Missionary Update: The Tates in Kenya [October 2012]
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,
Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. While on your side of the world you are gradually moving toward Autumn, on this side of the world we are gradually moving out of the rainy season and into the hotter, dryer season. I was feeling sorry for myself earlier this week because I love the Autumn. I haven’t experienced fall in five years because things are pretty much the same year round here in Kenya. Isn’t that a silly thing to be feeling sorry for yourself about? I agree. Sometimes we just have to kick ourselves out of silly moods like that and appreciate again all that God has provided for us.
Here’s a question for you. Do you find living the Christian life to be a challenge sometimes? Of course you do. Do you ever find Christian ministry in the States to be a challenge? Of course you do. I find Christian ministry here in Kenya to be a challenge sometimes too. I know you already know that but I wanted you to know that I also recognize that it’s no different in the States. Christian ministry can be a challenge no matter where you are. Here is a challenge I have been facing here in Kenya lately: Trying to get Kenyans to break from their traditions and accept and follow more Biblical models (I know! I know! If you do any Christian ministry in the States you will face similar problems). So, I spent a few weeks teaching and preparing the new church for taking the Lord’s Supper together. We looked at all the passages dealing with this topic in the New Testament so that they could have a full understanding of what it means for a church to share the Lord’s Table together. We are now scheduling a time for the church to celebrate this together. But now I am facing traditions. I have been told we MUST have a new white cloth to cover the communion bread with. If we don’t have this cloth we are not showing proper respect. I had to deal with this tradition. Next, I was told we MUST have the little cups used for the “fruit of the vine”. When I asked why, I was told “because it’s tradition and without it we can’t show proper respect”. I had to deal with this tradition. I told them we could use their everyday tea cups instead of buying the traditional cups from the store. They didn’t like that idea. Finally, I was told we couldn’t use chapatti for our communion bread (chapatti is a flat, non-leavened bread that the Kenyans eat every day. It would work perfect for communion). Again, when I asked why, they told me it was because chapatti is too common and every day and that special communion bread had to be bought from the store. I had to deal with this tradition. My challenges don’t stop with the Lord’s Table. The church also wanted to start taking up offerings so I thought it would be best to teach them on this subject. I wanted to show them how New Testament churches used offerings (knowing that they wanted to take up offerings for other, non-biblical reasons). I scoured the New Testament and found that when the early churches took up offerings or used money it was either to help the poor, assist widows and orphans, or to help a missionary go to the next city so he could continue to preach the gospel in other cities and spread the kingdom of Christ on the earth. They were OK with this teaching as long as there was money left over after they bought a shamba (a small farm), built a new church building, bought various kinds of musical instruments, bought new chairs (for who knows what reason), and paid all the elders their stipend. Now, while there is nothing sinful about any of these uses for an
offering, trust me, there is not enough money in their collection to pay for any of these uses, let alone the more Biblical uses. All I could say over and over again was, “It’s
better to follow the Biblical examples than our worldly traditions”. In the end, do you
know what I want for these dear people? It’s not for them to follow their worldly traditions. It’s not even for them to follow me. No, I want them to learn how to follow the Bible. All I can do is continue to point them to the Bible and say, “Follow that”.
That’s the challenge I face. Do you face it as well? Fortunately, the church here is
learning to do just that. And we also thank God for the four new people who want to
become members of this new church.
Until next month, beloved.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
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
Visit their blog!
Click here to donate to BFM.
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Missionary Update: The Tates in Kenya [September 2012]
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,
Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I hope and pray that the Kingdom of God is growing back in the States and here in Kenya as well. God is good, just, faithful, merciful and gracious. His word will accomplish everything He wants it to accomplish in our lives and in this world. Our King sits on the throne and rules by His mighty power. Praise be to our great God.
