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.
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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.
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Missionary Update: The Tates in Kenya [June 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,
It sure is strange near the equator. One of the strange things about living here is that I lose all sense of the seasons that you all have back in the States. It seems to me that it should still be snowy and cold back home. It’s almost incomprehensible to me that you are heading into Summer and hot, sunny days. We’ve been back in Africa almost a year now and since the seasons change so little here (except alternating between dust and mud) all the days seem the same and I lose track of time.
Roger Tate & Nathan Radford with some of the Kenyans they are working with
Time, however, is something we shouldn’t lose track of though, is it? It passes us all by and we only have a short and uncertain amount of time to do the things our Lord wants us to do on this earth. I look back at the last year and think, “I’ve lost a whole year and haven’t done a tenth of what I wanted to accomplish”. I have to keep reminding myself that it’s the Lord that builds the house and that he will do what he wants to do in His own timing. Starting churches is slow, hard work that requires a lot of patience on my part (and I don’t really like being patient). But God is blessing and I am excited to say that we have been actively preparing one of our house groups to become a newly organized church and we have plans and a date for later this month to go ahead and organize this group into a new church of the Lord Jesus Christ. If all goes according to plan, on the last Sunday of this month we will organize this small group into a church, have a time of celebration and worship, and baptize three children who have trusted in Jesus and add them to the membership role of the church. We have been diligently teaching this group what it means to be a church of the Lord Jesus Christ and we believe they are ready to move forward toward this end. Hopefully, next month I will be able to include a couple of pictures of the ceremony and first baptisms of Kanisa la Baptisti ya Shangalamwe (Baptist Church of Shangalamwe). This is all the Lord’s doing and we take no credit for it at all. I do not look back at this year and say, “See what I’ve accomplished.” In the end, all we can do is point towards heaven and say “All glory, honor and blessings to the King of heaven who does what He wants in all the earth.”
(As a side note: My wife has spent a lot of time putting together a blog to reveal insights into our lives here in Africa. It especially gives insight into her thoughts as a missionary wife and mother living in a foreign land. It is all from her perspective, which is obviously a very different perspective than the one I offer you each month. It contains some photos and she is working on adding links to others. If you are interested you can visit her blog at www.tatesinkenya.blogspot.com. Just to give you a little teaser about her site, if you go there you can read about the day I was arrested by the Police in Nakuru. Ha Ha. That should pique your interest.)
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 96
Kitale, Kenya 30200
rojuta[at]gmail.com
Visit their blog!
Click here to donate to BFM.
Read more
Missionary Update: The Tates in Kenya [April 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,
What a great month we have had this past month. My parents, Norm and Mary Tate
from National City, Michigan visited us here in Kitale for the last four weeks. What a joy to have family here for a while. They were also able to visit the various groups we have started and experience what we are trying to do here in Kitale. My father was even invited to speak at one of the groups and he accepted, talking about the love of Christ in action. I think my mom and dad appreciated being a part of our ministry here for a short time. We miss them already as they left to return to the States two days ago.
Well, the time has come in our groups that I have been expecting ever since we started them. What time is that, do you ask? It’s the time when the group members begin
to ask us for things in the hopes of getting money, aid and “sponsors”. I knew all along
that it would happen. Of that I had no doubt. What I didn’t know was how long it would
take to happen and what would be the subsequent results. I now know how long it would
take but I still don’t know the results.
Group #2’s requests started a couple of weeks ago. It became clear that they were
hoping that we would be providing a church building, chairs, electricity, etc. Upon
learning this we immediately strayed from our intended lessons and began to teach them
and show them our model of ministry, a model we believe is the Biblical model of the
New Testament. We taught them that we want to start churches that are independent and
self-reliant (meaning not financially dependent on the missionary, not that they are
independent of the Holy Spirit). While they should already know these concepts, the
teaching almost seemed new and completely foreign to them. One lady gave me this
example: “When our children are born we care for and nurture them exclusively. We
feed them and make sure they are clothed. We take care of them. We give them
mattresses to sleep on and shoes on their feet. Later we pay for them to go to school and
we buy schoolbooks. We continue to care for them in this manner until they are adults.
