Harvest Partnership Update Following Visit to Africa in December

Recent Events

Burundi - Abel and Anita

With some fear and trembling I flew to Bujumbura. With the current political strife, called “the War” by many, there are deaths and many have fled as refugees. Pray for God’s solution. There was a big welcome from Abel and family, appreciating the risk it was for me to come. We visited many churches often circumnavigating troubled areas. The people were overjoyed. Some were for the Bible Reading Fellowship leaders only. Other times, all members involved in the Bible reading house churches came.  It was good for me to be on the “watching end” (because of the language barrier) but sense the hunger and joy of people’s love for God’s word and for drawing others to Christ.  

Praise God for Abel’s leadership in the region and for God’s blessing on their home.  
Pray for Alex (right), his co-worker in in Bujumbura. He is a hairdresser but has been jobless - we would like to see God’s provision of work that will provide for his family.  Then we can develop him more.  
Pray about the growth of the ministry in Bujumbura and Burundi as both Abel and Alex are Congo born – we feel the need for leaders and churches to be involved where Kirundi is the main language. The last Sunday I preached in the large Bwiza Emmanuel Church where Kirundi is the first language – pray with us – perhaps this church is the key! 

Nairobi, Kenya

I was based at Mayfield Mission Guesthouse with a continual flow of Kenyans and Sudanese refugee young men we are helping through school. I saw that they love the Lord. The Sudanese men want to get educated so they can go home and make a difference. Some were finishing secondary school and we looked at the next step for them - some we helped into holiday extension courses or computer courses.  

Harry from Western Kenya is a delight in his witnessing zeal as well as his university focus. 

Kensha Street Youth Outreach, Mariakani Coastal, Kenya

Pastor Bob (left) journeyed with me to continue mentoring Shaban (right) and the Kensha work. We greatly enjoyed seeing more than 150 boys practising in various groups. The senior team has once again won their competition – and are heroes to the younger boys.  

Bob trained the older boys to take daily Bible readings with the younger boys – which will develop both. Pray for this to happen well. We made a requirement that these older boys as senior team members must be involved in a church. Then, when they grow out of the outreach their “church-habit” will encourage them to keep with God’s Family!  

We went to our farm plot to make plans for the closing of the fence – as man and beast are stealing the produce. This year we plan to build a cottage where some of the older homeless boys can stay and learn food production as they grow in the Lord.  Plans are being drawn up – friends have volunteered to help.  

Pray that all things for the farm project will come together!  
Pray God will continue to provide schooling for those who need it and build an army of street kids into His team of disciples.

Kisumu, West Kenya - Pastor Bob

Two days of bus travel got us to Pastor Bob's base in Kisumu.  Bob is now mentoring about 120 churches and church planters -  and always growing.  We talked about selecting some local successful pastors as his area coordinators to develop hubs and to sharpen one another. One pastor who has planted many house churches over many years may be available to become his co-missionary with us and give opportunities to mobilise more churches.  Please pray as this develops.

We visited some house churches as well as his own church. At one rural home we found them “playing” church – standing to pray and sing, preaching at one another etc. They finished with a meal of rice, beans etc and a cup of tea. We suggested that the cup of tea should come first to birth friendly communicating. Then the leader, still sitting, can introduce a question or a key verse for discussion while all are relaxed and they can continue sharing and encouraging one another.  

Pray for the hundreds of house church leaders. We saw a need to train them to tactfully stop people who are making strange “teachings away from the truth of the verse” as most just accept every comment.  

After I left, Bob and family went to a wedding in Mombasa on the coast and had an impromptu seminar with pastors with a great response – he is unstoppable!!  Praise God.  Pray for their follow-up.

East Congo

All our East Congo missionaries were able to come to Burundi but Simeon was not able to cross from Rwanda. Politics! We had two joyful days together. The reports of so many churches being awakened as the project of everyone reading and applying the Bible daily and interceding for unsaved friends and family has turned them into real disciples and soul-winners.  

The house churches have produced many new believers and many baptisms. All had great reports. In turn more and more churches want to be involved. Praise God for this! Pray that pastors and church planters will know how to encourage and build their leaders.

Keep praying for Abel, Alimasi, Pascal, Daniel, Munga and Jean-Pierre as they enter into action this New Year. They are a group of faithful men working with hundreds of churches. We asked them to start a diary for each church: adding after each visit to make effective plans to keep them moving forward.   

I really enjoyed getting to know Jean-Pierre from Goma, Lake Kivu. He has been effective in his Methodist churches. Pray for him, as the next 6 months will demonstrate if the Lord can use him amongst other church groups and join our full time missionaries.  He is 29 and the father of 4!  I feel excited about his potential.

Plans for the Future

In late February Pastor Bob will go to Mombasa, an hour away on the coast of Kenya.  At a December wedding he shared with pastors how we help churches to come alive in the daily reading and applying God’s word in their lives, and forming home cells to share how God is speaking to them. They also pray for friends and family who don’t know the Lord, and see these and others coming to Christ and becoming real disciples. Pray for the Mombasa churches that the Bishop and the leaders will really lead their people to become alive in Christ.  

1) Praise God for everything as He rebuilds His church into a living, loving, compassionate organism with active disciples He can trust as witnesses and easily “add to daily, those who are being saved”. Acts 2: 47
2) The work will multiply again in 2016. Please pray for more prayer partners and contributors.  
3) Pray for more Bibles, and the 2016 One Year Bible Reading Cards as they are printed and distributed in all these countries to hundreds of city and rural church communities.  
4) Thank God for the potential new African missionaries, for their development and our raising their support.  

Thanks,
Ken