Debbie Gilbert | Ministry Founder

Debbie admits she’s never been a mission-minded person though her husband Mike is highly-trained as a first responder for crisis situations. She also confesses to hating heat and bugs, and loving the comforts of home like air conditioning and family. So what would prompt her to sell her house and most of her belongings to move to war-torn Africa?

A little over a year ago, Debbie lost her youngest of four children, Sean, and the Ohio native soon found herself at a crossroads. “I’d go into Sean’s room and have the same conversation with God – ‘this is all that I have left of my son.’ One day, I felt we were called to leave here,” she says. “I told my husband we were moving to Africa. I don’t think he believed me at first, but after a little while, we both knew we had to do it.”

At first, her kids were excited about it, she says, and then a little time passed. “As it became more real, they started to get nervous.” Some people even asked her if selling the house and moving away meant they were running away from grief over their son. “Before I ever had my calling, Mike had asked me if I thought we should sell the house and I told him no, that I didn’t want to go anywhere and leave behind our memories here, so clearly we’re not running away now,” she says. “Once you’ve lost a child, you can’t run away from it.”

While she wasn’t aware of all of the violence and danger facing the children in Africa, her children educated her on the subject. Initially, she felt it was too big a challenge to do anything about. Once a decision was made to travel to the area earlier this spring to visit an existing ministry in Uganda, the couple soon realized that they needed to start their own ministry to carry out their ultimate mission, leading to the birth of One City Ministries, Inc. (onecityministries.org).

Debbie had previously worked for her church, Grace Family Lutheran, as an assimilation director, helping new members become oriented and adjusted to the church.. Now, her skills as a communicator, guide and teacher would be truly tested and it meant research and plenty of it. She and Mike studied the area’s history, culture and languages. But Debbie insists the most important thing that will make the ministry successful is networking, something she has always felt comes natural to her. “Networking with people has been really important to find out what their needs are over there. Building relationships is crucial to form partnerships, and bringing awareness to the people here will determine how successful we can be in Africa,” she says. “My heart is with the orphans in Uganda. Being a believer in the Lord, that has been everything to us. I’ve put a lot of faith in Him.”

Once the couple arrives in Africa, their main objectives will be to start training emergency response teams to go into camps and help children with basic needs such as food, clothing and medical care. Debbie says she will be blogging regularly about the ministry’s progress. “I’m looking forward to making a difference there, some kind of impact on the people, especially the children. That’s what I’m most excited about,” she says.

To others who might be presently re-examining their own lives, she offers this advice. “Listen to your heart. If you are feeling peaceful and content, you’re doing the right thing. If you don’t, keep searching for that truth,” she says. “We always keep doing what we’re doing because it’s the easy thing but that’s not always what’s best.”