Wednesday, September 15, 2010

September 15, 2010

“Our God is Faithful!” This is how Pastor Ben ended a narrative of the history of Umoja Baptist Church. The story began with Ben and his wife attending Dandora Baptist Church, begun in the 1980’s by Kenyan Baptists and IMB missionaries. Committed to discipleship, Dandora Baptist had neighborhood “Home Cells” for small group Bible study and fellowship. Ben and Patricia joined the group in Umoja, a residential area east of Dandora. In 2002, this couple and four of their Umoja neighbours chose to "go and make disciples " (Matthew 28:19-20) in their own neighborhood. Umoja Baptist first met in a home, then in a nursery school and now meets in their own two-story building (with room to grow upwards) nestled between rows of multi-storied middle class apartment buildings.

It was a joy to meet with the members of Umoja Baptist last Sunday and see how they were claiming God’s faithfulness. Signs posted on the church bulletin board told of monthly/weekly meetings of the men, women and youth – all dedicated to growing in their knowledge of God’s Word and in sharing what they learned at home, work and in their community! It was exciting to see how different members of the church were using their spiritual gifts to serve as ushers, worship leaders, group leaders, musicians, and Sunday School teachers. Their joy during times of fellowship, prayer and worship was simply infectious!

This was especially exciting as we remembered information gleaned from the recently released 2009 Kenya Census. Umoja Baptist (1), Community Baptist (2) and Parklands Baptist Mombasa Road (3) are all located in Embakasi Division, one of Nairobi’s eight constituencies. With 925,775 people - almost 1/3 of the 3,138,369 residents of the capital city, the residents in this eastern part of Nairobi have almost doubled in the last 10 years. If every existing place of worship in the area, those meeting under trees, in homes, or in designated buildings, were filled each week, they would not begin to provide space for all the residents!

The 2009 Kenya Census reports that almost 23 million of Kenya’s population of 38,610,097 are affiliated with Protestant or other Christian groups. We know this number is actually the number who identify themselves as something other than Muslim, Hindu, Traditionalist, other religions or no religion. Pastor Ben described a church in a nearby large temporary building as "One of those churches with many, many words in their name." To committed Believers in Kenya this translates to a church focused on a few points of the Bible or beliefs of their leader, rather than Disciples who know, believe, and obey ALL of God's Word.

I could give you more information, but this is more than enough to help you understand why we and Kenyan Baptists are burdened for more discipled Believers in our city - especially when we realize that Nairobi is home to members of all of Kenya’s people groups and many people from neighboring countries and other parts of our world, including places where the Good News cannot be freely shared. So please join us in praying that the residents of Nairobi and all of Kenya will come to know and claim the love and salvation of our true and faithful God and become faithful disciples sharing their Good News! BERT YATES
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To strengthen your prayers, check out the newest photo album of Umoja Baptist and others composed in recent months:
(1) Umoja Baptist Church: “Serving a Faithful God” – http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=307237&id=685050129&l=356dcaf776
(2) Community Baptist: “Valentine’s Day Drive to Church” – http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=196983&id=685050129&l=019a44e2e0
(3) Parklands Baptist Church Mombasa Road:

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