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
