God at work in Kenya
January 16, 2008
Jonathan Lamb, International Preaching Director writes:
Recently a Kenyan friend of ours made a journey up the Rift Valley. His normal work is in serving churches in the Nairobi area, specially nurturing the Christian community in Kibera, one of the largest slums in Africa. During these opening days of 2008, the slums have been badly hit by violence and destruction, the centre of a bloody feud. But today he is on the road, delivering food and blankets to the thousands of displaced people in the west of Kenya, and sharing the gospel of reconciliation with the youths manning the barricades along the roads.
Speaking of the people at the road blocks, Edward wrote yesterday: ‘With our God, our vulnerability, our prayer and conversations we shall prayerfully urge them to stop this lawlessness. Yes it sounds senselessly risky, unthinkable and shocking to both police and government officials here, and maybe to you too. Blockades have the potential to turn into extortion traps, militia controlled territories as in the case of Burundi where I fell victim, and it may scar Kenya for the rest of our lives. It may mean the end of safe travel on the Great North Road and spell death to our initiatives of training pastors and advancing peace work in West and Northern Kenya.’
Just before Christmas, we were with Edward in Nairobi, along with 20 other African leaders from 13 different countries, for the first Africa Preaching Consultation, which Langham hosted along with the Philip Project. It was an enormous encouragement to hear of the growth of the preaching movements across the continent, and to see such an impressive group of leaders committed to training pastors and preachers, for the sake of strengthening the churches and transforming societies.
And here is the link. Training and supporting young leaders in the task of explaining the Bible is not an academic exercise. The 20 country coordinators meeting in Nairobi last month all know what is at stake. They and their churches are often on the front line, confronting the issues which Edward is meeting now along the Great North Road in Kenya: the horrors of tribal conflict, its devastating impact on refugees, the daily struggles of the poor and destitute, a blindness to the gospel … Our friends came to the Consultation from countries where these and other stories can be repeated over and over again: what can we say about Isesomo from Congo, where poverty and war remain a wearying reality, but where preachers travel hundreds of kilometres on foot to care for the needy; or about John Bell who came from Zimbabwe, where the believers are struggling to keep their ministries alive in a devastating decline in the economic and social infrastructure, but where they lead the way in caring for those without family or food, seeking to restore hope for a generation of young people growing up with no expectation of a viable future.
It is for all such desperate human situations that God sent his Son, gave his Word, established his church, and called his servants to live and to preach the gospel of reconciliation. It is this which motivates us to work harder for our brothers and sisters in the Langham family: that through resourcing, supporting and encouraging younger leaders in their Christian service, the ripple effects will, by God’s grace, impact churches, communities, and societies.