An Update from Southern Africa

“And I pray that you being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the saints to grasp how long and wide and high and deep is the love, of Christ, and to know this love, that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:17-19

The love of God is all encompassing, unfathomable and in our sinful state we cannot dare to understand it; the most we can do is try to grasp it as though looking through a faded grimy mirror, and when we do, we see but a dim reflection… we see in part 1Chorinthians 13:12; But isn’t it wonderful, the little we, see? What we are talking about is a love that has remained constant from the beginning of time. From the moment Elohim laid eyes on His newly formed creation and declared it good. He loves us and when Adam and Eve sinned, He made a promise to redeem us all, from sin. Genesis 3:15

Coming to the time of Noah, the world is in chaos, the people steeped in sin. A people, who did not deserve a chance but Our Lord gave them a chance anyway; Noah warned them though no one listened. A preacher of righteousness through his wordless preaching, in the very construction of the ark. He bore witness through each and every hammer blow and pounding of the nail. A call to repentance and a declaration that judgement was coming. Obviously, no one listened and they were destroyed by the flood, while eight souls (Noah and his family) were saved through the water by God, water that symbolizes the baptism that saves us as well 2Peter 2:5. The flood was a reminder of the coming salvation. 

Fast forward to Abraham, hundreds of years after Adam and Eve. The Lord uses Abraham as an illustration and reminder of what was to come. In Genesis 22, Abraham faithfully offers up his son when the Lord asks him, and as they climb up the mountain without a sacrifice, Isaac questions this in Genesis 22:7-8 and Abraham responds by saying, “God Himself will provide {Jehovah Jireh} the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” and when Abraham is about to plunge the knife into his only beloved son’s chest, The Lord does indeed provide a Lamb. Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught in the thicket and offered it in place of his son. Here we see an example of substitutionary atonement, an echo of what is to come. God provided a sacrifice to take the place of Isaac; this was another wordless sermon, this time directly from God. It is like God was saying, ‘see here Abraham, in the distant future I will come down Myself, become man through your offspring and die for the whole world. It will not be another ram taking the place of your son, but I who will be a sacrifice and take the place of all humanity in the wrath of the Father.’

All this illustrates God’s steadfast character. He is not like man that He should forget a promise made. He does not change His mind nor does He go back on His word Numbers 23:19. He made us for Himself and He has every intention to bring us back to Him. 

“Now to Him who is able to do so much than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21

Lodwar, also known as the town of many hills is the largest town in northwest Kenya within Turkana County. To access the town from Nairobi, you will use the Nakuru-Kitale route which takes roughly twelve and half hours by bus or 1 hour 55 minutes on a flight. It is predominantly arid with temperatures as high as 38 degrees Celsius. The inhabitants are mostly Turkanas who have held strongly to some of their ancient cultural practices like early child marriages and wife inheritance. 

Illiteracy levels are high especially among those living in the outskirts of the town. Very few parents take their children to school. They stay at home looking after livestock. With the terrain being unforgiving, the young boys and girls have to travel long-distances in search of water and pasture for their animals. 

Other communities in the area are Somalis, Sudanese and a few Bantu speaking tribes. While some of the people practice pastoralism, others have gone into businesses, operating shops in the town. The businesses range from fish mongering, general stores and supermarkets, hotel industry, basket weaving, fruit and vegetable vending, just to mention, but a few. When it comes to religion, the townsfolk ascribe to Christianity and Islam while their counterparts (pastoralists) follow their Traditional African Religion (ATR) while others are Christians.

We were in Lodwar to attend and minister at a pastors and leaders training conference hosted by Kingdom Vision International Ministry. The delegates came from as far as Isiolo, Nairobi, outskirts of Turkana, the border of Kenya and Sudan as well as Lodwar itself.  It was a wonderful opportunity to encourage the brethren in the work they were doing of making disciples in the different areas they came from. 

During our interactions with the locals, we got to learn of the combined efforts between the church and the government to eradicate illiteracy and early child marriages. It is through community education that the Turkanas have started to see the value of taking their children to school especially the girl child. We heard amazing testimonies of how those practicing ATR were coming to the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ and how the Gospel has helped pave way to some of the changes in the cultural practices among the people. 

The passion and zeal these men and women have to reach their communities with the Good News is out of this world. They long for the day that the whole of Turkana County will be covered with the glory of God as the waters cover the sea. Through this trip we were able to see how as an organization we can position ourselves strategically to contribute to the work the church is doing. It is our desire that through partnerships with the various leaders we will be able to roll out Live School to empower them to continue running the race.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His son to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him – John 3:16

Martin Luther called John 3:16, the miniature gospel. All of the Bible; God’s plan for our salvation summarized into that one sentence, it is the sum and substance of the gospel. The way that God took to recover us from our lapsed state. But where does it all begin? When did God make this promise, and how did He go about fulfilling it? The answer is in the Bible. From Genesis to Revelation, we see the journey to the salvation of man.

