Celebration, Kenya style

It was with great joy that we got to see all our friends in Kakamega again. This time the mission was to lead a conference for local pastors. Many had travelled in from village churches and all were eager to learn. These men and women are some of our heroes. I asked a couple of them what was happening in their churches and one shared that in the last two years the number of children attending his church has gone up by 200. The growth began when he took what we taught at the last pastor’s conference (2013) and taught it to his church. Another shared that in the last month his church have seen three muslim men converted to Christ.

It was so good to see these men and women from all different denominations and traditions mixing together, eating together and worshipping together. But the highlight of our time together was easily the celebration at the end of the conference. We had raised money for some of the pastors to receive motorbikes and some a bicycle. These would enable them to earn a living by transporting people and goods. Many of these pastors live on the breadline and give up valuable time to lead a church when they could be earning a living doing something else. What was striking about the celebration was the way the pastors rejoiced with the few who received these bigger gifts. They celebrated the blessing someone else had received with dancing, singing, clapping, shouts and at the end a procession!