Then, once they are grown and can take care of themselves we don’t need to help them as
much any more. At this point all they need is our advice.” The lady was obviously using
the illustration as a pattern to how I should be starting churches, i.e. helping them with
everything they need until they are well established. Then they can take care of
themselves. The problem with the example is two-fold. First, it’s paternalism and I don’t
really want to be their “daddy” and them my “children” that I have to take care of. They
are mature, smart people. They don’t need that kind of relationship. Second, her
example may work with children but it doesn’t work with churches. Her example would
build dependency into the churches from the beginning and I can tell you I have never
seen a Kenyan church weaned from such dependency. Never. Not even churches that
have been established for many years. They even told Nathan and I that our refusal to
help them showed a lack of faith on our part; that if we just had enough faith, the money
would come in. Somehow, he didn’t associate that with his own faith, just ours.
Group #3’s requests were stepped up this week. I was told that all the women sitting
on one side of the house were widows and all the children sitting on the other side of the
house were orphans. I was asked what I was going to do to help them. I was told they
had to work seven days a week to earn a living and since they were working on Sundays
they couldn’t come to church. I was told I should help them so that they wouldn’t have to
work and then they could come worship on Sundays. I was also asked how we would be
able to bring others into the group when they obviously had to work too. Do you hear the
implications here? The implications are that I should pay them to come to worship and
study the Bible, otherwise they will not be able to come. I obviously had much to say about this, much more than I can say in this short update. Bottom line is that I explained why this particular method was dead wrong and why I would never do it.
What will the results be of denying these requests? I don’t know. Many, I am sure, will not come to the groups anymore. Maybe these groups will die now that they know I have refused them. Maybe they will continue to ask me for things hoping I will give in (this is likely). Or, maybe the Holy Spirit will reach into these people’s hearts, change their lives, give them a heart to love and care for one another rather than waiting for the missionary to care for them, and put within their hearts a fire for serving and following Jesus that they never had before. I’m praying for this last option. I hope you are too.
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 761
Kitale, Kenya 30200
rojuta[at]gmail.com
Website
Click here to donate to BFM.
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Missionary Update: Roger & Julie Tate in Kenya [March 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,
The short rains have kicked in here in Kitale. It rains every day again. These rains are needed so that the ground is ready for the farmers to plow and plant. These rains last only a couple of weeks, though, and then the dust season should return for a while. The skies are rumbling with thunder far off even as I speak. The rain is nice as it washes the dust off of everything and is refreshing. Thinking about rain reminds me about one of my favorite verses in Isaiah. Isaiah 55:10-11 says “For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater, So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it”. What a great promise to remind us that God shall accomplish all His purposes here in Kenya. The work that we do and the words that we speak in his name are not for nothing. He will take our feeble efforts and our ineffective words and somehow make them serve his purpose of bringing light and salvation to lost and dying people. If that is the case then I say let the rain fall on us in torrents and floods.
The works here are progressing, maybe not exactly according to my plan but certainly according to God’s plan. (Just returned to my computer after a short hiatus I needed to take to rescue Josiah’s pet goat. Pet goats are one of the “benefits” of living in Africa). I love to worship God with the Kenyan people and teach them from the Word of God. In recent lessons I have taught them about some of the basics of a relationship with God: Salvation, baptism, prayer, daily devotions, and the functions of a church. Some people know a lot already and some know practically nothing. Most are willing to follow the teachings of any man who calls himself a pastor. One of the cultural things that is taught here is that instead of immersing a person in water when baptizing, the person can just walk under a flag. I’m still not sure where that came from or the significance of it but it is still a common practice. Another strong cultural practice is to receive a baptism card when baptized. While there is nothing inherently wrong with receiving a baptism card, in Kenya these cards can be used for identification, job applications and so on. This makes a person want to be baptized just to receive that card and not because he is identifying himself as a follower of Christ. These and other errors can only be corrected by teaching them to live their lives according to the Scriptures and not according to man-made rules of religion. It is a long, uphill battle that we face.
