Church Catalyst Director David Giles has been crunching the numbers and is really happy at the results he’s seeing for church plants and baptisms in the division’s fields last year.

“We estimated that we would plant 59 churches in 2011,” said David, “but I just got the numbers from Kenya so I have the total – 80 church plants in 2011 in CC fields!”

Highlights worth noting:

• There were 13 church plants and 1,026 baptisms in the Turkana, Kenya, churches in 2011.
• The Community Christian Church of Kenya planted 38 new churches in the Maasai and Turkana areas.
• The Maasai churches added 661 new members in 2011.
• Ten churches were planted in England through the Church Planting Task Force; three of the Great Britain field team members work with this partnership.
• Eighteen churches were planted in Ethiopia – 13 among the Oromo people and 5 among the Gumuz. There were also 200 baptisms in the Gumuz area in the last six months of 2011.

Other Church Catalyst fields such as Tanzania (5 new churches, 300 baptisms), Ivory Coast (1 new church) and Ukraine (8 new churches) also experienced significant growth in 2011.

“I’m thrilled with these reports,” said David. “These are the results of the Holy Spirit working through CMF missionaries, national church leaders and effective field partnerships.”

CMF Missionaries Tim and Alicia Stewart recently shared this story about the impact of our urban poor ministry in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya:

“All of us are a part of such an amazing ministry. The other day we were sitting in an office working through some paperwork and a young boy was sitting with us. His name was Martin and even though the students were on break, he was coming to the school most days. You see, he is an orphan and his guardians aren’t very kind to him so he comes to the school where several people love on him all the time. Sometimes he just sits at a desk and writes compositions! Because of the love he is shown here, he comes to school during a vacation to do school work! Tim and I enjoyed spending time with him and even more we loved watching people love on him. We loved that in the midst of a life that presents challenges daily, a life where he feels unloved, abandoned, and unwanted, God has so lovingly provided him with a place to feel safe and wanted.”

Gene Morden, a member of CMF’s team in Turkana, Kenya, recently shared amazingly good news regarding church growth in the area over the past year: 13 new churches were planted and 1,026 new believers were baptized into Christ.

A large part of the success of the church planting movement in Turkana, Gene believes, is due to CMF’s heavy involvement in community development projects.

“When I talk to church leaders they tell us that wells, farms, and CHE training have had a major impact on the church,” said Gene. “In the last three regional council meetings of the church I have seen the attitude of the church leaders change from ‘what do the missionaries want to do?’ to ‘how we can work together using our resources first and asking the missionaries to join us?’ ”

CMF has developed a reputation among the Turkana for having a genuine interest in the long-term physical and spiritual well-being of the people. “When the local Minister of Parliament comes around to woo them, for example, the people say, ‘You don’t care about us. Look what CMF has done. They care about us,’ ” said Gene.

This care extends to other areas, too. “The number of nursery schools has increased, and through CHE (Community Health Evangelism) the Turkana are developing life skills in the village and in business,” he added. “They are learning how to organize and plan. But the key in everything is that Jesus is always praised, petitioned and thanked.”

The well-drilling team, for example, is strongly evangelistic, and has a one-hour Bible study every day for village volunteers and anyone else who cares to attend. “Before the team even begins to drill,” Gene said, “they dedicate the well to God, and when it is finished and the pump is bringing up fresh water, the team and community commissions the well to God’s glory.”

The irrigated farms, also, are begun with prayers to God and thanks for the American church (seen there as CMF) that provides the funds. “Farms are begun with Bible lessons about God’s part in the farm and proper stewardship of the farms to God’s glory,” said Gene. “This has increased with the incorporation of the ‘Farming God’s Way’ lessons that were begun last July.”

“I think the best farms are the ones where the local pastors are part of the (cooperative) farm,” added Gene. “They make the farm the center for Bible study, literacy studies and the Church. They also distribute their produce to their needy friends and neighbors, who ask, ‘When can we have a farm so our children aren’t hungry?’ We are working hard to get local pastors immersed in the biblical teaching at the farms because we know it makes better farmers and Christians, while lending credibility and respect to church leaders.”

