Jane Francis; former waragi brewer, aspirant nun, and now Pastor and Apostle for Christ, originally from the Eastern Uganda Bukwa District (formerly part of the Kapchorwa District) on the border with Kenya, under the shadow of Mount Elgon, understands the hardship, suffering and darkness of the people who live and die in these remote regions of the world.
A Childhood of Hardship
The eastern region of Uganda is well-known as an area active with cattle rustlers and as a battleground between the Pokot of Kenya and the Sabiny of Uganda. The regular raids and skirmishes create great insecurity for the people, making daily life even more difficult, with most just able to scrape by the most basic survival living. It was into this that Jane was born in 1968 in a remote village, the daughter of the first wife in a polygamous home.
Jane’s father, a school teacher, was busy with his five other wives and many concubines while her mother brewed waragi (the local alcohol) to raise money to build a house for the family. From the age of 7, Jane worked with her mother distilling the waragi to raise the money needed for school fees. By age 10, she was an expert brewer. She would also go to other people’s gardens to dig and cultivate so that she could raise the money needed for food, clothing and other needs, walking and working barefoot, suffering bites from the ever-present jiggers (mites) that caused her to lose a toenail, as well as much discomfort.
Jane’s mother finally was sent away by her father, and her children became baby sitters for their step brothers and sisters, suffering at the hands of their stepmothers’ abuse and wrongful accusations that provoked their father to beat them.
Finally Jane and her younger brother could not handle this anymore, so they went looking for their mother who had occupied an abandoned house with a leaking roof and walls full of holes. Even there, and in another house she built later, Jane’s father could not leave them alone. He would beat her when he saw her by the road, and even sent others to kill her and burn down her house. But in each case, the Lord saved her and her children in miraculous ways.
After being separated for seven years, Jane’s mother went back at the request of her husband’s relatives and Jane’s elder brother and sister who were now grown up. Even then, he had not changed. He had given his other wives all the land that Jane’s mother had bought when they were still together. He had also put his women in the house which her mother built with him. Life was much more difficult.
The other women began bewitching her, abusing her, quarrelling and even sending their children to throw stones at her and her things. They frustrated her in many ways, even destroying her chickens, crops and whatever she did.
Jane and her siblings never got the love of a father throughout their childhood. They were rejected. They soon got used to sleeping in the bush due to drunkenness of her father. Whenever he was drunk he would beat Jane’s mother and chase the children out of the house. It was also necessary at times to sleep in the bush due to the raiders who would attack at night, burn houses and granaries, and steal cattle. Gun shots could be heard all the time.
Even when going away to school there was no relief. After walking over 50 km to school with boxes and mattresses on their heads, they still had to deal with their father since he was a teacher there. He would abuse Jane and her brothers and sisters at the parade in front of all the students. Even in class he beat them, pulled their ears and abused them so badly that Jane finally asked him if he was really their father; and if not, to show her their real father.
Polygamy, poverty, insecurity, ignorance of the true Word of God, witchcraft and drunkenness contributed a great deal to their suffering, and still does today in many of these remote areas.
Wonderfully Saved
Jane had a desire to serve the Lord from a very early age, but the only church she knew was the Catholic Church in the village. To fulfil her desire to serve God, she threw herself into service of the church. On Saturdays she would take waragi to the priest and to the nuns in the convent. Afterwards she would go for her “benediction” (repenting sins to the priest). She aspired to become a nun and registered to become a novice when she was just ten years old because she was told that was the only way she could fulfil her desire to serve God. Her name was changed from Jennifer to Jane Francis.
At the time she could see no other way to serve God. As she said, “I was a staunch Catholic and nobody could preach to me. I hated people who were born again because of my ignorance.” But in 1988 all that changed. The Lord, who knows the heart, met Jane in a very personal way. In her own words:
“I got saved in 1988 by the Lord Himself leading me. One day the Spirit of God came upon me, I fell on the floor and laid there for three hours, broken in spirit. I repented all and was filled with the Holy Spirit instantly. At once, I threw out all my rosaries to which I had been so addicted.”
After getting saved, Jane’s desire to serve God grew even stronger. Not long after, in 1989, she married Pastor David Kipkorir from Moiben, Kenya. They now have 5 children, 1 boy and 4 girls.
The seed of what was to become King of Kings Restoration International Ministry was planted there in prayer – and in the desolation and agony of rejection Jane had seen and experienced in her life.
David had a different spiritual upbringing, having been raised and saved in an Elim Pentecostal church in Kenya (part of the Pentecostal Evangelical Fellowship of Africa [PEFA]). When David and Jane went back to Uganda, their pastor in Kenya introduced them to the Elim Pentecostal church there where they received a sound spiritual mentoring, and ongoing encouragement.
Birth of a Ministry
In 1997 Jane received the first vision for ministry from the Lord while, in her own words, “was in a deep wilderness (spiritual training school) which continued for 7 years”. Not long after, in 1998, the Lord spoke to David and Jane, calling on them to donate the only land that had been given to David by his father, so that a church could be built on it. With this, their “Isaac Gift”, the first tangible foundations of the ministry were laid.
Five years later, in 2003, God showed Jane many further visions about the desolate places during a time of prayer and fasting. The Lord revealed the entire vision for the ministry and the end-times work. It is that vision which is now being fully pursued in obedience to His Word.
