Pastor Shone Ninyoha (Twende Graduate)

I met Shone in 2012 when I joined Rukungiri Community Church during my time volunteering as a program coordinator for a malnutrition program at a Catholic hospital in Rukungiri, Southwest Uganda. One of my fervent prayers my senior year of college was that God would connect me to the local church - the body of believers - wherever I ended up after finishing my degree. One week after walking across the graduation stage, I was stepping off a plane onto the tarmac in Entebbe Uganda. My first Sunday in country was at a small Runyankore speaking church which was full of God’s presence and the pastor was able to point me to a church in Rukungiri town that held services in English and Runyankore. The next week I joined Rukungiri Community Church (RCC) and recognized God’s faithfulness to place me with a body of believers that welcomed me and would sharpen me over the next 2 years. Part of this sharpening process was serving side by side with Shone in the youth ministry.

Pastor Shone

We facilitated discussion for Sunday morning youth Bible studies and high school outreach and joined church planting under the direction of the pastoral leadership. Rachel was also part of the team and served through her gift to lead praise and worship. We grew together in those two years and it became clear that Shone desired further training in theology and ministry leadership. His father had abandoned his family and his mother did not have the means to pay tuition. He was selling clothes and movies to make a living.

Victor and I advocated for Shone and he was able to begin studies thanks to the generosity of a friend in Detroit - he graduated with a Bachelors in Theology from Africa Renewal Ministries in 2021. He has led at RCC as a service production pastor and ministered with the youth.

Pr Shone is now the resident pastor of Life Center Church which was planted in 2024. He has walked in the mission of Twende to become a servant leader in his community alongside his wife Rachel and three beautiful children. Together they are sacrificially serving the new believers at Life Center Church while also managing a business on the side as the young church is not able to provide regular financial support to sustain his family. Recently, they held a one day retreat for married couples in the church. For many of the 11 couples, this was the first time that they held hands to pray together. Cultural practices were challenged with the truth of God’s word for husband and wife to love each other and submit to each other. Shone has picked up the DNA of Twende and continues to journey with Twende students and strengthen the organization. He mentors Twende students and welcomes them in his home for fellowship. He engages with prospective students to investigate their story and how we might journey with them to become agents of change in their community through academic sponsorship and mentorship. 

Would you pray for Shone and Rachel, that God would provide for their needs in the church and for their own family?