Pastors Julius and Vernita Rwotlonyo during an interview at Watoto Church in Kampala on June 22. PHOTO/WATOTO CHURCH
On April 22, 1984, Pastors Gary and Marilyn Skinner founded Watoto Church in Uganda and around the world. Since then, the church has grown in leaps and bounds. Watoto Church Ministries is now a sprawling cell-based community church. More than 30,000 people attend service at its 17 campuses in Uganda, Juba, South Sudan and online.
Last year, Gary and Marilyn Skinner retired and effectively handed the instruments of leadership to Pastors Julius and Vernita Rwotlonyo. It was a transition the latter say was measured, methodical and meticulously planned.
When Pastor Gary reached the age of 65, the transition began so that when he clocked 70, he and Marilyn would hand over officially to Pastors Julius and Vernita.
“It was a five-year transition,” Vernita said. “As a church, we already knew that the transition was coming because Pastor Gary talked about it for a long time before he actually zeroed in on Julius and I.”
She adds that the stewardship of Pastors Gary and Marilyn has set the church on a singular journey whose peaks and troughs have been more peak than trough.
“It has been a beautiful journey of mentorship. Pastors Gary and Marilyn have really mentored us. They used every moment to bring us in and teach us. That has been the greatest thing about this transition: having the privilege of the mentorship,” Pastor Vernita said.
“Gary had always prepared us for leadership. And not just Vernita and myself, it is a whole team of pastors,” Pastor Julius chimed in.
“That has been [Pastor Skinner’s] philosophy of leadership. It’s through team effort. We had an opportunity for a very special mentorship season. Pastor Gary, Marilyn, Vernita and I went out to Watoto in Cape Town [South Africa] for six months. It bonded us so much. The year was 2021. We really learnt a lot.”
Pastors Gary and Marilyn inculcated the values of servant-leadership, courageous leadership and not only the honesty that comes with speaking one’s truth. But the integrity that comes with living that truth, too.
Right-hand man
After the pastoral quartet returned from Cape Town, Pastor Julius became Pastor Skinner’s right-hand man and pastoral team leader.
“In 2018, Pastor Gary turned 65 and that is when I became his full associate. Those five years of preparation, from 2018, were intentional. There was a plan,” related Pastor Julius.
However, just as the transition was proceeding at full gallop with Pastor Julius already holding the reins, Covid-19 struck. Suddenly, the world was thrown into a tailspin. Globally, emergency measures designed to limit the spread of the virus involved travel restrictions and efforts to ensure people did not gather. Yet gathering, in the name of Jesus Christ, is what Watoto Church is about.
Pastor Gary impressed upon Pastor Julius the importance of weathering storms in whatever shape they took.
“All leadership will be tested,” Pastor Julius says Pastor Gary told him. “You will be tested. I had no idea that the test would come in the form of Covid-19 where you don’t do what you regularly do and that is gathering.”
Nonetheless, Pastor Gary’s prophecy mentally prepared Pastor Julius to withstand the worst shocks of the pandemic in true ‘fortune favours the prepared mind’ fashion. As leadership changed hands, Pastor Gary did not meddle in how Pastor Julius steered the ship, so to speak. Instead, he cultivated an “eyes on, hands off” policy.
“He was encouraging and giving feedback,” recalls Vernita.
This feedback called upon Pastors Julius and Vernita to embrace the core of Christ-like leadership, which is servant-leadership.
Passing of the torch
In the book of John, the Bible reveals how Jesus symbolised such servant-leadership to prepare his disciples to inherit his ministry. The passage reads thus: “When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. ‘Do you understand what I have done for you?’ he asked them. ‘You call me Teacher and Lord, and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.’”
Similarly, Pastor Julius says: “On February 3, 2023, Pastor Gary removed his jacket and removed my jacket and then dressed me in his jacket. Pastor Marilyn gave Vernita a necklace. That, for me, was a physical symbol of saying: ‘Now the responsibility of leadership is on you officially.’”
Pastors Julius and Vernita have also set in motion their own transition by mentoring young leaders in the church, who shall replace them in the future. This cements a culture that fosters a healthy “leadership pipeline.”
Accordingly, protégés of the church leadership such as George Mfitumukiza and Amos Tumwine say they are both “Watoto graduates” having been educated by the church. Mfitumukiza has just graduated from Kyambogo University where he obtained a degree in Procurement and Logistics. Tumwine is a skilled and professional photographer.
Watoto Church has three nurseries, three primary schools and three secondary schools, which have extended over five thousand scholarships to persons like Mfitumukiza and Tumwine.
After Pastor Gary launched his memoir Where Faith Lit the Way last Friday.
Celebrating 40 years
Watoto Church celebrated 40 years of existence by staging a mega event—the Big 40—at Kololo Independence Ground last Sunday. First Lady Janet Museveni was the chief guest at the colourful event where Bethany Music joined Watoto’s worship team in putting on a show during a praise rally. Before that, they performed a worship song that the First Lady specifically requested—Bethel Music’s Goodness of God.
“40 years is a significant milestone by any means. In fact, in the Bible, 40 was the generational mark. It has been a great journey for Watoto. Few could have expected that the church could grow and have global impact and a huge influence in doing God’s work,” Pastor Julius says.
