Is Living on the Mission Field a Death Wish?
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is church planting.
June 25, 2018
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Question: Is doing mission work and living on the mission field a death wish? I have to wonder if it is. I don’t know how I ever leave my house in my car or on my motorbike and return alive. The unwritten rule of the road in Kenya is if you are bigger than the other vehicle then you have the right of way. That means when I’m on my motorbike, other cars will deliberately pull out in front of me or deliberately use my lane to drive in, forcing me off the road. At other times, when I’m in my car, motorbikes will dart in and around me, missing me or oncoming traffic by mere inches, forcing me to brake hard in order not to kill them. Pedestrians step out right in front of me. Cows, sheep, goats, chickens, baboons, and zebras all use the same road as me.
And then there is malaria, e bola, typhoid, amoebae, and all the other microscopic critters that share our living space. Fortunately, we don’t have to worry too much about the bigger critters like snakes, crocodiles, lions, hyenas, or hippopotamus. They are around, some farther away (like crocodiles, lions, hyenas, and hippopotamus), some nearer (like snakes), but we don’t really concern ourselves with them.
And, you know, every long-term missionary can say they know at least one other missionary who has died in an airplane crash. Well, up until this month I didn’t know of any. I can’t say that anymore. And that is what is causing me to reflect upon this subject so much in this newsletter. If you keep an eye on international news you might have noticed earlier this month that a small plane carrying eight passengers and two crew members went down in Kenya this past month, killing all those on board. It went down in the Aberdare Mountains, requiring two days for rescue workers to even find it and arrive at the crash site. As I said, nobody survived. Normally when we hear about plane crashes we think “well, those things happen” and we feel bad for those who have died. But this plane crash was VERY, VERY personal to us here in Kitale. You see, this plane was THE VERY PLANE that goes from Kitale to Nairobi every day. We only get one scheduled flight from Kitale to Nairobi every day and this was “our” plane that went down. We have all ridden it. Julie and I have ridden it many times. My parents have ridden it. Other of our guests have ridden it. Amy and Josiah have ridden it a couple of times already just this year (2018) when going back to school. Any of us could have been on that plane. We thank God that none of our family was flying on that plane on that particular day. When we heard about the crash, Julie and I looked at each other and wondered what were the chances that we DIDN’T know somebody on that plane. The chances were good that we did. And as it turned out I did have friends on that plane. Two of our missionary community were on that flight and were taken home to glory: Zechariah, a missionary from Fiji that I did not know very well, and Ron, a missionary from the States and a good friend of mine. It is incredulous to me that Ron is gone and that he left in this way. I was supposed to have coffee with him just before I left for the States but he had to cancel and I didn’t see him. Then we were to get together after I returned to Kenya but then he was killed in the crash. Now I will never see him again.
I guess we missionaries are all aware of the fact that we could die on the mission field. Obviously, none of wants to have to pay that ultimate sacrifice for the work of God, but we all know it could happen. I kept thinking over and over again that my kids could very well have been on that flight. Any other day and they may have been. We place ourselves in God’s hands and pray for safety, accepting the risks and knowing that our God is big enough to take of us. And if He does allow bad things to happen we also believe that He is big enough to also work that out to our good and His glory. So, is doing mission work and living on the mission field a death wish? Definitely.
Rest in peace, Ron, and worship in the presence of your Savior.
Until next month, beloved.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
For the glory of God in East Africa,
Roger & Julie Tate (and Amy, Josiah & Chloe)
rojuta[at]gmail.com
Visit their blog!
For ministry donations:
Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer of BFM
P.O. Box 471280
Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280
or click here to donate to BFM online.
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Encouraged by a Stateside Visit
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is church planting.
May 21, 2018
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Living on the road and out of a suitcase. Yes, that has been my life of late. I just left my latest overnight stay, stopped in at a health service provider for an x-ray on my knee and now I’m sitting in a Starbucks, accompanying my newsletter with a nice cup of coffee.
In case you hadn’t guessed I am actually in the United States, not in Kenya (still no Starbucks in Kenya). My trip back is a short one and also one done without the rest of my family. I am here for one month only, seeing loved ones and visiting my home church in Bellbrook, Ohio. And the family is not with me for two reasons: 1) Amy and Josiah are in school and 2) We still are not able to travel outside of Kenya with Chloe. So, Julie, Amy, Josiah and Chloe are all back in Kenya, facing Kenyan challenges without my help. It seems like every time one or all of us are facing a trip back to the States that Satan attacks extra hard. Among many other problems that arose right around the time of my leaving Kenya, I arrived in Detroit and stepped off the plane only to be immediately informed that Julie was very ill and in a hospital back in Kenya. Hearing something like that can get you anxious right away, knowing that your wife is sick and you are ten thousand miles away and helpless to help her. Fortunately, we have good friends in Kitale who were able to look after Julie and Chloe in my absence. And, thankfully, Julie recovered rather quickly even though her care at the hospital was somewhat lacking in quality.
