Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His faithful servants
Anne Foster Laine, global worker with WorldVenture serving in Uganda, died in her sleep on Friday morning, August 7, 2020 in Mesa, AZ. She was 51.
“Anne had a deep love for the people of Uganda,” said Africa Director, Lloyd Chinn. “Anne had a relentless resolve to push through the uncomfortableness of a different culture in order to change lives.”
Anne Laine was born on June 13, 1969. She was raised in Virginia Beach, VA in a Christian home and accepted the Lord as a young teenager. After what she described as a time of running away from God in college, she recommitted her life to Christ and began serving on short-term medical missions trips to Mexico, India and Kenya. It was in Kenya that she fell in love with Africa and sensed the Lord leading her to pursue missions full-time. After a second trip to Kenya, Anne enrolled in Phoenix Seminary. On October 28, 2008, Anne was appointed with WorldVenture to serve people in Uganda, Africa.
“She found great delight helping women to get back in touch with their emotions so that they could experience freedom,” noted Africa Director, Jan Chinn. “Submitting herself to [God] was what she did in a real and powerful way.”
As a young adult, Anne built a pharmacy career where she helped people physically. But she sensed God leading her to a different role in later years; one where she would spend more time healing people in their minds and hearts with the Truth of the Gospel. She had a unique compassion for people who suffered trauma and abuse of any kind and she labored to help them experience the healing and freedom that only Christ can provide.
“The Lord has been faithful in taking me step by step through the healing process,” said Anne in an interview. According to her, that God-led healing process is what sparked her desire to help other women experience the same freedom in Christ.
Like Jesus, Anne was a healer who trained others to share healing. She was deliberate about not only guiding hurting people through the healing process but also training trainers. She didn’t want the burden to rest solely on her nor to have the number of people impacted greatly limited due to only one teacher. Anne leaves a cohort of well-trained, dedicated teachers who will continue the work to which she was so committed.
Anne once said, “I feel like God has uniquely gifted me with compassion, encouragement, and a fair amount of patience… and I can’t wait to see how the Lord is going to use that for His kingdom work.”
Even now, standing in the presence of God, Anne will probably have to wait to see the full fruit of what God did through her. As Lloyd noted, “The seeds she planted in Uganda will leave a lasting legacy for years to come.”
“Aunt Anne,” as she was known to children, was deeply loved by so many: her sisters, colleagues, and friends in the Masaka community of Uganda; the WorldVenture family in Uganda, Africa and beyond; and her family, friends, and ministry partners in the United States. She is survived by her brothers, Marc, John and Keith, and their families.
There will be a memorial service on Saturday, August 15, 2020 at Red Mountain Community Church at 10AM (Mountain).