An Example of House Churches in Action…in Africa
I found this on Facebook and thought it might be helpful. It’s from Roger Thorman.
Kavorting in Kenya:
Roger and Brooks Thoman have a ministry into Kenya, working a lot with orphans, widows and others.
Below is an amazing story of Karen, and how she is reaching around Kenya with discipling and house church development.:
This Christmas season, Brooks and I celebrate you for the work we share together!
Meet one of your partners: a woman of focus & passion
I (Brooks) sat in their humble home one on one with Karen. This tiny woman, as eloquent as any woman I’ve ever known, spoke with passion and intensity as she told me her story.
We train new converts to become disciples of Jesus Christ so that we can reach the world with the gospel by equipping disciples to make disciples through house church movement. The gospel will be spread at a fast pace as each one wins one.
In 18 months this lady has reached 196 women. She has raised up seven leaders within 14 house churches. She and/or her disciples have baptized 36 women. Inside their one room, dirt floor home where she lives with her husband and 8 children there is one thing hanging on their wall: a worn, large sheet of paper where written out is a listing of counties and subcounties in western Kenya. Beside each one are names and numbers. These are leaders and numbers of people who have been reached. Others are blank and yet to be reached.
She lives and breathes her passion to share the transforming power of the Gospel…
Karen is intense. I look at a woman who would never in a million years spend money on hair, make-up, clothes. She has one focus: Jesus Christ and his commandments.
There’s no doubt about if she lives this out. To make it possible, she gets up every morning early to make mendazi (donut like pastry that Kenyans typically eat with tea in the morning), which she then takes into the village market to sell. Why? To use the proceeds of the sales to pay for her transportation on a boda boda (motorcycle) to share the gospel with those who have not heard or do trainings with leaders or check in on house churches.
Not only does she share God’s love with them, but her intention with so many women left as widows or single moms is to help them. She teaches them farming, making baskets, purses. The needs are enormous and she’s desperate to do what she can. Why?
Because she knows, lives, breathes the love of God. In another culture this dynamo of a woman could possibly be President…of a corporation or a country, but in her world, all of her intellect, her wisdom, her passion is used for her King. The price is enormous.
Because of her focus, her drive, her commitment she can do no less.
Thank you for partnering with us and with amazing people like Karen!
Love,
Roger and Brooks
Kingdom Investment and Apostolic Travel
A couple of months back I was having a conversation on twitter with ApostleFarm about how apostles travel great distances to invest in the next generation of Kingdom leaders. Having seen some of that in Africa, I shared a little bit about the experience, but intended to write a blog post to share more in detail. After thinking about the topic some I decided that a video blog might be a better venue for sharing what I’ve learned.
So with no further ado, here is my video blog about apostolic travel for Kingdom advancement. Make sure to stick around for the last couple of minutes where I discuss what I believe is one secret that I think gets missed by most western apostolic workers.
Thanks for watching the video blog. Have you ever seen apostolic travel in action either here or abroad? What can you learn from the examples you’ve seen? Let me know in the comment section.
My Take on our African Over Night Prayer Meeting
If you hadn’t caught my twitter feed you probably didn’t know that I spent Friday night (New Year’s Eve) and Saturday Morning with my friends from Full Grace Ministries as they held their over night prayer meeting.
If you’ve never been to Africa, let me explain the idea of an “over night prayer meeting.” First of all, while there is prayer that goes on, it is not just a prayer meeting. When I’ve been in Africa in the past, a common question they ask is “Where do you pray from?” What they mean is, “Where does your church gather and have their meetings at?” So an African over night prayer meeting is more like an extended church meeting that goes through the night. My first over night was in Uganda. The rest I’ve participated in here in America with Full Grace Ministries.
My job, as I understand it from the Lord, is to continue to encourage my African friends who gather that they have something to offer us in America. They carry a deposit of Jesus that we cannot understand as Western Americans apart from their help. So, I join them as often as I can and when the Lord allows, I encourage them to become everything Jesus designed them to be.
That said, here is my take on what happened on Friday night:
What I Learned
This particular night I was able to hear a number of speakers who where truly African in their message and their mindset. One of the things that I noticed about these speakers was that their version of Christianity is a very “now-centered” Christianity. They do not wait for God to move some time in the future. They believe God is a God who acts now.
How God Met Me
I knew that there was the potential for me to end up addressing the gathering. I was also somewhat nervous after hearing the first two speakers. They were definitely fiery and it was obvious that their style of preaching was more what the folks gathered there were used to. I even leaned over to my buddy Sean (who has joined me for previous over night prayer meetings) and said “Now I understand why everyone is so quiet whenever I talk.”
But God met me, ironically, during the intermission. John, a new friend of mine, came up to me and introduced himself. He went on to tell me how last year when I spoke, he said to himself, “This man is quiet but the Lord is with him,” and how excited he was that I was back. It was encouraging to hear that my friend could hear the Lord even without me changing my speaking style. It definitely gave me courage when it was my turn to speak.
What God is Doing
One of the things I was privileged to share with Full Grace Ministries was that God has placed them very strategically where they are. They carry a genuine prophetic African anointing that we Americans know very little about. I believe the Lord desires to use them as messengers and missionaries to a declining American church and an increasingly secular culture. We need the spiritual DNA that they carry and I strongly sensed the Holy Spirit empowering them to be a voice to us that night.
Summary
I’m thankful for everything the Lord did. I believe that what happened will be a picture of what you can expect to see increasingly in the years ahead: Americans receiving from the Lord things our African brothers walk in, while we get to come alongside and encourage them as well. The result will be a stronger church in America, empowered by the Spirit to be a voice and to walk in the supernatural power of Jesus.
Photo Credit: Africa in Hearts by futureatlas.com
Cluster Map
Pursuing Glory 