Sunday morning was a great experience. We attended the early service at
Parklands Baptist Church in Nairobi, not knowing that they were beginning a 5-Sunday emphasis on the various departments (i.e., ministries) of the church and were focusing on missions on Sunday. Simon Mwangi Ndegwa is the Associate Pastor of Parklands BC and, while I may be ignorant due to the limits of my experience, I do not know another African who has a heart for the nations like Ndegwa.
The service began as usual with music led by the praise team. Then, there was a flag procession. The flag bearers circled the platform and the map of Africa that is inset into the platform. Then the church prayed for the nations. Simon was scheduled to preach on missions. Frankly, he never really got to his sermon (as printed in their order of worship). But, he did preach -- he challenged the church that they had a responsibility to pray for and go to the nations. At the end of his sermon, Simon prayed for the nations again -- even that Somalia would become a missionary-sending country!
Then, the fun began. Simon's altar call was for those who would respond to God's call to the nations. He even asked for a show of hands of those who did not already have passports -- only 2 people raised their hands and he told them to
get the application paperwork and to get it done! How could they say they were ready to go to the nations if they didn't at least have a passport? The early service is, relatively speaking, lightly attended but a large number from the congregation responded by going forward. It was a stirring service.
I walked away from the service both thrilled and burdened. Thrilled at the emphasis on missions and on the response; burdened wondering what the church would do as
next steps. This church has a great reputation for missions having already adopted at least 2 unreached people groups in Kenya and supporting national missionaries to those people. But, how will they expand their reach to the nations outside of the borders of Kenya? Who will train them?
- Is the Great Commission really for African believers?
- What are you doing to equip national believers to go to the nations?
For the Kingdom,
Bob A
Bob:
ReplyDeleteI am a firm believer that the FIRST answer for the need to reach the unreached, unengaged people groups in Africa is African Baptists! As we begin to work on the strategy to see every people group engaged in our cluster by 2025, we believe that African Baptists will lead the way. Everything we do will be with the understanding that our national Baptist partners must be equipped for the work and we hope to develop trianing models that equal what we do for engaging churches in the US.
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ReplyDeleteIs the Great Commission really for African believers? Yes with a capital Y! Our African believers are very much a part of His Church and so are also very much a part of the Great Commission. It has been a blessing and joy to stand back and watch our African Believers become very much a part of taking the Gospel to villages of people who are living in darkness. They are so much better equipped in understanding of Africans that they are greatly qualified. Yes, Yes and YES!
ReplyDeleteWhat are you doing (or could do) to equip national believers to go to the nations? From the beginning in our discipleship classes, sharing of your new found faith is encouraged. In fact, one of our first faith obedience lessons is to share your faith with two others before the next class. We want sharing to be a part of the DNA of the new believer. When an African leads another African to Christ, it usually ends up being for the right reasons! We do all we can to get our believers to multiply themselves.
Brad Womble -- IMB, West Africa
Thanks, guys. Some good thoughts. While I do agree that African believers are best positioned to take the gospel to other Africans because of language, culture, and natural lines of affinity, I also strongly believe there is a place for the expatriate missionary in many places (and, David, I know you agree with that).
ReplyDeleteBrad, I think one of the keys to planting missions DNA in African churches is to do as you stated -- one of our first faith obedience lessons is to share your faith..... If that expectation is laid out at the very beginning and there is some accountability for doing that, it should become a part of the individual's life. As those individuals become a part of a local church or if several of those individuals gather to form a church, then that DNA becomes a part of the church.
Why, though, are there so few African churches with a missions vision? There are a lot that talk about the lost but few that live it out -- and I'm not sure a vision is truly a vision if it's not acted upon. What can be done? What needs to change?