Africa 2010 - Kisumu

February 10, 2010

We flew out on the third day to the working town of Kisumu, on the shores of Lake Victoria (interesting factoid – Lake Victoria is huge, 2nd largest freshwater lake in the world). After the typical small hop jet flight, we landed at a tiny little airport where our bags were taken out and carted to the chainlink fence we were standing by. The waiting area was a covered concrete porch structure. Bishop Paul, a dear friend to Malcolm, and soon to be mine as well, met us with his lovely wife Rose. They picked us up and took us to our hotel, Kiboko Bay (famous for its hippos – Kiboko in Swahili means “hippo”). It was a lovely stay and every day we were refreshed by the water off of Lake Victoria and the fantastic staff.

Bishop Paul oversees several churches and in the morning, he took us to his primary church near his house, in the slums of Kisumu (the Lelonga district), to the “Revival of Salvation Ministries” church. It is a fair sized building, with dirt floors, corrugated steel roof and walls. It seats about 100 or so Kenyan souls with a concrete pad for a stage. The first thing I felt was that these are my Kenyan brothers and sisters – and the Lord loves his church. It was to be my amazing experience that these desperately poor people (majority living below the poverty line of $2 US per day) were wealthy in spirit and grace. We were received with honor and dignity and treated like family. Several times, there was worship, in an authentic Kenyan/Swahili style that was rhythmic, chanting, and utterly praising of the Living God. I was so deeply moved to be in among them, bald head, pasty white kid from the Pacific Northwest, Washington. As I was to learn along this trip, perhaps the greatest natural resource that Kenya has is an indomitable devoted Christian Spirit. It is palpable, transformational, and life-giving.

We taught about Stewardship in Kisumu for 3 days, the first session being for 40+ pastors, who came in specially to hear what we had to say. These are men and women who are actively laying down their lives for their little, or big, flocks. It was an honor to be among them. The next two days we were in the church speaking to both the church folks plus pastors who came in from all around the Kisumu area (and were staying with people from the church). It was incredibly hot inside the steel-roofed church, I had to keep a fan on my laptop and the projector. But the electricity kept up, the preaching kept on, and we drank lots of water.
The main lesson for our African brothers and sisters about Stewardship is Faith, Sacrifice, Success. Many travelling preachers and westerners will come in and try to impress them, or admonish them, then leave. Our mission and calling was to teach that which the Lord had asked us to preach- that their relationship to the Lord, with regard to business, is personal, intentional, and sacrificial. And in fact, that the way out of poverty is not to allow themselves to get into the ever-widening trap of donations by outsiders, but rather by sacrificing of their own resources into their common good (local business, local church, local shared efforts) and to listen to His leading. We were there to help convey some of the very basics of business, but more than anything to encourage their spirits in the resources and value around them, that can be leveraged to feed their own families and communities. This is not something that has never been preached and Malcolm did a great job engaging the communities in the message. Indeed, the reception by the pastors, business people, and congregations was touching.

Lord – allow this seed to grow, that your people might increase in health, in spirit, in prosperity in learning to shrewdly apply your resources so that they might not only simply live, but might transform their very identities. From identities of poverty, to identities of God-Directed Stewards applying existing resources and energy to the benefit of your church and communities.