We will probably have some changes coming in some of our groups in the next couple of weeks. At the beginning of the year we started three groups with the hopes of them becoming churches of the Lord Jesus Christ. One of those groups was organized into the Baptist Church of Shangalamwe. It looks like the other two groups will be canceled but that doesn’t mean that good things haven’t come out of them. These groups often start strong with many people and then begin to fade once the attendees realize they will not be receiving any gifts. That happened to our Friday group. It has dwindled to basically one or two attendees who were not being faithful themselves and who were not putting forth much effort to help the group grow. It was time to cancel the group this past month. Also, our Saturday group has had the same kinds of problems. A local pastor who attended the group became angry at us for not building him a new building and went about sabotaging the group, poisoning it with his lies and driving people away. We have also had to cancel this group this past month. However, out of this group has come a young man, Titus, who has gone on to form five other groups himself. We plan on continuing to mentor and teach this young man on how to lead these groups and on how to lead these groups into becoming churches. He is doing an excellent work. People are being saved in his groups and most of the attendees are hearing the Bible taught verse-by-verse for the very first time in their lives. So, with the canceling of two groups this past month, we will be looking to start a couple of new groups that we hope to eventually turn into house churches. Nathan and I are not discouraged about the canceling of these two groups. At the beginning of the year we looked at things realistically and decided that if even one out of every four groups we started became churches that we would be happy with that. We are excited about starting some new groups in the near future.
At the Baptist Church of Shangalamwe we finished teaching about elders this past month. We taught about the need for elders, the responsibilities of elders, and the characteristics and qualification of elders. It was exciting to hear and answer their many questions concerning elders as we taught them concerning this topic from the Scriptures. Once we had finished all the teachings, the church obeyed the teaching of the Word of God and chose and appointed a qualified elder for the church. Afterwards, we gathered around him and prayed that God would give him strength and wisdom as the first elder and spiritual leader of the young church. This is an important step as this young church needs to have spiritual leaders to lead it in the future after Nathan and I are no longer around. May God bless this church with much spiritual growth and maturity and may He bless their new elder, Richard.
Very briefly, my car situation hasn’t changed. It still hasn’t been confiscated but I also cannot drive it or else it will be confiscated, impounded and basically stolen from my by the authorities. Barring a miracle from God I will not be able to keep the car. Please pray that God’s will be done in this situation whether it is for me to keep or lose the vehicle.
Until next month, beloved.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
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
Visit their blog!
Click here to donate to BFM.
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Missionary Update: The Radfords in Kenya [September 2012]
Nathan and Carrie Radford serve the Lord in Kitale, Kenya. Their main ministries include indigenous church planting, a prison ministry, and a hospital ministry for mothers with premature babies.
September 4, 2012
Dear praying friends,
Another month has come and gone, and we only have a few months left in the year 2012. As I reflect on this past year, I ask myself, “Where has the time gone?” I am sure that many of you can identify with this. Our lives are so brief, and we need to be serving the Lord while there is still opportunity. May we be thankful for the opportunities He gives us to serve Him, and make the most of them. This update will share current ministry progress as well as prayer requests.
The church in the village of Shangalamwe is continuing along well. Shangalamwe is quite a drive out of Kitale town and is bordered with another large village called Coast. We have had some visitors from there, for which we thank the Lord. There are many in Shangalamwe to be reached with the Gospel message. We thank the Lord that the members are continuing to go and share the “Good News” with others.
Nathan Radford & Roger Tate with some of the people in the village of Shangalamwe.
We are progressing well through the teachings from God’s Word, and my prayer for them is that they would desire to study the Word more and grow stronger in their relationship with the Lord. Please continue to pray for my friend Roger and I, as we work with these dear people. Please pray that we would be steadfast, not grow weary, and be faithful to the call here. One of my favorite verses is 1 Corinthians 15:58, which says “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” This is a verse we can claim wherever we serve the Lord, and our labour is not in vain. Praise the Lord!
The Annex prison is continuing well. The head office and chaplains are supportive, for which I thank the Lord. This past week was a blessing, as many new visitors came after being transferred from another prison. This happens quite regularly. We are now in the New Testament, studying the life of Christ and His ministry while on earth. We have many lessons ahead, and we ask you to please pray for these men, that they would stay encouraged and continue to grow spiritually. Please also pray that these believers would share their faith with the other prisoners. Matthew 4:19 says “And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” We will keep you updated of this ministry.
We have big news in the family as our daughter Camille is now walking. She is not steady on her feet yet, but making good progress. It won’t be long until we have to chase her all over. I am sure other parents can identify with this. She is doing very well. McKenna will be five years old next year and starting school soon, which does not seem possible. We love our daughters dearly and they are a great blessing. Please pray that we would be the example that we need to be before them, and raise them in the ways of the Lord.
