Dear brethren,
Thanks be to our heavenly Father who is always blessing us with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus. The short course is ending this week and brothers Donnie and Jimmy will be leaving on the 18th of April 2010. This being our end of the year holidays, all our students will be allowed to visit their families. We have six students from Congo who are on my neck that they want to see their families. Each one of them needs $200 for their bus fare to go and come back. The total is $1,200. We promised all our students from Congo and Kenya transport to and fro once a year.
We have 6 students from Kenya who will need $150. The total money we need to help us transport these students home and come back will be $1,350 dollars.
Land Issue
On the land issue I have all the necessary forms for the transfer of land ownership. The local chairman has endorsed his stamp and signature. I am waiting for the District and later take it to the lawyer to sign as a witness of the transaction. The funds you sent to help in this work, I received it and it is very much helping me to move around. May our good God bless you for your contribution in this. Very soon the land title will be in our school names.
Ladies Coming To School
So far we have received ten sisters willing to come to study God's word. As I said we are going to keep them here for two weeks. We need your prayers for this program's success.
Reports from two students are below.
Francis Wechesa
NAMUNGODI CHURCH OF CHRIST
CHURCH REPORT
EMMANUEL MAWA
The Namungodi congregation currently has a membership of 21 people including adults and children.
- The adults 15
- Children 6
- Male adults 8
- Female adults 7
Baptisms
At the beginning of the year the Lord added four souls to this Church, largely due to our evangelization and invitation of nonChristians to come and worship with us.
Monthly Contribution
The monthly contribution keeps fluctuating weekly and, therefore, monthly. On average per week, it is 5000/= meaning that monthly it is 20000/=.
Dropouts and Restorations
Unfortunately, we have had three dropouts of whom we had restored last year and have dropped out again. There has been some effort to reach them, but so far to no avail. Keep praying for them to come back to the Lord.
No restorations therefore.
Challenges
Just like any congregation in the world, Namungodi Church of Christ has a lot of challenges.
- We lack a proper place of worship, like land and a Church building. With regard to the land we are currently using, the owner of the land, brother Asa, does not tell us the truth about the land. He says he gave the land to the Church; another time he wants money for the land without giving a specific amount.
We had a plan for roofing the small structure on the land which would be adequate as a Church building, but now, without knowing ownership of the land, there is no way we can start looking for funds to aid in the purchase of the iron sheets.
- Evangelism is another problem. The Christians say that at the moment they do not know what to say or how to present the message. Others say it is not their obligation among others. As the preacher I am trying to teach them how to go about it and, hopefully, in the near future they will learn the basics and do the work of the Lord.
- The giving on the Lord’s day is not sufficient to do all, or most, of the church activities, like benevolence among others.
- The distance from the meeting place is also a challenge. This reason was given by one of the dropouts because they do not have enough money to come for worship or bible class on Sunday and Friday respectively.
Future Plans
- To solve the problem of worship house, the plan is to build a worship house of about 15 X 30.
- Continue praying with members on personal evangelism.
- To set up a “bread basket” where members contribute food or money twice a year according to the harvest seasons. We have also set up a group where members contribute 4000 monthly as a savings to be used by individual Christians in times of need. A Christian can put in more than the standard 4000, so far so good.
NAHAYAKA CHURCH OF CHRIST
CHURCH REPORT
Wandera Peter and John Ndiang’u
This is Nahayaka church Christ report since I started worshiping from there. We were two preachers there, but eventually he left me alone there having been sent to another congregation.
As we were two preachers there we found four people, and as my fellow preacher left me there we were altogether 7 people. The number grew from 7 to 8 people excluding children, when children are there we are 11. Therefore, the number of men were 3 people, the number of women was 4, and the number of children was 4.
Number of Dropouts and Restorations:
Since I started worshiping from there, in June 2012, there has been 7 dropouts and no restorations.
Monthly Contribution
The monthly contribution varies from month to month depending on the weekly contribution which is an average of 6,000/=. Therefore the monthly contribution is used up by Mzee Nalyali.
Baptisms per year:
Right from 2012 up-to-date there has been no baptism carried out since that period.
Challenges:
Just like any other congregation in the world, the church of Christ in Nahayaka faces various challenges that include the following:
- There is lack of Church building: The church is congregating at Mzee Nalyali’s house which is hindering other people to come in to continue with the service, thus hinders church growth.
- There is lack of enough evangelist: This problem is hindering church growth because of one preacher who is not able to carry out all the church activities, yet the few members available after leaving on the Lord’s day go until the coming week and, therefore, is leading the church to fall down.
- Distance covered: This problem is hindering church growth because during holidays it is becoming difficult to travel from home to go there to carry out evangelism and hence leading to church to fall down.
- The giving on the Lord’s day is insufficient: This problem is hindering church because the amount contributed cannot work for all church activities, and beside that, whatever is contributed ends up being used by Mzee Nalyali to complete his problem.
Future Plans
The future plan made to solve the above out coming is that, first of all, there is need to put up a church building outside Mzee Nalyali’s family because this will encourage other people to come especially those who fear to come in Mzee’s house.