It has been a joy to be Stateside and to see my parents, my daughter and son-in-law and other loved ones. My time has already gone by so quickly and I leave for Kenya in one week. It was also a joy to worship with my home church, Emmanuel Baptist in Bellbrook. Thank you, Lord, for the faithfulness of your people; thank you that I can be gone for years and come back and find them still here, still worshiping you, still loving Jesus, still following your ways; thank you for their rock-steadiness, for their commitment to your Word, for their desire to glorify you; thank you, Lord, that in the midst of a hostile, anti-Christian world, they haven’t quit or given up or ruined their Christian testimony; thank you, Lord, for their love of me and my family.
Please continue to pray for our Kenyan ministry. While I am here friends are at work for me back in Kenya. We still need a place to worship. We need some finances. We need open doors. We need faith and courage. We need grace. We need the power of the Holy Spirit. We need Jesus in a big way. One of the biggest encouragements of being in the States is the multitude of people that have come up to me and said the following: “I pray for you and your family every day”. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard those exact words, even from people that I don’t even know by name. I certainly don’t deserve such love and support from you all, but I can’t even begin to express how much I appreciate and need it. Blessings to you all.
Until next month, beloved.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
For the glory of God in East Africa,
Roger & Julie Tate (and Amy, Josiah & Chloe)
rojuta[at]gmail.com
Visit their blog!
For ministry donations:
Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer of BFM
P.O. Box 471280
Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280
or click here to donate to BFM online.
Read more
Brief Visit to the States; Pray for Church Planting Plans
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is church planting.
April 24, 2018
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I am sitting in my office on the eve of a long journey. Tomorrow morning, I head to the bus station and take the eight-hour trip to Nairobi followed by my two-day plane ride from Nairobi to the States. I haven’t been to the United States for couple of years now and the last time I was there it was a short visit of only a month to attend Emily’s wedding. So, in the last four years I have spent exactly two months in the States. I am beginning to forget what it feels like to be there and I’m wondering what kinds of changes I will notice. I am sorry that I will not be able to see most of you this time around either as I will only be in the States for, again, one month. Julie and I still are not able to leave Kenya together because we still are not able to travel with Chloe and we do not wish to leave her here without us. So, for this trip I will be mostly in Michigan (where family lives) and Ohio (where my church family is) with short trips to Indiana and Kentucky thrown in. Please be in more prayer for Julie than for me during this month. I will be busy and will be “back home” while she will be left in Kenya to fend for herself. Believe me, it is very difficult to remain in Kenya while your spouse is traveling back to the States. And to pour on more suffering for her we just today had one of our beloved cats killed by the neighbors’ dogs. This was very bad timing indeed with me leaving tomorrow morning. Please pray for Julie and Amy, as she was Amy’s cat. Even now I am waiting until school is out at RVA so that I can call Amy and tell her. My poor Amy. There will be many tears.
Well, I did NOT accomplish the one thing I wanted to do before I left for the States tomorrow. As I have reported in past newsletters, I am wanting to start a church and be the pastor of that church and lead that church to worship and know God. I have been searching and searching for a place in town to rent so that we would have a centrally located place to meet. Everything I was finding in town was either too expensive (usually the case), badly located, too small or otherwise not conducive to starting a church. I had finally found a location that I thought would work. Even though I was not entirely thrilled with the location I thought it would work fine for what I wanted and the price was low enough that I could afford it. I wanted to get the room reserved and arranged before I left for the States so that when I returned I could begin trying to start the new church in earnest. When I went back to rent the room and sign the papers, “Kenya bit me”. OK, Kenya didn’t actually bite me (as you probably guessed). But I say “Kenya bit me” because when I went to actually rent the room the owner doubled the price! I guess his original price was meant to lure me in and snag me. All the same, it was very disappointing and discouraging to once again be foiled in this way. I have explained the situation to a couple of my Kenyan friends and they are now going to bat for me. They have told me that they will be looking for a place in my absence while I am in the States. They have also told me that they would be willing to do the negotiating for a price and that it would be best to let them handle it and for me to stay out of it (to not even let it be known that I will actually be the one renting the place until the time comes to sign the papers). I am glad for these Kenyan friends who are willing to look out for me and who want help me out as best as they can, knowing the culture and the situation in Kitale. Friends, all I want is to start a church that will glorify the Lord Jesus Christ, expand his kingdom here in Kenya and shine the light of the gospel into the hearts of the beloved Kenyan people. May God accomplish that to his glory.
