Dr Michael Kimuli speaks during ‘Sound Of Heaven’, an event that seeks to offer believers an experience of worshiping God in hymns. (Courtesy Photo)
Dr Michael Kimuli, the vision bearer and senior pastor of Christian Discipleship Ministries Int. has urged born-again Christian Churches in Uganda not to ignore hymns during their worship services.
Speaking during the first-of-its-kind ‘Sound of Heaven’ hymn experience on Friday, Dr Michael Kimuli said there are powerful testimonies and stories behind every hymn.
He pointed out hymns like “Amazing Grace,’ originally composed by John Newton, “And can it be, that I should gain?” written by Charles Wesley.
The ministry spent hours going back memory lane singing several classic hymns and narrating the impact of this experience in the early church.
Dr Kimuli likened singing hymns to prayer and intercession.
“Hymns speak in very situation. The problem is that after we give our lives to the Lord, and [become] Pentecostals, we feel that these songs are religious. But they are actually not. And most of them are scriptural, unlike today’s songs where you wait for the name of Jesus, and it is only mentioned when the song is closing,” he said.
Dr Kimuli explained how many born-again Churches today have adopted a different genre of music, and how many worshipers lead in foreign songs composed in languages many are unacquainted with.
“I don’t want to sing songs I don’t understand. I want to put my heart on the object of my worship. I want to connect. I want it to be intimate,” he said.
(Courtesy Photo)
Dr Kimuli urged that authentic worship music should point to Christ, and lead believers into intimacy with Him.
“I was born in a protestant family, and I loved hymns from as early as the age of 3 . When I became 5, I joined the Anglican church choir at Kasubi CoU led by Livingstone Mpalanyi Nkoyoyo, the late. That time I was the youngest, and I sang soprano. And because of these hymns, i desired to become a Reverend. By then every parent’s dream was that their child grows up to become either a lawyer, doctor, pilot or engineer And I could feel that my father was disappointed with this boy who wants to be a Reverend,” he said.
“After giving my life to Christ, my mother told me a story of how I suffered from measles, till they gave up on me. ‘We put you on oxygen, and doctors were pressing us and convincing us to put you off so we can take the dead body.’ Dr Kimuli was told. But my mother persisted and encouraged them to keep me on oxygen another day. And she told me, ‘I don’t know how you came back to life. No wonder you are serving God.’ She explained all this before she gave her life to Christ too. But I loved hymns,” he said.
