Discipleship Training Institute
Reply
Category Archives: Updates
Phases of Ministry: Planting, Parenting, Partnering
There are different phases of ministry. Missionary pioneers begin with the Planting phase: proclaiming the gospel, making disciples, and planting new churches. In the late 1970s, CMF was kicked out of Ethiopia by the new communist dictatorship. Some of the CMF-Ethiopia team came to Kenya, starting pioneering church planting work among the unreached Maasai and Turkana. When we affiliated with CMF in 2003, the ministry had reached the Parenting phase. As a result of CMF’s work, today there are strong churches in both Kenya and Ethiopia.
Moreover, our team is blessed to have entered the Partnering phase of ministry with the Community Christian Churches of Kenya. At the end of 2015, there were 201 congregations. As of this writing (April 2016), there are at least three new church plants for a total of 204.
Check out this short and exciting video, in which our teammate Joe Cluff explains what’s going on:
chewin’ the news
What’s not to smile about?
For some of our latest news, please read our October newsletter (.pdf format, with more pictures).
Note: the update should be printed on legal size, rather than standard, paper. If you need to print a copy, let us know and we can share a version with larger resolution images.
…
Calvince Ochieng, elder of the CCC congregation in the Raila community in the Kibera slum, with a copy of “Kujilisha” (at our home in Matasia)
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
Shalviah Tzadika
Shalviah Tzadika arrived at home on 22 January 2015. Shalviah means “the peace of the LORD” or “the shalom of Yahweh.” Shalom refers to peace in relationships: not just an absence of strife and discord, but personal and familial wellness and wholeness. This is truly that “peace which passes understanding” (Philippians 4.7) which we are able to experience as the peace of Christ.
Tzadika means “justice” and “righteousness.” Every childish cry of “it isn’t fair!” echoes our longing for justice. These days righteousness seems to be “just a church word,” but it simply means being in right relationships vertically and horizontally. And while there may be “no one righteous” and “no one that does good” (Romans 3.10, 3.12), yet we are clothed in Christ and covered with his righteousness. Just as the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1.7), the righteousness of the Father cleanses us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1.9). So by naming our daughter Tzadika, we are blessing her with this promise.
Shalom and justice/righteousness: it is impossible to fully have one without the other, and impossible to truly have either apart from God. We pray that our Shalviah will be filled with the peace of the Lord that she might bear “the fruits of righteousness” (Philippians 1.11).
Though we address her as “Shalviah” and “Tzadika,” we have also given her a nickname, Shamirah. This name means “protection” as well as “guardian” or “protector” (it is the feminine form of “Shomer”). We recognize that both peace and justice/righteousness provide protection. We also know that each must be carefully guarded. So we pray that Shalviah’s heart will be forever protected (Proverbs 4.23; Philippians 4.7), that the peace of the Lord will guard her and that she will grow up to be one who protects justice/righteousness and peace.
Our older children had a role in naming their new sister, discussing options with us at length. Alitzah read through a long list of names, with their meanings, suggesting possibilities. While we were reviewing the short list, when Eliana grasped the meaning of Shalviah, she said, “That should be one of her names, because she is a very peaceful baby.” It is true. We also pray that these names both reflect and form her character.
(In case you’ve forgotten or never known, these are the nicknames for our other children:
Alitzah is Tzitzah
Hannah Gail is Shoshannah & also Kanara
Eliana is Tzahala & also Ailona
Zerachiah is Shomer
Ahaviah is Zemirah
Have you ever wondered why we named our other children as we did?)
Oh, and for those of you who will want to know:
She arrived at 7:23 pm and weighed about 7 lbs. The following day with a more precise scale she weighed 3.1 kg (6 lbs 13.28 oz) and measured 52 cm long (20.5 in). Our lovely midwife was here to assist. Of course, Shalviah is beautiful.
peace and righteousness,
joshua & ruth,
alitzah + hannah gail + eliana + zerachiah + ahaviah + shalviah
2014 Ministry Update
We missionaries are often asked to describe our typical day. That may be the hardest question we’re ever asked. We tend to have multiple responsibilities in multiple locations and vocational ministry can be full of surprises. But we do understand why the question is asked. So since it has been awhile since we’ve shared a general ministry summary about our day-to-day and month-to-month work, we thought it might be helpful to some of you for us to do that. So if you’re interested, please read our update here.
Discipleship Training School reborn
One of many baptisms that came about from the ministry of the DTS students this year.
Emaisisi Olaitoriani lang!
“Let us all praise our Lord together!”
We have some wonderful news to share with you about the ministry among the Maasai, especially concerning the Discipleship Training School (DTS). Read the full update here. We are also in the process of putting together a website just for the DTS. We will let you know when that is available.
(If you prefer a “reader’s digest” version, a shorter DTS update is also available.)
Joshua teaching at DTS
Or, if you prefer, the “reader’s digest” version is available here.
If you are interested in partnering with the DTS, visit cmfi.org/jrbarron to learn more.
Moloi Nkurma
On our way to Olepishet (all seven of us) for the DTS graduation this past weekend, we stayed the night at the CCC / CMF training center in Ewaso Ng’iro. While there, we had an opportunity to meet with Moloi ole Nkurma, our brother in the Lord and one of our three primary co-workers for our children’s curriculum development projects. (The others are Jackson La Sang’urukuri, a Samburu, and Harrison Kyalo, a Kamba; Moloi is Maasai.) He is currently working on a Masters’ degree in child development and truly has a heart for the children of Kenya. His day job is as a teacher of the children in some of the programs at the center.