Until next month, beloved.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
For the glory of God in East Africa,
Roger & Julie Tate (and Amy, Josiah & Chloe)
rojuta[at]gmail.com
Visit their blog!
For ministry donations:
Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer of BFM
P.O. Box 471280
Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280
or click here to donate to BFM online.
Read more
The Teacher Learning from Students
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is church planting.
February 27, 2018
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
As usual I was doing a lot of Bible teaching this month to some of my Pastoral/Theological students. Consider the vast difference between me and my students. I have been studying the Bible in depth for decades. Most of my students have limited study of the Bible. I have a college education and years of theological training. None of my students have this. I grew up in sound churches with access to inexpensive religious resources like books, radio, music, etc. I have a large (comparatively speaking) library of theological resources. For most of my students, just to buy a study Bible would cost half a month’s salary and books are a luxury few of them can afford. At my fingertips I have access to the whole world of the internet: I can stay up to date on current theological and religious trends (although I usually don’t); I can access an unlimited storehouse of resources and articles, lessons, charts and diagrams; I can search Google for all the insane and heretical things people are saying and teaching around the world. Most of my students have no access to a computer, couldn’t type even if they had one, think Google must be some strange American food that no Kenyan in his right mind would eat, and are still using what my son Josiah calls a “brick phone” – i.e., a phone that can call and text but has no access to the internet. The bottom line is that I have a lot I can teach them. Now, some of you may be thinking that Missionary Roger is getting all prideful and vain. But that isn’t at all what this newsletter is about. It’s actually the opposite and it’s humbling to me because my students also have much they can teach to me. This became quite clear to me through a couple of conversations I had with my students. I will relate them briefly here because they taught me much and they may also hold some instruction for you, my readers, as well.
I was talking to one of my South Sudanese students. He asked me: “Mwalimu (teacher), do you have a gun”? (PLEASE NOTE: My relating this conversation has nothing to do with politics or the debate over gun control or anything remotely like it. I have no idea what your opinion or persuasion is on the topic and you don’t know mine. I am relating this conversation for a completely different purpose). I said, “No, Majok (his name), I do not have a gun. Do you”? “Oh, yes, Mwalimu, I have a gun. I have a Kalashnikov (an AK-47)”, he said. “Majok, why do you have a Kalashnikov?”, I asked. He responded, “Mwalimu, I take my gun to church with me and I put it in the pulpit when I preach so that when the raiders come I can quickly pull it out and defend my people and the raiders won’t kill us and burn our church building to the ground”. Now, whether you think this is the right approach or the wrong approach to the problem is up to you, but here is what this conversation taught me: The cost of discipleship and following Jesus is high! Followers of Jesus around the world must count the cost to follow him and love Him. Some will pay with their property or their lives. Are we willing to pay such a price? Majok, who would probably fail my class for lack of knowledge if I wasn’t gracious in my grading, has much to teach us.
Tukomoi is another of my students. He is intelligent and tries hard but has practically no educational background. He also would fail my class if I wasn’t gracious and take into account the fact that he can barely read or write. This is what Tukomoi related to me: “Mwalimu, I grew up in the ‘bush’, completely naked, raiding cattle, killing enemy tribesmen and ritualistically drinking cows blood for strength and power. When I was 17 years old I came across a primitive church building with a worship service going on inside. I went up to the window and curiously looked inside. The preacher was saying these words – ‘For God sent his only begotten Son into the world that whoever should believe on Him should not perish but have everlasting life’. The preacher saw me staring in the window and said, ‘You, boy, come in here and sit down’. I went in and sat down and listened to the message of God’s love and His Son. At the end of the message the preacher invited us all to come and to trust Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Something inside of me said to go forward and pray to God’s Son, Jesus, to save me and cleanse me from my sin. I went forward and trusted in Jesus as my Savior. Now you are talking to a reformed warrior”. My conversation with Tukomoi was stunning. I wished I had recorded it. It taught me the power of the gospel to change a life. It taught me how awesome God is and that God’s Word does not return to him empty but it transforms even the murderous sinner by His grace.
