From witches to Islamist terrorists,
a ministry based in Kenya faces daunting challenges in the far-flung areas its
indigenous missionaries dare to enter.
With more than 80 full-time workers
and 300 part-time helpers, the ministry reaches many pockets of Kenya with no
Christian presence, including northern areas plagued by bandits and lethal
tribal conflicts. Armed security guards accompany workers as they teach the
Bible under trees.
"Insecurity still remains a
great challenge in many places," the director of the indigenous ministry
said. "We pray for God to continue making provisions of finances to hire
the security services as we visit those areas."
In northern Kenya, workers are
reaching new sites each day with the gospel, planting new churches in areas
where a longstanding history of cattle-rustling now comes with illicit arms,
wan police and security forces, and young adults weighed down by unemployment
and poverty.
Competition for scarce resources has
increased as environmental degradation has spread, leading to malnutrition,
inter-tribal acrimony, killings and displacement of thousands of people. In
this context, two indigenous missionaries in northern Kenya have led teams that
have seen hundreds of souls come to Christ since December.
"Our gospel team workers have
taken the gospel to 17 new villages and prayed for 342 persons for
salvation," the director said. "They have planted six new churches in
different villages, and they are looking forward to many more, because many are
accepting Jesus."
The ministry teams organize
community members to dig low-cost wells that meet a critical need and generate
communal good will. They also help open hearts to proclamation of Jesus' saving
sacrifice and resurrection, though everyday problems can also hamper efforts;
one of the two leaders' motorcycles recently broke down, forcing him to share
the other leader's motorcycle. Having one's own vehicle can mean the difference
between life and death in this region.
"We thank God that they have
not encountered ugly incidents while working for the Lord," the director
said.
Besides church-planting, the native
ministry trains leaders in follow-up and discipleship, which is key as church
attendance is only 7 percent in a country where 83 percent of the population
identifies as Christian. Superficial or syncretistic faith is common as well
among evangelicals, estimated at 41 percent of the population, according to Operation
World.
Other areas have all these problems
and more. In Tharaka-Nithi County in central Kenya, witchcraft is commonly
practiced, and the rituals to counter it are rooted in traditional animist
beliefs. Evangelists must contend with both forces.
In one case earlier this year, a
tribal practitioner of witchcraft was reported to have distributed metal boxes
containing goat heads and horns to schoolchildren in Tharaka-Nithi County.
Normally, students at boarding schools use such metal boxes as mobile lockers
for their belongings. Shocked parents decided that local elders should curse
the witch for distributing the boxed goat heads.
Elders from 32 clans executed the
curse, local media reported, by gathering at the Gakurume River at 4 a.m.,
shedding their clothes, and saying traditional prayers while facing Mt. Kenya.
There they burned Sodom apples and tossed dead tree branches about. The
hours-long ritual ended with a song against the witch. The ritual is believed
to curse those who offend the community and do not repent, whom the elders said
would be "disturbed by bad omens" such as accidents, death or
insanity.
Against such deep-rooted, communal
traditions, the indigenous ministry sends teams of evangelists to preach the
one God and the Lamb slain for the sins of the world.
"The team leader has been
facing heavy resistance from the Tharaka community, as many practice witchcraft
and believe in cults," the ministry director said. "God is awesome,
as He has established one new church with 17 members after a long struggle. He
has trained two young men from the area to help reach many people with the
gospel."
The indigenous ministry has also
planted churches in the northeast, where Al Shabaab rebels battling the Somali
government have launched retaliation attacks on Kenyan soil since Kenya led
African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) forces into Somalia in 2011. The
incursion to help fight the Islamic extremist militants came in response to Al
Shabaab attacks on tourist sites in Kenya's coastal region.
Al Shabaab militants and their
sympathizers have selected out Christians in several attacks in the northeast,
including an attack on a bus en route to Mandera in December
that took one life. The rebels later that day stopped a truck and killed its
driver, also a Christian, when he was unable to recite the Islamic conversion
creed.
On July 7, 2015, Al Shabaab killed
17 quarry workers near Mandera, including several Christians. As in previous attacks,
the Islamic insurgents targeted migrant workers from the Kenyan interior who
were non-Muslims. On Dec. 2, 2014, Al Shabaab killed 36 non-Muslims, most of
them Christian, in an attack on quarry workers near Mandera. The killings came
after a Nov. 22, 2014 assault by Somali insurgents in the same area that left
28 non-Muslims dead, including 19 Christians.
Lack of security has forced the
indigenous ministry to withdraw workers from the region, but the director said
he hopes funds will be available to hire security guards so that evangelists to
re-establish contact.
"In January we relocated the
last three brothers who have been working there, but we trust in the Lord
things will change and we will do our missions work as before," he said.
"We have churches there, but the Christians are facing persecution. God is
working, as we can hire the security escorts to take the gospel and encourage
the Christians living there."
In Meru County in the heart of the
country, the ministry's team has sought out remote villages where Christ was
unknown and planted three new churches since December.
"They have brought 613 souls to
the Lord since December," the director said. "In July we will raise
funds to buy land for a church in a village called Ruiri. Since December the
team has organized six big open-air meetings, where hundreds of souls were
saved."
Likewise, in nearby Meru North
District, the ministry's team has planted eight churches since June 2015.
"Those churches are growing
strong," the director said. "In this region about 15 percent have not
been thoroughly reached with the gospel, and our team has been doing a
wonderful job to reach out to the sinners. A big challenge is the growth of
cults, and the team leader is working so hard to see that every corner has been
reached with the right gospel."
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keeping Christians informed on evangelical mission activity around the world;
in doing so we hope to educate and motivate Christians to prayer,
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