train 2,000, over time, we can reach a nation.”

For Matt and Angela, their mission began in 2004 when God called them to help a missionary couple in South Africa. At the time, though, they didn’t know exactly what God was calling them to do. “I was just ready to preach the Word,” Matt recalled. But the missionaries they were serving had other ideas. “They asked us to develop a school ministry,” said Matt. “I did not want to tackle life skills and kids. But the Lord started dealing with me. We were burying so many young people in Africa who had died of AIDS. The death rate in South Africa at that time was one in four. It was ridiculous. Our guard at the ministry would be there, and then he wouldn’t be there. The maids would be cleaning, and then they’d pass away. They’d put up these huge tents in the villages and would do funerals where everyone would come.”

At this point the Lord began prompting Matt and Angela to teach purity. “God gave me the phrase walk pure,” said Matt, “so I just began going into the schools and teaching students about purity and leadership. We started teaching them out of some sermons I had put together.” As Matt and Angela’s ministry expanded, the Lord began to deal with them about writing a book. The result was Walk Pure, 10 lessons on abstinence and living a life of purity. Geared specifically toward African youth and written in a language they can understand, the book is given to every student whom Matt and Angela teach.

{flvremote}http://media2.rhema.org/FLV/REVOLUTION_Title_01_01.flv{/flvremote}

In 2007, God called the Catinellas—and their ministry to youth—to Kampala, Uganda. “The youth of Uganda are just like American youth,” they said. “They face temptations and are surrounded by negative influences like alcohol, drugs, and sex. Without guidance, these kids are left to figure out life on their own.” That’s where Matt and Angela’s Living Water Ministry comes in. Using
their book Walk Pure and two other books they’ve written, the Catinellas are reaching into high schools across Uganda. But they’re not doing it alone.

“Our heart is to raise up indigenous leaders to reach their own people,” said Matt. Working with local churches and universities, Matt and Angela are training young people between ages 20 and 30. For 10 weeks, students attend Bible school and learn faith foundations. “We teach them about healing, who they are in Christ, righteousness, and the believer’s authority, and we get them filled with the Holy Spirit,” Matt said.

Students are then trained for another 10 weeks to teach the Walk Pure curriculum in high schools. They learn public speaking, counseling, administration, and classroom management for groups of 300 students. After graduating, these trained
young people are planted in high schools where they become mentors to the students—many of whom have very hard lives.

“A lot of students have been molested or they have AIDS,” Matt noted. “They barely have the fees to be in school. There are so many things that they carry around with them and harbor in their hearts as they go to school.” The Catinellas want mentors to spend at least 10 weeks with students so relationships can be built and the mentors can speak into their lives.

The results speak for themselves. One young girl, Daphne, discovered that her mother had AIDS. “She was devastated,” Angela recalled. “She thought, ‘What am I going to do? I want to finish school. Is my mom going to die?’” But as Daphne shared this news with her Walk Pure mentor, Christine, her life changed. “Christine helped counsel her through that and prayed with her,” said Angela. “Daphne got excited about Christine teaching her purity and walking it out in front of her. She said, ‘I don’t want to have
the same result my mom had.’ Now she’s encouraging other people to walk pure, and she even started a club in her school after we finished teaching.”

Last year alone Matt and Angela discipled and trained over 50 Spirit-filled leaders just like Christine. “A lot of people are in a hurry to get to a place, but they don’t have anything to give,” they said.

“Our leaders are saturated in the Word of God after they go though Bible school, and they’re just ready to serve.”

After training and serving in the schools with Matt and Angela, many leaders return to their home churches to serve their pastors.

They start youth groups where there are none. One young leader, Nicholas, took the Walk Pure curriculum back to his village and began training others.

Since there was no public school in the area, he built one out of cow dung and mud and put 120 kids in it. Matt and Angela now visit there to hold vacation Bible schools. Another of their former leaders, Charles, uses the leadership skills he learned through Matt and Angela to care for war refugees. He currently oversees more than 3,000 refugees from Sudan and the Democratic
Republic of the Congo.

Matt and Angela both know that none of this would have been possible without their RHEMA training. “RHEMA was our foundation,” they said. “All the teaching that you get from RHEMA is what we’re teaching now—and not just the Word, but the practical as well.”

With their own foundation firm, Matt and Angela are eager to continue revolutionizing youth—not only in Uganda but in all of Africa.

“The enemy has come to kill, steal, and destroy,” said Matt. “But Jesus came to give us life, and life to the full. Satan is trying to steal the destiny and purpose of these youth from them. We have to keep them alive to get them to their purpose.”

Through their Bible school, leadership program, Walk Pure curriculum, and annual youth rallies, Matt and Angela are making a difference.

They’re changing the thinking and behavior of a forgotten generation—a generation that has been without hope, without mentors, and without Jesus . . . until now.

For more information about their ministry, visit www.livingwatermin.org.