Finally, my family and I are excited about the upcoming visit from my parents, Norm and Mary Tate. They will arrive inKenyajust five days from today. This will be their second visit to Kenya since we arrived in 2008. On their first visit in February 2009, the Tate family here in Kitale was about to enter a long, difficult battle with culture fatigue. My parents witnessed us falling off the cliff and into the dark abyss of depression and fatigue. Hopefully, they will not have to witness this plunge again this time. It will be so good to have them here with us for the month since we so very much miss ALL of our friends and family from the States.
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 761
Kitale, Kenya 30200
rojuta[at]gmail.com
Website
Click here to donate to BFM.
Read more
Missionary Update: Roger & Julie Tate in Kenya [January 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,
Our new year has started off well even though it is very hot and very dry. It seems as if the roads are always treacherous to traverse on my little motorcycle. They are either very muddy or very sandy. Either way we always have to be careful.
Ministry with Nathan is progressing nicely. We have started up two new Bible study/worship groups this month. Obviously, our hope and prayer is that these groups will eventually become churches of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one group has four members in it, three men and one woman. The second group has two members, both men. These are small beginnings for the new year but are definitely seeds of new churches. To become churches is what we will train them and teach them to be. This is what we are modeling for them as well. We are trying to teach them to obey what they have learned from the word of God, even if they only know a very little. The great challenge for me is to conduct these meetings in Swahili. It is still very difficult for me to understand Swahili but we want to speak in the heart language of the people. But speaking and listening to Swahili for two or more straight hours at a time can be exhausting. There are many other challenges as well. In our second group, it dawned on me while I was teaching that the young man sitting next to me was illiterate. This poses difficulties that are hard to overcome. I wanted to teach him how to share his faith and present the gospel to his friends and family. I had some simple points I wanted him to write down so that he could easily remember them later. However, he couldn’t read or write. I suddenly had to change my approach to teaching him. The most prevalent and biggest challenge is still the problem of dependency. We still do not want to do anything that a) they will become dependent upon or b) they cannot reproduce on their own. So, when Nathan suggested that we bring some books to the meetings for resources, we quickly decided that it wouldn’t be a good idea because later the group members would want those same resources (from us) when they went to start new groups. It is also why we are meeting in group members’ homes. Even though their homes may be very small and made of mud, I believe it is still the best place for us to meet. Later, when they go to start new groups or churches they will be able to reproduce quickly and not be tied to the model of a church building (The picture I have included is the small house that the second group meets in. We hope this little house later doubles as a meeting place for a new church).
The small house one of their groups of believers is meeting in to worship. They hope this house later doubles as a meeting place for a new church.
This whole non-dependency approach is still definitely swimming against the current. Most Kenyans just don’t get it or understand why we are here. Just for example, 10 minutes before I sat down to write this update I received this anonymous text message. I will reproduce it for you complete, with no corrections for spelling or grammar: “Hi pastor we are really suffering of u come in kaenya to help the poor but nothing u have done Nathen is telling wrong things that’s our crises as Church”. Of course, what this person has said about Nathan is a lie but the whole message reveals the common mindset: Missionaries are to come to Kenya in order to give handouts to all those who want them. Most people want the handouts but not the gospel. Beloved, if you pray for nothing else, please pray for us in this arena.
On a lighter note, I did attend a wedding this past Saturday. I was told the wedding started at 10:00am. When I told the pastor that I would be late because I had a Bible study group from 10-12 he told me to just come when I could as the wedding would probably start late. I arrived at 12:45pm. The bride still had not shown up to a wedding that was supposed to start at 10:00am. She didn’t show up until 2:15pm. Then, when she arrived, it took her and her entourage a full 20 minutes to dance down the 50 foot aisle from the back to the front of the church. I left at 3:45pm. The pastor was just beginning to preach. Anyway, I thought the whole thing was kind of funny.
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 761
Kitale, Kenya 30200
rojuta@gmail.com
Website
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