The transformation of lives and the glory of God is what our work for Jesus is all about. May these conversations bless, uplift and instruct all of us this month.
Until next month, beloved.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
For the glory of God in East Africa,
Roger & Julie Tate (and Amy, Josiah & Chloe)
rojuta[at]gmail.com
Visit their blog!
For ministry donations:
Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer of BFM
P.O. Box 471280
Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280
or click here to donate to BFM online.
Read more
Staying Busy Teaching Classes at the Pastor’s College
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is church planting.
January 30, 2018
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I want to start this newsletter by thanking all of you who are reading this. It is through your prayers and your support that we are in Kenya, ministering the Word of God into people’s lives, helping people to know and follow Jesus and working to expand His kingdom here on earth. We do not take you all for granted and we know our work here is not possible without all of you on our side. We know that the work goes forward and the Word of God is ministered only through the power of the Holy Spirit but we also know that God uses His people in the work and that we are partnering with you in this work of the kingdom of Christ here in Kenya. Oh, and how Kenya needs the kingdom of Christ these days, especially today. Politically I don’t know what is going to happen in Kenya. This very day (I don’t know what time), the “opposition” party leader is going to have himself sworn in as the president of Kenya, even though he lost the election twice. This action is being considered treason against Kenya and is punishable by the death penalty. I am hoping and praying that all of this does not result in total chaos, rioting and death for the Kenyan people. The election fiasco has already caused great economic hardship and the last thing the Kenyan people need is any rioting and bloodshed. When you think of it, please say a prayer for Kenya in the proceeding days.
The month of January was an extremely busy month for me. After returning Amy and Josiah to school I worked frantically to finish preparing for two week-long classes I would teach later in the month at the Pastor’s college. The first class was Old Testament Wisdom and Poetic Literature (Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon). I don’t know how many pages in the Bible that is but that’s a total of 244 chapters of the Bible. In other words, it’s a lot of material to cover in one week and many of my students had never even read some of these books before coming to class. Well, now they have read them and studied them as much as possible in a week’s time. Kenya desperately needs learned, discipled and trained pastors and the Scriptures are designed to, as Proverbs says, make sages out of the simple (including myself and Americans, not just Kenyans). My students are so eager to learn and it is indeed my prayer that they become Biblical sages. My second class was Daniel and Revelation. These are not easy Biblical books to understand. This material is quite advanced especially considering that for a few of my students this was their very first class at the school. Not only was this advanced material, and not only was it the first class for some of them but they also had to listen to my American accent and my American English. Bottom line, it was a challenging class but also a necessary one. Just to give you an idea of the challenges, consider this: Now I don’t know your eschatological view nor your political position but some of my students had been taught that the Beast of Revelation 13 is the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. They had been taught this because apparently the license plate of the presidential limousine has “The Beast” on it. Ha, Ha! Some of you may agree with that interpretation. However, since that is not an altogether Biblically sound method of interpretation, this class was a necessity for my students. I was glad to show them how to seriously investigate the Scriptures themselves and to seek through the help of the Holy Spirit to understand their meaning.
I have another class to teach in February, but I have taught it before and it does not require for me a lot of preparation time. With some of these other tasks behind me now, I hope to press forward in my plans for the new church.
Until next month, beloved.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
For the glory of God in East Africa,
Roger & Julie Tate (and Amy, Josiah & Chloe)
rojuta[at]gmail.com
Visit their blog!
For ministry donations:
Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer of BFM
P.O. Box 471280
Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280
or click here to donate to BFM online.
Read more
Pointing Kenyans to Jesus
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is church planting.
December 21, 2017
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I don’t know when you all will receive this newsletter but as I am writing it we are only four days away from Christmas. This may sound absurd, but I miss the snow like crazy. I love the snow – the beauty of it, the cold of it, the way it changes almost everything about your daily lives when you get a lot of it. I want to put on a heavy coat and gloves, trudge through the snow to my car, feel the bite of the cold on my face, scrape the ice off my window, hope my car starts, drive through the snow to a coffee house, see big flakes of snow falling from the sky, watch people tread carefully over a slippery parking lot and drink a hot cup of coffee while the snow piles up outside. This missionary truly misses the change of seasons. Changes of seasons mark the passage of time. Without them one day seems to run into another for me around here.