The elections here in Kenya are supposed to be around March of next year, as far as I have heard. Please pray that the election would be done in a good manner and that there would be no unrest. We can trust the Lord even during this time, and what a privilege it is to pray. I read a quote recently that challenged me. It said, “If we only pray when we are in trouble, then we are in trouble.” How true, and how we need to pray often throughout the day, even when things are going well. Prayer is truly a privilege.
God bless each of you so much and we will keep you updated. Thanks for your prayers, encouragement, and sacrificial giving. It means so much to us.
Serving in Kenya,
Nathan and Carrie Radford
P.O. Box 4150
Kitale, Kenya
East Africa 30200
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Missionary Update: The Tates in Kenya [August 2012]
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,
I suppose that if I am going to be an honest missionary then I need to report the good with the bad. Last month when I sat down to write my report I was excited and everything I wrote was good, uplifting, and encouraging. Unfortunately, what I have to write about this month I am not so excited about. It is not as uplifting or encouraging. I still hope you spend the time to read it, though, as true life and ministry is filled with ups and downs, with evil and good, with blessings and hardship, with encouraging times and not so encouraging times. Don’t get me wrong, I am not discouraged, depressed, nor down. It’s just that in the course of any ministry and work for God there are mountains and valleys.
Let me start with the church that we organized just last month (Kanisa la Baptisti la Shangalamwe – Baptist Church of Shangalamwe). It is still going strong and I still have high hopes for it. The people there love the Lord and love to worship and fulfill the commission of Christ. But what I have been waiting to happen has now happened. You might have guessed it. It has to do with money. The patriarch of the church finally approached us for help. He told us he didn’t have any food and that he needed our assistance. We have been dreading this from the beginning and the start of the group because we know well the two most likely outcomes from this scenario. Outcome #1 looks like this: We organize a group of Kenyan believers into a church; After some amount of time they begin to ask us for money, aid, and help; Having compassion on their needs we help them with monetary gifts, food gifts, etc; This begins a vicious, downward, irrevocable cycle that ultimately leads to DEPENDENCY and PATERNALISM; The church is ruined. Outcome #2 looks like this: We organize a group of Kenyan believers into a church; After some amount of time they begin to ask us for money, aid, and help; Knowing the problem of dependency and paternalism that is the sure outcome of us giving them money and gifts, we spend great amounts of time teaching them why they should help each other, depend on the Lord, and not beg the missionary for money; All the members of the church begin to realize that they will not be receiving money and gifts from this missionary (what they were probably expecting from the beginning) and slowly begin to drift away and make themselves scarce until they are no longer around; Those who have been “spurned” begin to tell everyone in the village that these are stingy missionaries that are selfish and unloving; We are left with no members in the church; The church is ruined. Those are the two scenarios that I keep seeing played out over and over again. After much prayer and wisdom seeking, Nathan and I decided to help the family by providing them with food. It was a very difficult decision because we never really know if we are getting the whole truth and because we are quite familiar with Outcome #1 above. We fear Outcome #1 even more because when we tried to ascertain the families’ financial situation we found out it is bleak. The patriarch of the family is 70 years old and has no job and supposedly no retirement. They have no farm or land to farm. Their children and neighbors are not willing to help them. They are taking care of four orphaned grandchildren. And, they have no hope for any future income. I kept asking them, “What are your plans for the future”? Ultimately, they have no plans for the future. Actually, Julie may have hit the nail on the head when she told me later, “Roger, YOU are their plan for the future”? I’m afraid she might just be right. I hope that we have made the right decision and yet can still stay off the path of dependency and paternalism. We will only know as things unfold in the future. On the bright side we do have two additional people who would like to join this small church. Nathan and I are scheduled to head out to Shangalamwe later this week to talk to them about salvation and baptism. Please pray for Baptist Church of Shangalamwe.
Briefly, now, because I am out of space. Please pray for our car situation. I have found out that the car I paid a lot of money for a couple of years ago was not properly registered by the authorities in the Kenyan government when it was imported (This happened years before I bought it either by human error or corruption). Bottom line: The Criminal Investigation Department wants to impound my car (which, if they do, I will never see it again). When I refused to hand it over to them they threatened to arrest me. I would like to avoid being arrested as well as having my car impounded and stolen from me. Please pray about this situation as well. (You can read more about this situation on Julie’s blog.)
