May 30, 2012

Jack’s current classes at our seminary concluded last Friday, so we are at home this week.  Nairobi is warmer than the area around our seminary, but still chilly this time of year as it is over a mile above sea level.  It was in the low 60’s early this morning and is now 68 in our house WITHOUT the aid of air-conditioning!

As I froze last week and wore more layers than I’m wearing today, Jack and his students at Kenya Baptist Theological College (KBTC) were kept warm by their enthusiastic response to guest speakers during the final week of their Church Planting Methodology (CPM) course! They were so excited and enthralled by what they heard, that  I asked Jack to write a report for you.  Today you get his intro and a report of his first speaker – the remaining four reports will be shared during June.

“In my first years as a career missionary, I served in education.  My family and I were a part of the development of a Baptist church which grew into one of the strongest churches in the city.  My next assignment was similar and we had the same results in another location.  Then as we moved again and become more increasingly involved in church planting, it was so easy because the people lacked churches and were eager and willing to join and do the necessary work.  Most of the work however was dependent on the missionary and his resources.

Those days and times ended more than 15 years ago.  Very few missionaries in non-administration roles remain in Kenya and almost all responsibilities for church planting has been left to our national partners.  How would they respond?  What methods would they use?  This past week I arranged a forum for my CPM class at KBTC to hear from folks who are my friends and my heroes – East Africans who are planting churches.  Here is the first of their stories.

Samson Kisia is a highly efficient church planter who has planted possibly 2,000 churches in the last 25 years.  He could have been just the highly successful pastor that he is.  His church has five services every Sunday, including a deaf and a Sudanese congregation.  Over 600 children learn in Sunday School, also in multiple languages, and many have been discipled.  But his passion is Church Planting.  Samson’s basic method:  He asks his members if they have a Baptist church in their home place.  If not, they go and start one! He has successfully begun churches all over East Africa – including Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania, the DRofCongo, Burundi and Rwanda.  His secret?  “I am not afraid to get dirty!”

Yes, today’s update is a little different, but the work of these men and many others, including lots of women, brings us great joy.  Part of our joy is remembering the personal testimonies and spiritual histories of these East African co-workers and viewing how God has blessed the past work of our many IMB co-workers – men and women who invested their lives in these East Africans who are continuing God’s work in our part of the world.  So our prayer item this week is a praise, a praise for how God has allowed us and many others to have been and continue to be a part of His work in East Africa!  BERT YATES