“We don’t look like that anymore” In Kenya, seminar addresses contemporary issues

Carrie/Donell/Pam Uganda/Kenya February 2019 Trip Report Part II

After a too-brief time in Uganda, Carrie Miles, Donell Peck, Pastor Frank Tweheyo, and Dr. Zablon Mutongu flew to Nairobi, Kenya. Pam Frohreich had flown into Nairobi the day before and was waiting for us at the airport hotel (hooray, there is now a hotel at the airport!).  Kenya is home for Zablon, so we were fortunate to have his sons come to pick us up at the airport and transport us to St. Paul’s University in Limuru, where our next program began the next day. (Remind me in the future to schedule more than one night’s sleep between finishing a program in one country and starting one in another country.)

The program at St. Paul’s was our advanced training (Master Class) for graduates of New Man, New Woman, New Life. Empower at St. Paul’s is growing like crazy, so this trip we held two master classes at the same time to accommodate the demand. As it turned out, however, the participants enjoyed each other so much that they refused to break them into separate groups.  The room was a bit crowded with almost 60 people but we all had a wonderful time regardless.

We start our programs with discussions and information gathering. Here are some ways this group has been using the Bible studies so far: 

It is usually late morning when we hand out the study guide for the master class. That is it at the bottom of this picture: 

An uproar ensued when we handed the books out this time. I could not follow most of the discussion, but a few people strenuously objected to the photo on the cover of the guide: 

“We don’t look like that anymore,” one woman said.  I got a similar objection from a man at Presbyterian University when I showed this photo there: 

 They are right. There is still a great deal of Africa that would be lucky to be as poor as the families in these photos.  However, Nairobi is doing well economically, and the people in this master class do not look like this at all.

For the people in these photos, the Bible studies that comprise New Man, New Woman, New Life challenge their customary cultures and moves them into a Christ-centered family of mutual love and respect. Many of the Christian leaders with whom we work now, however, are dealing with another kind of culture – the moral, sexual, and economic chaos of not the old culture, but of the new one (or lack of one) more typical of the contemporary, economically developed world. In this new world, men and women are not sure if they need each other at all. If there is a dominant family form out there, it is that of a single mother raising her children with a father-figure who is temporary at best. Kenya, like the rest of Africa, India, and other places in the developing world, struggles between the old, customary ways and the new, contemporary deterioration of the family and personally identity.

Thank God, the Bible works in the modern world too. Empower employs the Bible to remove our cultural blinders, old and new, and helps people see each other and God’s intent when he created us for community with each other.

As I listened to this group discuss the issues with which they are dealing, I was really struck by what good people they are. Really, genuinely, good people. I am proud to work with them and trust the future is safe in their hands.

We are so thankful for the support we receive from so many of you. Please continue to pray for our work and support us as God leads. There is more trip report to come! Stay on the lookout for part III.