See, I told you this month’s report wasn’t as uplifting as last month’s. Hope you read it anyway.
Until next month, beloved.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
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
Visit their blog!
Click here to donate to BFM.
Read more
Missionary Update: The Radfords in Kenya [August 2012]
Nathan and Carrie Radford serve the Lord in Kitale, Kenya. Their main ministries include indigenous church planting, a prison ministry, and a hospital ministry for mothers with premature babies.
August 3, 2012
Dear praying friends,
It is now the month of August, and we are past halfway through the year 2012. What a blessing it is, the time that the Lord gives us to serve Him. May we be faithful to serve Him, whenever or wherever that is. One of my favorite Scripture verses is Isaiah 6:8, where the Word of God says “Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.” I hope and pray this is our desire before the Lord.
In ministry news, the church in Shangalamwe is continuing along well. Over the past few weeks, I have really seen how the people here need Biblical teaching from the Word of God. My good friend Roger Tate and I have been working with the people for months now, and it has been exciting to watch them grow spiritually, take in the Word of God, and follow it. Our challenge to them is not only to know the Word, but follow it, practice it, obey it, and reach others. Several have been visiting, so we are thankful for this. We ask you to pray for us, that we would have His help in all areas and progress of this ministry. Please pray for us as we teach, that the teaching would be understandable and that they would not only hear the Word, but be doers of the Word. Please also pray that the people would trust the Lord, wholly and completely. Isaiah 26:4 states “Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength.” We will keep you updated on the progress of this ministry, and we appreciate your prayers.
The hospital ministry is going well. My wife enjoys this and has been doing this work with the mothers and babies for a few years now. It is a blessing for her to be able to be involved with this. Many of the mothers and children there have been reached with what God has provided, and what a joy it is to serve them. Proverbs 19:17 says “He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and that which he hath given will he pay him again.” What a challenge from Scripture this is. Thanks to each one who has sent supplies or given sacrificially to this ministry. Some of the babies there are abandoned, and have many struggles, so we would appreciate your prayers for them also. May God bless you for your heart for missions.
The Annex prison is continuing well, for which I thank the Lord. The Lord has provided good students of the Word, those who seem to be genuinely interested in knowing and obeying the Bible and what it teaches. We are now in the New Testament of the teachings, and will soon be looking at the ministry Jesus had while on earth, as well as other teachings. Just recently, I taught some from Luke 1:37, which states “For with God nothing shall be impossible.” What is impossible with man is possible with God. We serve an all-powerful God!
Please keep our family in your prayers, for safety, health, faithfulness to the Lord and the work here in Kitale, and that we would be the examples before our children that we need to be. Camille is now nearly walking, which does not seem possible. What a blessing she is to our family. McKenna is the typical little girl, lots of energy and into many things. They keep us on our toes, to say the least. Pray for us as we seek to lead them in the ways of the Lord. God bless you all so much, and we will keep you updated.
In Kenya,
Nathan and Carrie Radford
P.O. Box 4150
Kitale, Kenya
East Africa 30200
Click here to donate to BFM.
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Missionary Update: The Tates in Kenya [July 2012]
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,
I am excited to report to you this month of the new developments in our church planting ministry. As you hopefully know, our goal here in Kenya is to start independent, self-reliant, self-governing, and self-reproducing Baptist churches. We were privileged to be able to see part of that goal come to fruition this month. I have read Nathan Radford’s monthly update and know that in it he has mentioned the start of this church. I would like to fill in the details of that day when the church was organized.
Justino Signing the Church Covenant
After months of teaching and preparing, on the Sunday morning of June 24th, we organized a small group of believers into the Kanisa la Baptisti la Shangalamwe (Baptist Church of Shangalamwe). Shangalamwe is a small village off the beaten path where Nathan and I have been working for many months. Richard Wafula is the owner of the house in which the group meets and the leader of the family there. Richard is over 70 years old which is quite an old age for most Kenyans (he is in very good health and very good shape as it takes him nearly two hours one way to ride to town from his house on his bicycle). He has lived long enough to remember pre-independence days forKenya when the country was ruled by the colonial British.