Of course, Gene hastens to add, not everything is “peaches and roses,” as he puts it. “We have a long way to go for the church to get the upper hand over the traditions handed down by the forefathers that bring glory to Satan, but with prayer and preparation, the church will continue to grow.”

Have you visited CMF’s new microfinance website, bigdent.org recently? If not, we’re giving you yet another reason to check out this beautifully-designed and informative site: a brand new blog launched on March 23.

The BigDent website is a one-stop spot where you can learn about CMF’s microfinance and development efforts in Nairobi, Kenya, read the stories of the entrepreneurs and make online donations to assist them in starting their new businesses. The blog will be yet another facet of the total experience that features photos, stories, videos and information to help you connect with this unique project.

“The new blog is designed to inspire and further inform you about our microfinance and holistic development efforts in Nairobi,” said Kent Fillinger, CMF’s Associate Director of Projects + Partnerships, and one of the blog writers. “We anticipate that it will be interesting, thought-provoking and enjoyable to read. Regular post contributors will include CMF team members plus occasional guest bloggers. We hope you will connect with our blog each week and share the message of BigDent with your network of friends and family.”

Over 50 church leaders representing 20 churches from 12 states gathered in Indianapolis March 21-22 for the first-ever Hope Partnership Dialogue. The Dialogue was designed to be a strategic networking event for churches involved in CMF’s Hope Partnership in Nairobi, Kenya. The goal was to pray and plan and dream and discuss the current realities and future goals for the Hope Partnership.

Participants were inspired by Mary Kamau’s update on the ministry’s exponential growth, energized by the focused conversations with other church leaders, and encouraged through devotional thoughts and supplied with fresh ideas. Key updates were also shared regarding the expansion of the child sponsorship program, the launch of the BigDent.org microfinance website and the introduction of a new VBS/Children’s Ministry program called “Good News for the Poor” featuring Hope Partnership projects.

Joe Oettel, missions volunteer from West Side Christian Church (Springfield, IL) said, “I really enjoyed meeting several new people, building relationships and sharing ideas.  In my opinion a lot was accomplished at the meeting, both in discussion groups and one-on-one conversations and I hope we can continue the dialogue.” Tom Moen, Outreach Minister at Mountain Christian Church (Joppa, MD) added, “It was a GREAT couple of days…thanks for hosting…need to do it annually (at least).”

The Hope Partnership continues to grow by epic proportions from 185 children in 1 school in 2006 to nearly 7,000 children in 14 schools plus 7 new churches today. The growth of the Hope Partnership is exciting, but it also calls for a concerted effort, an ongoing commitment and an expanded circle of partner churches and individuals.

This cross-cultural partnership focuses on holistic ministry to transform lives and communities in the Mathare Valley slum of Nairobi, Kenya and is now starting to reach beyond to other areas of Kenya. The success of this partnership is due to the vision and leadership of Kenyan nationals, Wallace and Mary Kamau working collaboratively with a team of CMF missionaries. Another critical component creating the sustained growth of the Hope Partnership is the involvement and investment of over 40 churches and over 5,000 child sponsors that continue to sacrifice and serve to fuel the ministry’s growth. During the event, one partner church demonstrated their investment in the ministry by presenting Mary with a $100,000 gift toward finishing the multi-purpose building at Joska, our boarding school outside of Nairobi.

To learn more about how you or your church can get involved in the Hope Partnership, contact our Projects + Partnerships team at projects@cmfi.org.

About a dozen students and staff from the Globalscope Canvas campus ministry in Birmingham, England, are making plans for a short-term trip in June to the Missions of Hope International (MoHI) ministries to poor children and their families in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya.

Canvas staffer Jason Tatum pitched the idea after visiting MoHI last year, and recruited through sheer enthusiasm, he said.

“For the most part, the trip sells itself,” he said. “I told a lot of stories about my experience there and showed a lot of photos from my trip. Students in the UK are very ‘justice-minded’ so it isn’t difficult to get them excited about something like this. We’ll get to see the incredible things MoHI is doing in the community and people’s lives throughout the area.”

Most of the students will pay for the trip themselves, and the team will try to raise 100% percent of the funds they’ll need for the work project they’ll do in Nairobi. They plan to do either a construction project or sports clinic, depending on MoHI’s needs at the time of their visit.

