Work for Heaven and Earth: Museveni Urges Believers to Balance Prayer with Productivity

President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has commended Prophet David Isanga, the overseer and spiritual leader of the Universal Apostles Fellowship Church of Righteousness, for prioritising the message of wealth and job creation in his ministry.

“I thank you for encouraging the believers to work hard and embrace the government programs aimed at eradicating poverty,” he said.

President Museveni made the remarks on Wednesday, 31st  December, 2025, in his message delivered by the Special Presidential Assistant- Press and Mobilization also Deputy Press Secretary, Haji Faruk Kirunda, during the Church’s End of Year Glorification and Thanksgiving Convention, held in Kilama, Kaliro District.

The President explained that human beings have both spiritual and physical needs, which are equally important in life.

“The spiritual needs are satisfied through praying to God, studying the scriptures, listening to religious and moral instruction, fasting, praise and worship, etc. These enable a believer to draw closer to God and impart good morals and discipline in relating with other people,” he said.

“However, there are also physical needs that must be satisfied to achieve a happy, fulfilling and productive life. These include: food, water, shelter, medicine, hospitals, schools, clothes, transport, a job, etc. In a modern economy, you cannot obtain the goods and services which are necessary to sustain life without money.”

He explained that to achieve a productive life, an individual or household must eliminate moneylessness or subsistence living, which satisfies only one need, i.e. food. He said moneylessness can be eliminated by undertaking a profitable enterprise in one of the four sectors: commercial agriculture, industries, services and ICT.

“These are the four sectors where you can create jobs and wealth.”

President Museveni further urged religious leaders to encourage the believers to work towards achieving decent and better standards of living.

“This is a crucial point which some believers fail to understand and put into practice. In the process of working for heaven, some of the faithful become negligent about their earthly responsibilities and thereby end up perpetuating and entrenching socio-economic backwardness and poverty in their respective families and societies,” he said.

The President implored the faithful to emulate Jesus Christ, who prayed, healed the sick, fed the hungry and earned his bread by working alongside his earthly father Joseph as a carpenter. “He worked for both the spiritual and socio-economic uplift of his family and society. This is what all Christians must emulate,” he noted.

President Museveni also thanked God for the continued peace, unity and stability in Uganda. “It is gratifying that Uganda has remained peaceful, and there is a lot of agricultural and industrial production. The shops are full, and the markets are full. Yes, there is still poverty among the 30% of the households still outside the money economy (Abakolera ekiddakyoonka, tic me ic keken), but the way out for them is well laid out, and the resources to support the process are available and up-scalable (PDM, Emyooga, ghetto funds, bodaboda fund, etc.),” he said.

“Finally, the future is bright. Let us pray for peace in the whole of Africa and more economic and political integration in Africa to continue to solve the problem of markets for our products and services and strategic security.”

On his part, Prophet David thanked President Museveni for steering Uganda’s socio-economic transformation through various programs such as the Parish Development Model and Emyooga.

He also applauded him for consistently guaranteeing freedom of worship in Uganda, explaining that it’s the reason why the Universal Apostles Fellowship Church of Righteousness exists.

Prophet David further rallied believers to vote for President Museveni and other NRM flagbearers in the 2026 general elections for more development.

The event was also attended by the Minister of State for Bunyoro Affairs, Hon. Jenipher Namuyangu, Bulamogi County MP, Hon. Bwiire Sanon, Kaliro Woman MP, Hon. Brenda Namukuta, among other leaders.