On the 24th of June, Nathan, Julie, my kids, and I rose early in the morning to make the half hour drive to Shangalamwe and arrived at Richard’s house at 8:30am. We shared chai (tea) with the group members as it was still pretty chilly that morning. After chai we began our worship. We praised our God and Savior in song and drums, lifting up our voices to glorify the Head of the church that was about to be organized. After we finished singing and praying, Nathan reminded the group what it meant to be a church of the Lord Jesus Christ and what was needed for the group to move from group status to becoming a New Testament assembly. He then proceeded to read the covenant that had been written for this occasion. In short (this is a very brief summary) the covenant expressed the intentions of the members to organize into a church, to function as the body of Christ on the earth, to follow Christ as its only Head, and to diligently search the Scriptures and obey all it commands for a New Testament church of the Lord Jesus. Nathan then read the membership requirements for becoming a member of the new church (these are what you would expect for any Baptist church: You must be a believer in Jesus as your Savior, you must be Scripturally baptized, you must express your intent on becoming a member, you must sign the covenant, etc). All of the members then signed this covenant and membership requirements.
Explaining Baptism before Baptizing Candidates
Following this we had baptisms to perform. We left Richard’s house and walked 25 minutes to the lake where there was enough water to immerse the candidates. I then had the privilege of baptizing three children who had previously trusted in Christ. I baptized Nuhu (Noah) – age 13, Musa (Moses) – age 10, and Timina – age 8. While standing in the water I explained the meaning, purpose and method of baptism because the whole practice of baptism inKenya is wildly misunderstood and misapplied. Afterward I baptized the three children. After finding a secluded and private bush in which to change into dry clothes we walked the 25 minutes back to Richard’s house and added the names of the three children who had just been baptized to the membership role of the church. We all then sat down and I taught from Acts 2:40-47, showing what kinds of things the first church inJerusalem did and challenging this new church to follow the same kind of model. We finished with more singing and prayer and with thanksgiving in our hearts and smiles on our lips we headed home.
It was truly a blessed day, one I would like to repeat here inKenyamany times. Please pray that God would richly bless with spiritual blessings the Kanisa la Baptisti la Shangalamwe and that it would grow in obedience unto maturity. To our great God be all the glory.
Until next month, beloved.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
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
Visit their blog!
Click here to donate to BFM.
Read more
Missionary Update: The Radfords in Kenya [July 2012]
Nathan and Carrie Radford serve the Lord in Kitale, Kenya. Their main ministries include indigenous church planting, a prison ministry, and a hospital ministry for mothers with premature babies.
July 3, 2012
Dear praying friends,
We have now passed the halfway point into the year 2012. As I reflect on this past year, and how quickly time passes, I am reminded how we need to be investing ourselves in service to the Lord and His kingdom. Our life here on earth is just a breath compared to eternity. James 4:14 states “Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.” May we use the opportunities the Lord gives us to serve Him. This update will give ministry progress as well as share prayer requests.
This past month was an exciting one in relation to church planting here in Kitale. My good friend Roger Tate and I have been teaching the Word of God to a special family in a small village named Shangalamwe which is located here in Kitale. We have covered many different studies with them, and prepared them to become a church of the Lord Jesus Christ. On June 24th of last month, we had an official ceremony to open Shangalamwe Baptist Church. What an exciting time it is for these people. Please pray for this church, and also for the people in the village of Shangalamwe. Pray for my friend Roger and I, that we would continue to be faithful to help and assist these people through mentoring them to grow spiritually, and reach others for Christ. Please pray that the Lord would raise up leaders for this church that love the Lord and desire to faithfully serve Him. Please pray that these people would continue to pray, rely on the Lord, and study the Word of God. The Word of God is profitable in so many ways, and how we need to faithfully study it. 2 Timothy 2:15 says “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
The Annex prison ministry is continuing along well. The Lord has provided faithful men to come and study His Word. It has been exciting to watch how the Lord has been working in their lives, and I thank the Lord for each one who has been coming. I also am thankful for the cooperation of the officials at the Annex prison. We are now over halfway through the course “Firm Foundations – from Creation to Christ.” I am aware of all the many challenges that these men face, and am thankful for their faithfulness. Many of them receive discouragement in many ways, yet they continue to faithfully study. Please pray for these men and also for their spiritual growth. Pray that I would be faithful to share the Gospel message as well as teach the Word, relying on the Lord for the results. Nothing can happen without the Lord and His help. 1 Corinthians 3:6 says “I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.” May we all remember to rely on the Lord as we serve Him.