The Globalscope team’s goals for the trip are targeted in a couple of directions, said Jason, because the students are such a varied group.

“Canvas is a community that wants to model values of our faith to the non-Christians that often attend and participate in our community,” he said. “The students who are going are at all points of the spectrum in their respective faith journeys: an atheist, an agnostic, two professed Christians, another who is very near to making a decision about Jesus and another who is somewhere in the middle.”

The team members are preparing for the trip by meeting together with Jason and two other Canvas staffers – Kalyn Reeves and Caleb Mallard, who are also going on the trip – to discuss the culture, history, and religion of Kenya, as well as reading books such as “Toxic Charity” and “When Helping Hurts.”

“Our hope is that all of the students will get a new vantage point of what it means to follow Jesus, and a new understanding of how big and loving our God is,” said Jason. “It could be that for some of them, this will be the first time they have ever seen that connection. I really do believe that this experience could be transformational in their faith journeys.”

The Maasai Health Services clinics established by CMF in Kenya have received a second grant from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to provide HIV/AIDS services in the Maasai area of Kenya. The clinics will receive $387,000 to use for HIV/AIDS education, prevention, medication, staff training and assistance to get to the rural villages where there are no clinics.

Medical work has been a part of CMF’s ministry in Kenya for more than 30 years, and there are currently eight permanent clinics and three mobile clinics in the Maasai areas of the country.

In 2011, these clinics saw 106,000 patients and cared for nearly 3,000 AIDS victims. The clinics tested 33,000 people for HIV/AIDS, vaccinated more than 4,000 children under the age of 5, provided prenatal care for 2,400 pregnant women and offered care for 300 orphaned and vulnerable children. In addition, the clinic staff provided training for 112 church and youth leaders on health issues, such as care of the sick at home.

Retired CMF missionary Dr. Glynn Wells was the primary physician in the early years of the clinics. Dr. Suzie Snyder succeeded him until her return to the U.S. to serve as the Member Care Consultant at the CMF office in Indianapolis. Since her departure the clinics have been run completely Kenyans, many of whom were students from the Maasai churches who were encouraged in their educational and career pursuits by CMF missionaries.

CMF’s initiatives among the urban and rural poor in Africa have been rated as among the most cost-effective ways to provide long-term assistance, according to a recent article in Christianity Today magazine.

In “Cost-Effective Compassion,”  writer and economics professor Bruce Wydick evaluates 10 popular strategies and rates them based on their effectiveness in actually helping people rise out of poverty and their “bang for the buck” –  significant impact on the poor per donated dollar. Steve Palich, CMF’s Director of Projects and Partnerships, was excited to note that CMF is heavily involved in many of the top six strategies listed in the article.

“The top six strategies, in order of return on investment, are providing clean water, giving de-worming treatments to children, providing treated mosquito nets, sponsoring a child, giving a wood-burning stove and loaning money for a microfinance project,” said Steve. “CMF has specific, targeted programs using four of these strategies.”

Clean water

CMF’s Overflow project works with Maasai communities to determine how to meet their water needs. Water in rural Kenya is contaminated at its source and by transportation and storage. Overflow fights this contamination by installing guttering systems and tanks to collect and store rain water, drilling and maintaining wells, and by installing chlorination equipment. As of 2011, chlorination stations have been established in 13 locations and the team is working on eight new boreholes (wells).  In Turkana, CMF missionaries began installing clean water pumps in villages in 1995. These were followed by solar-powered irrigation systems for large community farm plots. By the end of 2011, the clean water drilling team of Turkana had installed 87 pumps on fresh sanitary wells!

Mosquito nets

The Take a Bite Out of Malaria project was launched in 2009.  It’s hard to believe, but an African child dies of malaria every 30 seconds. At a cost of $10 each, treated bed nets are a simple, cost-effective solution to the problem. During the most recent phase of the project, 655 nets were contributed and distributed to families in Nairobi, Kenya, as part of CMF’s 2011 year-end giving opportunities.

