The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is indigenous church planting.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Well, the time is almost upon us. We are just a couple of weeks from departing Kenya and returning to the United States for furlough / home assignment. We are all excited about this but because we are so close to returning we are in almost total and complete shut-down mode here in Kitale. Shutting down operations here in Kenya while we are gone takes a great amount of time and a good amount of money. We have tried from the beginning of our ministries this term to build independency into the people and churches. We have been training them for a long time now and we believe they are ready to begin to stand on their own and lean on the Holy Spirit alone for their strength, wisdom and leadership. Thus, while we are not abandoning these ministries, they will be forging on ahead without us during the time we are in the States. I know it will be hard for them to carry on but it will be hard on me also as I wonder in what way they will proceed in my absence. I wonder if Paul worried much about the churches he started and the men he trained when he left a city and went to another city to continue to preach the gospel. OK, I guess I don’t have to wonder because he said did worry. In 2 Corinthians 11:28 he spoke of his “deep concern for all the churches”. But he also was able to trust in the Holy Spirit to take care of them and knew they were better off in God’s hands then in his own.

We are also in full shut-down mode with all our personal and living arrangements. Making sure everything here will run smoothly for six months is not easy. If there are problems I will certainly not be able to “run back to Africa” to see to things. The logistics of leaving everything for that long can be overwhelming, especially knowing there is little you can do if something goes wrong. Much of it we will have to leave in God’s hands.

Obviously, since we will returning home soon for furlough, we will also begin traveling to our various supporting churches in order to see you all and to give updates and reports of our work here in Kenya. After we have returned and spent some time with family and our home church, Emmanuel Baptist in Bellbrook, Ohio, I will begin contacting you pastors and churches to set up times for us to visit. So, I hope you will be expecting to hear from me. I can also be contacted via email at rojuta[at]gmail.com. We do not currently have a US phone so that is not currently an option. Looking forward to seeing you all soon.

For the glory of God in East Africa,
Roger & Julie Tate (and Emily, Amy, & Josiah)
P.O. Box 96
Kitale, Kenya 30200
rojuta[at]gmail.com
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