In family news, it has been exciting to watch our daughters grow and develop. McKenna is now four years old and very active. She is such a blessing and what a privilege it is for my wife and I to be her parents. Camille is 16 months old, and has not yet started walking, but is certainly crawling all over. It will not be long before she is walking. She can mutter some words now and then, such as “dada,” which thrills my heart. What a blessed man I am, with such a wonderful wife and daughters. Please pray for unity in our family, and that my wife and I would be the examples before our children that we need to be. It is a big responsibility. Our children watch our actions more than our words. A statement that has really challenged me is “Example speaks louder than words.” May we be the examples for the Lord that we need to be throughout our daily lives.
We hope you all have a great fourth of July there in the States as we celebrate here in Kenya. May we be in prayer for our nation, and the leaders of the United States of America. How we need to heed the words of Proverbs 14:34, which says “Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.” God bless you and we will keep you updated.
Serving in Kitale,
Nathan and Carrie Radford
P.O. Box 4150
Kitale, Kenya
East Africa 30200
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Missionary Update: The Tates in Kenya [May 2012]
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,
I pray that this letter finds you all joyful in the Lord as “the joy of the Lord is our strength”. Like you, I am not joyful in the Lord at all times. Like you all back in the States, we missionaries in foreign fields struggle with that fruit of the Spirit sometimes. However, just as Paul wished the following blessing upon the Roman believers, I say concerning you all “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
So, let me try and keep this joy in mind as I describe a couple of things concerning our ministries. The first concerns one of the groups I described to you last month. This group was the one that was expecting us to give them things, build buildings for them, support them financially in their ministries, etc. After we had explained our model of ministry to them, there were some who questioned the wisdom and rightness of this approach. From the outside, the next couple of weeks looked “OK” as we continued to teach and see how God would lead. From the inside, however, certain things were happening. Some of the members of this group started rumors and accusations that the owner of the house in which the group was meeting was receiving financial kickbacks and support from the missionaries so that we could meet in her house. This was not true as we clearly explained to all those who attended the group meetings. The accusations didn’t stop there, however. We also found out that our small house group was being accused of witchcraft. Yes, witchcraft! Now, I know that our approach is different than what the Kenyans are used to, but anyone with an observant eye whatsoever would easily be able to discern that no witchcraft was going on within our group. We get together, pray, sing, and study the Word of God. Everybody that walks by knows that this is what we are doing. But this did not stop the accusations, however. This was the first time I have been accused of witchcraft. I think somebody is trying to run us off and out of this village. Nathan and I have talked and prayed about the situation and want, more than anything, to just have the wisdom and guidance of the Lord concerning this group. We want to know and follow his will concerning this group, no matter what that will is. The next day, as I was contemplating these events, a friend of mine approached me and said, “Congratulations, I hear you’ve been accused of witchcraft”. I thought he might be out of his mind but he just stood there and smiled at me. He said, “You should be joyful. Satan is opposing you strongly. He must not like what God is doing in that group. That means God is doing something great”. Upon further reflection I decided I had to agree with him, even though I told him I still thought he was off his rocker. How would you take accusations of witchcraft? Ought I not to be joyful in this situation knowing that God is on our side and that no weapon formed against us can prosper? I guess the answer is “YES.”
Now, fortunately, there is something else that I can easily find joy in. One of our group members, after hearing our teachings and encouragements, was empowered by the Lord to start another group in another village. I have spoken of his group before. He started with three people, then it grew to seven, last I heard it was ten, and this morning found out it was sixteen! They filled the house where they were meeting! He has taught them all the basic lessons we taught to him and has proceeded to the next step of teaching them inductive Bible study. They are going passage-by-passage through the book of Matthew. He told me that this is the first time any of these people had ever studied verse-by-verse through any book of the Bible and that they were learning so much from the Word of God. This has all been done without missionary presence in the group. As you can see, this was something I could easily find great joy in.
Until next month, beloved.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
For the glory of God inEast Africa,
Roger & Julie Tate (and Emily, Amy, & Josiah)
P.O. Box 761
Kitale, Kenya 30200
rojuta[at]gmail.com
Visit their blog!
Click here to donate to BFM.
Read more