He is currently on sick leave, however, from his work and his studies. At first he was diagnosed with anemia, but no treatments seemed to help. A week or so ago, he had a colonoscopy, and the doctors found some sort of problem. On May 27th, he will be checking into the Tenwick Hospital for some type of surgery. Please pray not only for our work together, but also pray for the restored health of this faithful ministry partner.
Elijah Moloi ole Nkurma has three children. Here he is with David, who is four, just like our son Zerachiah, who was impressed that his new friend had the same name (was a “paarna” with) as that David who slew Goliath.
training in Bible, training in ministry, training in life
We love to share good news. Sometimes we are more hesitant to share struggles. So today I want to take the time to share one of our larger discouragements in ministry, though I have good news to end with.
A number of years ago (before we arrived in Kenya in January 2007), CMF founded Narok Bible Training Institute (NBTI) as a venue to train elders, pastors, and other church leaders in the churches we were planting among the Maasai. NBTI died, and so we buried it. While NBTI was in its death throes — or perhaps just quietly fading away, a CMF colleague of ours was laboring with some Maasai church leaders to establish what became MIEA (Mission Institute East Africa), which had a top-notch curriculum (better than many American bible colleges) and a wonderful missions emphasis. Alas, MIEA was slain. Or, at least, mortally wounded and then left to die. All of this was as frustrating and as discouraging as you might think (none more so than for said colleague). A big part of these ministry deaths came from apathy among the CCC churches and even resistance on the part of a few church leaders. The only good news was that in the far northern deserts, TBTI (Turkana Bible Training Institute) was still going strong.
Long story short (you can read some more of the details on our updated Ministries page), the resulting dearth of ministerial training opportunities for the Maasai believers began to finally be felt. Maasai churches and church leaders began to recognize the need for their church leaders, elders, pastors, and teachers to receive quality training and discipleship to equip them for their ministries. Maasai church leaders began to push CMF to help them renew a ministry of the types lost. For our part, we pretty much refused to start something new. On the other hand, we let them know that we would joyfully assist them in whatever ways possible in anything that they began.
Steam began to build. In 2012, CCC church leaders sitting in a meeting with two CMF missionaries demonstrated a desire to go forward and a willingness to step forward. In that meeting, they requested that I (Joshua) should be the one to lead in helping with that task. The CCC churches formed a committee or task force and appointed me to chair it. While we were on furlough, our teammate Joe Cluff took over for me. A uniform curriculum for CCC Bible Training Institutes (just TBTI at that point) was set, the membership of the committee changed a bit, and the CCBTI (Community Christian Bible Training Institute) is in the process of being born. TBTI is the first campus. The church leaders on the steering committee of the KTC (Kajiado Training Center) in Ng’atataek contacted the CCBTI committee and asked for help to establish another branch campus, KBTI (Kajiado Bible Training Institute). The KTC committee has been meeting together with three reps from the CCBTI committee. If the Lord wills, KBTI classes will begin in January 2015. Better still: the KBTI budget is (at least on paper) self-sustaining and will not require the large financial subsidies needed by NBTI, TBTI, and MIEA. Seven of the KTC committee members have said they will be among the first KBTI students, and they are willing to pay the higher fees necessary for the KBTI budget to be met. Mourning endured but for a night (okay, it was a long night), but joy came in the morning!
Pray with us that in January 2015 a new morning really will dawn for CCBTI & KBTI and, indeed, all of the CCC churches.
The March 2014 NAM (“National Advisory Ministry”) meeting in Ng’ataek, which met the day after the KTC-CCBTI meeting, with some of the same participants. (I forgot to pull out my camera at the first meeting.) The other two white guys are my teammates. You’ll also note my little six year old daugher, “Naure” (she-who-is-shy, in Maa). Eliana was very happy to come to the bush with Daddy for a few days, just her. She was not shy until the camera came out.
166 and counting …
As of last month, there are one hundred and sixty-six CCC congregations in Kenya. (These include missionary-planted churches together with their daughter and granddaughter churches). While concentrated among the Maasai and Turkana, these congregations are spread across 9 regional districts and represent at least seven tribes in addition to the Maasai and Turkana among whom CMF began our church planting ministries.
They are organized into 27 geographical clusters for mutual support and cooperation. This number does NOT include many teaching and preaching points. It also does not yet include congregations which Turkana missionaries are striving to plant in unreached areas of the Turkana desert. It DOES include four congregations inside of Tanzania, which have been planted by churches in a cluster adjacent to the border. (Maasai land is artificially divided by the Kenya-Tanzania border.)
Praised be to our Lord for these many Kenyan co-ministers of reconciliation with Christ Jesus!
.
[These churches are known as “CCC” or “Community Christian Church.”]
Home & Homesick
We’ve been “home” in America since April … and consequently, we are homesick for our home and life in Kenya. Being able to reconnect with family and supporters has been great, but we also miss our life and work in Kenya.
To read more of our adventures, both stateside and in Kenya, see our latest update.
.
Oh, the mailed update included a nifty fridge magnet. So if you’re on our mailing list, start checking your mailboxes later this week. For the rest of you, here’s a digital copy.