In fact, the Hebrew term for Heaven or paradise is Gan Eden meaning literally, the garden of Eden. In the beginning, after creating man, God placed Him in the garden of Eden. When the word Eden is broken down and translated, we find it has to do with pleasure or delight.  Looking at Genesis 2:8, we see that God placed man in the garden of delight. So, from the start of time, we see that God’s desire was for man to be in delight (Psalms 36:8). Still, man fell after disobeying God and eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, which eventually led to banishment from the garden. They were barred entry into delight. This was both a physical and spiritual barring. They were physically barred from the garden and the tree of life, but they were also barred from the presence of God, who is the source of all delight. It may sound like a hopeless situation, but it is not. Still, at the end of the day, God loved them even though they had disobeyed Him and so He made them a promise that salvation would indeed come. He gave them a lifeline in the form of 5 simple but powerful words said to the serpent, ‘He will crush your head’(Genesis 3:15).  Here at the very beginning of sin, our merciful, kind, loving, gracious and the almighty God made the promise of redemption. The seed of the woman (virgin birth), would give a fatal blow to the devil and only His heel will be bruised, “That bruised heel is painful enough. Behold our Lord in his human nature sore bruised: he was betrayed, bound, accused, buffeted, scourged, spit upon. He was nailed to the cross; he hung there in thirst and fever, and darkness and desertion” (Spurgeon) All praise to Jesus Christ, our wounded Saviour (Isaiah 53:10-11). 

This (Genesis 3:15) is known as the protoevangelium the first gospel. “This is the first gospel sermon that was ever delivered upon the surface of this earth. It was a memorable discourse indeed, with Jehovah himself for the preacher, and the whole human race and the prince of darkness for the audience.” (Spurgeon) and this is true when everything seemed lost and the whole of humanity in dire straits, the Lord gave hope (Romans 5:8).  Our Lord showed us that not all was lost, He always had an eternal plan for us, a plan for our own good, for He is our reward (Genesis 15:1) and will bring us back to Him. The Lord saw Satan’s downfall at his first taste of victory (Luke 10:18) because He knew this was coming all along; it was not a surprise. Still, He gave Adam and Eve the free will to choose. There is beauty found in innocence, but the glowing brilliance of a redeemed heart (one who sees and understands the awe-inspiring might of God’s grace and love), is breathtaking. 

In this series, we will walk through the Bible and see how we got from point A (Genesis 3) to point Z(Revelation 7)

“You have made us for Yourself O Lord, and our hearts find no rest till they find it in You” – Agustine of Hippo

“This people I formed for myself; they shall show forth my praise.”      Isaiah 43:21            

Sing to the LORD, all the earth. Proclaim His salvation day after day. Declare His glory among the nations, His wonderful deeds among all peoples. 1st Chronicles 16:23-24

All questions aside, the fact of the matter is, as a believer, you are called to spread the good news unless The Lord tells you otherwise. We do not all do the same thing or play the same roll when it comes to spreading the word, but it is our duty. 

Winning a war in a battle field involves multiple players with different roles for the war to be won. There is the commander, the soldiers/warriors, there are snipers/archers, the armourer, the people who bring food to the battle fields (a great example is David when he took food to his brothers 1Samuel 17:17). We can even delve deeper and see how each of these roles play into our battle for the Kingdom of God. We obviously know that Jesus Christ is the commander, but where do we as believers fall? We have the soldiers who risk their lives on the ground; in our case, those will be the missionaries who leave their homes and loved ones behind to spread the gospel in foreign lands or across cultures. Then the snipers, those are long distant combatants whose job is to provide detailed surveillance from a hidden point, those would be our prayer partners; praying for those in the field constantly (Ephesians 6:18) for our war is not of the flesh (2 Corinthians 10:3). There is the armourer, whose job is to make and repair the soldiers’ weapons and armour, in the case of missions those are the pastors and fellow believers whose job is to uplift and to admonish those in the field (Hebrews 10:24-25). Then there is the one who brings food to the battlefield; in our case they are the donors, those who donate money and gifts in kind like medical supplies, food, farming materials and many more.  All these people come together to fight the war for the Kingdom. All of us playing an important role, none can succeed without the other and the crowning jewel is Jesus Christ our Commander in Chief giving us graceful marching orders and the Holy Spirit equipping us with knowledge of the battle plan, guiding our steps with strength to face the enemy.

So, it is not really how to become a missionary but where in the battle does the Lord want you, what is your role. Prayer will guide you. The Lord will open your eyes to where you should be if you are willing. Fellow believers, let us go to the presence of God and ask where He wants us to be and how He wants us to help. For our commander has given us a command…

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”   Matthew 28:19-20

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8

Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. (Isaiah 45:22)

For my eyes have seen Your salvation, which You have prepared in the sight of all people, a light of revelation to the Gentiles and glory to Your people Israel. (Luke 2:30-32)

Who were the first witnesses for Christ? The first people to sacrifice their lives for the spreading of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the light of revelation reflecting the radiant Glory of our risen Christ? We find them in the book of Acts (Acts 8: 1-4), this is right after the stoning of Stephen and there is a great persecution of believers. All believers apart from some of the apostles, scattered throughout Judea and Samaria and they preached the word wherever they went. Jesus very clearly told them to look beyond Jerusalem and bring the gospel to Judea, Samaria, and the whole world. But to this point, Jesus’ followers had not done this. They may have stopped in Jerusalem and made a great church there were it not for the persecutions; but instead, they were blown away like the spores of a mushroom or like seeds, planting the word of God in the hearts of all the people. Sometimes God will shake us out of our comfort zone in order for His will to be done. And in this case the end result of the persecution was God’s glory. So, my fellow believers let our lives be a seed for Christ wherever we may go.