Child sponsorship

CMF initiated an amazingly successful child sponsorship program in 2007 in association with Missions of Hope International in Nairobi, Kenya. Today, about 6,500 children in Nairobi, Turkana (northern Kenya), and Tanzania receive a free education, two meals a day, clothing and medical care paid for by their American Christian sponsors at a cost of more than a quarter of a million dollars per year. A by-product of child sponsorship has been the hands-on involvement of the many churches that have sent hundreds of workers on short-term trips to build toilet and shower facilities, assist with cleaning up neighborhoods and offer free medical clinics.

Microfinance

CMF began assisting Missions of Hope with its microfinance program several years ago, but officially launched the BigDent website in 2011. This interactive site allows donors to read stories and see photos of the BigDent clients and make donations to specific entrepreneurs. There are currently more than 1,300 Big Dent microfinance clients, with another 170 waiting in the wings for their loans. The very high loan repayment rate of 96% is due in a large part to the accountability groups that each client must join to receive business and ethics training to help run their micro-businesses and repay their loans.

In addition to these comprehensive, targeted projects, CMF’s permanent medical clinics and Community Health Evangelists provide de-worming treatments for children and extensive HIV-AIDS treatment and education. In addition, many Mission Project teams have brought doctors and dentists to the field to provide medical care and reparative surgeries.

Thanks to CMF’s friends across the U.S. and around the world, CMF missionaries have been able to provide water, de-worm children, protect families from malaria with mosquito nets, educate and feed children, provide loans to hard-working entrepreneurs and provide much-needed medical care. As a result, we have all seen lives changed and communities transformed by the power of God’s love.

Gene and Melba Morden (Turkana, Kenya) report that bandits have been raiding farms and murdering innocent people, including children, in surprise attacks along the Kerio River in Turkana over the past several weeks.

The bandits are using cell phones to coordinate their attacks, in which they steal livestock and shoot the farmers. Four people were killed by the bandits this past Friday alone in Kangirisae. Another was killed at his irrigated farm at Nachoto, only six km. south of Nakor, where the Mordens previously lived. This was the fourth attack in two weeks along the Kerio River.

“All the people east of the river had forded to the west, and now everyone on the west, including the kids in the primary school, is reported to have run for their lives,” writes Gene Morden. “Everyone is scared. They are away from the only source of water at the river. We pray they have found the courage to go to the hand pumps further north.”

The police have been slow to get involved, but have finally begun to engage in the situation, he added, and have reportedly caught at least one of the bandits. The government came through the area and disarmed the local populace a short time ago, so they had no guns with which to defend themselves.

“We are praying for a stop to the violence and for peace to return,” writes Gene, “but how do you go back to your farm where your husband, father, brother, friend was shot dead? The Turkana usually desert places where bad things have happened. Pray that people will soon return to their homes, gardens and clean water.”

Four of the top national leaders within the Community Christian Churches (CCC) in Kenya have returned to their studies at Africa International University for a second year with strong grade reports and a continued zeal for their educations, reports CMF missionary Shawn Redford.

James Sinkua, (second from left in photo) a Maasai believer, now lives in Nairobi and is the key overseer for the CCC. Paul Lupempe, (center) a Maasai believer, lives near Kajiado on the eastern side of the Great Rift Valley. Samuel Loibormongi  (second from right) is a youth pastor from an area close to the Maasai Mara game reserve, and Wilson Kutinkala (far right) is a pastor near Narok.

A fifth student, Jackson Erus, (far left in photo) one of the leading church overseers in Turkana, also enrolled this year. This is a remarkable feat, says Shawn, considering that the Turkana area didn’t even have elementary schools until 12 years ago.

Africa International University (AIU) is one of only two Christian universities in Kenya to hold the country’s highest level of accreditation, given to AIU in March of this year. It was previously known as the Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology (NEGST), and offered graduate studies in ministry-related degrees. About four years ago it began offering undergraduate programs and changed its name to AIU, retaining NEGST as the graduate school.

Shawn holds a Ph.D. from Fuller Seminary and currently teaches missiology, specializing in Biblical Theology of Mission at AIU. “One of the very encouraging things about AIU-NEGST is that we have a large faculty of Ph.D. missiologists, and that allows us to stand on par with our Western counterparts such as Fuller, Asbury and Trinity,” he said. “This means that Africans such as these five leaders can train in Africa, while remaining engaged in ministry, and this has a tremendous benefit in terms of university trained Africans serving as missionaries within Africa.”