As you are, we are awaiting Christmas here in Kitale. It doesn’t look or feel much different than the rest of the year, except in one area – going to town gets crazy. It is chaos. I took Amy to town yesterday to help her buy a 5×7 picture frame. There were cars and people everywhere, glue boys and street people accosted us at every turn, I was grabbed and held by at least two different people who “wanted to greet me”, loud speakers blared music and advertisements from every corner and Amy received one marriage proposal. However, we could not find a single 5×7 frame anywhere in town.
Amy and Josiah are home from school for the holidays. As a result, I haven’t had time to do as much ministry tasks this month. We only have them home a total of three months out of the year. After this Christmas Amy only has one more Christmas in Kenya with us. After that she will be gone to the States and who knows when we will spend Christmas with her again. Josiah only has two Christmases left and then he too will follow Emily and Amy to the States. This is a very difficult aspect of missionary life for Julie and me. We see on Facebook the families gathering together for Christmas. We had to abandon that practice when we moved to Kenya ten years ago, but it becomes even more painful when we think that in just a couple of years none of our older children will be able to join us for Christmas. So, I’ve been trying to spend as much time with them as possible while they are home. I’ve played games with Josiah and drank coffee with Amy. Today we will decorate Christmas cookies and wrap presents. The time is short.
Time is short for the lost of this world too. Jesus came into this world two thousand years ago. We celebrate that birth during this season. He came to redeem. He came to save. He came to reconcile sinners to God. He came to offer Himself as the sacrifice for our sins. That is why we are here in Kenya. Not that we can do any of those things that Jesus came here to do. But we can point people to Jesus. We can say “Look at Him”. And that is what we are trying to do, to point more Kenyans to Jesus. May all of Kenya see the glory of Jesus this Christmas season.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
For the glory of God in East Africa,
Roger & Julie Tate (and Amy, Josiah & Chloe)
rojuta[at]gmail.com
Visit their blog!
For ministry donations:
Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer of BFM
P.O. Box 471280
Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280
or click here to donate to BFM online.
Read more
Looking and Praying for an Ideal Location in Kitale
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is church planting.
November 28, 2017
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
When I wrote to you last month I began to outline some ministry changes that are in process here in Kitale. Specifically, I mentioned how I am being led by God to start a new church here in Kitale and how I feel I should pastor and lead the church myself until God directs otherwise. Also, I mentioned my most immediate prayer request. Do you remember what that was? I hope you not only remember it but that you have indeed been praying fervently about it. Well, in case you have forgotten, I revealed that my most immediate prayer request was for a place and location in which to begin the worship, the ministry and the church. I still need for you to be in prayer concerning this matter.
I have been searching for a place, but I have not yet discovered the “ideal” location. I have been able to find a few places, but they have not worked out for various reasons (either they were not affordable or they were not conducive locations to starting a church). Since I am asking you to pray about this, let me give you a few details about my “ideal” location. First, I would like a location either directly in town or very close to town. There are a lot of people that live near town in all directions and I would like a centrally located place that people can get to and not have to travel long distances. Second, I want a location that is easy to find. Most roads in Kitale have no names and definitely no signs. It can be very challenging directing people to a place where you want them to go. You have to say “turn left at the gas station; follow that dirt road until it dead ends; turn right; go to the roundabout and take the third left; after a half a kilometer that road will curve around near a big tree; After the tree there will be a small path on the right; there are usually sheep there but not always; take that path and pass four other paths on the right; turn right at the fifth path; that path dead ends into a big open field; at the end of the field is a big rock; take the drive way to the left of that rock; at the end of the driveway is a black gate; that’s our compound”. Can you see how cumbersome, clunky and confusing this can be? I want to be able to say something like “we’re in the Ambwere Plaza, third floor”. With those seven words I could describe to anybody in Kitale where we are and everyone would immediately recognize it. Third, I want a place that is relatively quiet. Kitale town can be an extremely noisy place, even on a Sunday—music blaring from loud speakers, car horns blaring, hammering construction sounds, loud commotions, etc. If I’m preaching I don’t want to have to shout over these sounds and obviously, I want people to hear what I’m saying.
Whether this “ideal” and affordable location can be found or not, I don’t know. Through a local friend I did find one place that, if God works it out, would probably be an amazing place. It is very near to town, easy to find, has an extremely large room for meeting in, has bathroom facilities, other small rooms for Sunday School and is on its own compound. IT’S ACTUALLY THE MASONIC TEMPLE IN KITALE! Yes, that’s right, the Masonic Temple. The Masons no longer meet here in Kitale and the building is not being used. My local friend continues to pay the upkeep of the compound and feels like he’s wasting his money. He wants to lease the building out but doesn’t want to lease it to a night club or other organization that would destroy the property. He wants to lease it to me, but the decision is not his alone. I don’t know if this building will work out or not, but it would be interesting if God works out all the details for us. My only concern would be if Kenyans would want to meet there or if they would feel like it was “taboo”.