In Acts 8 we meet the first believers to leave Jerusalem, though at this time they mostly preached to the Jews (Acts 11:19); but who was the first person to go out and spread the Good News to the Gentiles? This was Paul. Now let’s go back to Acts 7 and meet Paul, rather, let us go back and meet Saul. Saul was a young man at the time, a young zealous man with loyalties that lay on the wrong side. As the Sanhedrin rushed at Stephen in rage to stone him, they left their garment at Saul’s feet (Acts 7:57-58); and in chapter 8 we see that Saul consented with pleasure and delight, the stoning of Stephen. Fueled by the murder of Stephen, he became more furious in his persecution of the church of Jesus Christ. It is hard to believe that this is the very same man whose letters we read in the new testament, who would later become the greatest preacher of the Gospel.  A thing to be admired is Paul’s single-minded focus and dedication. He was always earnest no matter what he did. When he persecuted, he did it with all his might; and when he was converted, then he preached with all his might. 

Let us now fast forward to Acts 13, where Paul and Barnabas are called to leave their church in Antioch and they heeded the voice of the Lord and left. First, they went to the Jewish synagogues but the Jews rejected the good news and so they went to the Gentiles who received the word with gladness (Acts 13:48-49). This was the beginning of the Christian movement and as we read through the book of Acts, we will read about the persecutions and all the sacrifices made to further the good news to the lost. It is the same even in the recent history of Christian missions. In 1956 a group of five young men gave up their lives to the cause, in an attempt to share the good news with the Aucas tribe. This sacrifice led to an upsurge of missionaries and even opened the door to the Aucas. 

I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them in as well, and they will listen to My voice. Then there will be one flock and one shepherd. (John 10:16)

Christian Missions is dotted with men who loved God above their very own lives and their purpose was obedience to the utmost regardless of the cost. The invitation to carry the Gospel forth remains binding on the Church of Jesus today, but the sad reality is that there are still many that are yet join the fold. Will you go for them? 

We left Nairobi for Mombasa on October 10, 2020 with an objective to ascertain the status of the Church and its future as well as our work in the region. Mombasa is a key gateway to the East African coast and the Indian Ocean Isles where the Gospel is yet to penetrate. Thus, we spent October 11 scouting the city and going through to the Fort Jesus which is one of the crucial entry points and served both the Sultans and the Portuguese in precolonial era. Through our strategy meeting, the need to mobilize the church on the mainland to reach the Isles became evident, spurred by the growth of other faiths in the area and the proximity of the church to the Unreached. In comparison to other parts of the country with a higher population of Least Reached Peoples, Mombasa is fairly accommodative and although there have been terror activities in the past, there has not been a targeted attack on Christians.

From Mombasa we went through Mwatate to Godoma, a small distant village on the foothills of Vuria mountains (the highest peak in the Coastal Region).  With Covid 19, a number of our partners had been greatly impacted and we wanted to connect and encourage both the pastor and the Live School facilitator who also doubles up as the head teacher of a high school in the same village. The meeting with the pastor and his family was a real encouragement of obedience and faithfulness to God. He had an unspeakable joy sharing about God’s goodness with us.

While Covid 19 had affected a number of churches in the area to the point that they were unable to resume meetings even after the government revised the previously set restrictions and control measures, God had in this period allowed them to push on with their church building project and had recommenced gatherings in observance of the new policies and directives issued by the government. 

He was the first pastor in the area to host a Live School in the area. He attested to its positive impact and change on the trainees’ attitude to service and ministry as well as character development. The church now has labourers who can guide others to go on outreach while the facilitator admitted gaining knowledge that has greatly helped her to serve better and develop confidence in preaching the Word of God. The curriculum further influenced their way of prayer and they have seen many unbelievers drawn to Christ.

We had a meeting with another pastor who hosts a Live School in Mwatate from whose interaction, it was clear that we need additional centres in Mwatate which is growing to be the county headquarters for Taita. There are however many areas in Mombasa that Live School must penetrate in partnership with the local church. While we focus on Live School roll out in the Coastal Region, we intend to start a leader’s missions training that will in turn lead the mobilization process in the local churches in Mombasa, Voi and Mwatate. 

October further saw us start our online footprint for the purpose of sharing our work in Eastern Africa with a wider audience. Our Social handles are: @wmcea on Instagram and World Mission Centre Eastern Africa on Facebook. Kindly remember us in your prayers especially for matters mentioned here-above. We also invite you to like and share our social handles and newsletter with your family and friends.