I will continue looking. You all please continue praying.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
For the glory of God in East Africa,
Roger & Julie Tate (and Amy, Josiah & Chloe)
rojuta[at]gmail.com
Visit their blog!
For ministry donations:
Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer of BFM
P.O. Box 471280
Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280
or click here to donate to BFM online.
Read more
Pursuing a Different Approach
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is indigenous church planting.
October 31, 2017
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
This is going to be an exciting yet challenging update to write. It will be exciting because of the news I will be revealing but it will be challenging to present all I want to say to you in a short update. I obviously cannot express everything you need to know or all that is in my mind in this short letter. However, here goes.
After spending much time in prayer and deep thinking about this subject I believe that God is leading me to pursue a different approach in my ministry here in Kenya. The last few years I have focused on trying to teach and disciple other men to go out into their home villages and to start their own churches – on their own and without much interference from me, the missionary. I have met with very little success in this endeavor. The problems henceforth have been manifold. The biggest problem has been that I have not succeeded in finding motivated men who will be faithful to minister the gospel without payment, salaries or other monetary incentives. Their expectation (which I have documented many times before) is that if they stick with my program then they should be paid a salary of some sort. When their expectations are not met I lose all my students and prospective pastors. The model I was employing was a good one and could still work and should still be pursued but this will not be my main focus in the immediate future. These men must exist but I have not succeeded in finding them.
The other observation I have made in Kitale is that while there are many, many churches in this area, I am finding it extremely difficult to find even one that I would want to attend with my family. The reasons for this are also numerous: 1) I cannot find a church interested in functioning as the body of Christ on earth, that is interested in glorifying God, that is interested in the Great Commission or that is interested in serving the community with the love of Christ. 2) I cannot find a church that will faithfully teach the Word of God. The pastors scream at the people, beg for money and preach little more than a health and wealth gospel. Most passages are wrenched out of context and used in a way to bolster the preacher’s “message”. 3) The worship services are almost unbearable to me. Now, some may blame my dislike of the worship services here on the fact that I’m getting old (which is true) and I’m just a fuddy-duddy (which may or not be true) who doesn’t like contemporary worship. In actuality, I prefer a more modern and contemporary worship service. But the songs here I find untenable. They are loud to the point of being overbearing and painful, they are repetitive to the point of being nauseous and they are mostly meaningless. In short, I can’t find a good church. These churches must exist but I have not succeeded in finding them.
Thus, based upon the difficulties I have had in finding faithful men who will become faithful pastors and the fact that I cannot find a church in the area that I would consider a Spirit-filled, Bible-teaching and Bible-led, God-glorifying congregation, I believe I am being led by God to start one and pastor it myself. Following are my personal Vision and Mission statements:
Vision: To start a local church in Kitale that will function as the body of Jesus Christ in this town
Mission: I want a church that, while it will never be perfect and will always face internal and external challenges, will bring joy and pleasure to God because it desires above all things to love and worship God, to follow the ways and words of Jesus and to spend its time, energy and resources to further the Kingdom of Jesus Christ on this earth.
I have many other things that I have been thinking about and trying to work through as I try to put substance to my prayers and thinking, things such as objectives and strategies for starting this church. I will include some of these things over the next couple of months as I get started with this endeavor so that you all can be informed as to what I’m thinking and what I’m doing.
HERE IS MY MOST IMMEDIATE AND PRESSING PRAYER REQUEST: Please pray that God would lead me to a place where this new church can meet. I have been searching for an ideal (or even not so ideal) place where the church can begin to meet but I am not succeeding in finding a good place. Please make this a matter of diligent prayer on my behalf.
(Post Script: I don’t know what news you receive of Kenya in America but the presidential election here has turned into a carnival, and not a fun carnival but a serious, violent and unpredictable one. The country is like a cauldron on a fire that is about to boil. My concern is that this election drags out for many more months, causing chaos and disruption to the Kenyan people. Please pray for the peace of Kenya.)
Until next month, beloved.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
For the glory of God in East Africa,
Roger & Julie Tate (and Amy, Josiah & Chloe)
rojuta[at]gmail.com
Visit their blog!
For ministry donations:
Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer of BFM
P.O. Box 471280
Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280
or click here to donate to BFM online.
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