Teaching Students to Be Better Ministers of Jesus
September 9, 2023
Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ,
If you are reading this report, thank you. Thank you for taking an interest in what we are doing for the Lord in Kenya and for partnering with us for the glory of Jesus and for the spread of His kingdom. I really do appreciate your thoughts, prayers, and support and do not take it for granted, especially today as I not only am struggling with what to write in my report but I’m also struggling in my spirit. There is an anxiousness and strain in my spirit that I cannot explain and a very heavy spiritual and emotional weight that I am carrying today. Because of the inexplicable heaviness in my spirit today, I will remind myself what I am teaching my students in my Pentateuch class and see if it helps me. (An aside here: I had a number of students come to me before classes opened and told me that they were very excited to be in my Pentateuch class. Then they said, “What is the Pentateuch, anyway?” I had to laugh). I have been teaching my students that the Old Testament is the foundation of the New Testament and that it is difficult to comprehend what the New Testament is teaching without the revelation of the Old Testament. The Pentateuch is the foundation of the Old Testament and without it you would have a hard time understanding the rest of the Old Testament. Genesis is the foundation of the Pentateuch and gives us the origins and beginnings of the world, humanity, and God’s relations with humanity. Without Genesis you would have a hard time making sense of the Bible. The Abrahamic Covenant is the engine that drives the book of Genesis and thus, in turn, the Pentateuch, the Old Testament, and the New Testament. And the Abrahamic Covenant reveals the beginning of God’s plan to redeem the nations, to fix the universal problem of sin and rebellion, and to bring eternal blessings to his people. God has a plan – to redeem the nations. God has inaugurated his plan – in the Abrahamic Covenant. God has brought his plan to fruition – through his Messiah and Son, Jesus Christ. God has made his plan effectual in the lives of His people – you, me, and my beloved Kenyan students. Now, I have finished reviewing my initial lessons that I taught my students in my Pentateuch class, but I still am carrying the heavy spiritual weight in my soul. I must now try and have a spirit of thankfulness and gratitude today, in spite of the weight and struggle in my spirit. I know I must not be the only one with such a weight today and so I encourage each of you to also strive for a spirit of thankfulness and gratitude in all the struggles you also are facing today.
The new school year opened last week, and it was good to have all our returning students back on campus. It was also good to see a large batch of fresh, new faces on the brand-new students. Some were fearful, being so young and away from home for the first time in their lives. Others were older, experienced and married, and not as anxious and nervous about their new surroundings. But all are eager to learn the Bible and to love Jesus. In my orientation session for new students, I stressed that while academics is important, gaining knowledge is vital, and they all want good grades, that the real reason they are at our school is to grow in their love and service of Jesus and to learn to become better ministers for God’s people. I told them that our goal at Moffat was that at the end of their tenure at our school that they would be better ministers of Jesus: better at ministering God’s Word, better at serving and loving God’s people, better at pointing people to Jesus, and better at ministering to people’s souls through the Word of God and love of Jesus.
Please be in prayer for the Kenyan people. I don’t really know what the economic situation for all the nations around the world is, but I do know that in Kenya the situation is not good right now. Many people are striving financially, and many families are struggling. I know this is a common and repeated prayer request that I include in my newsletters, and you may be tired of hearing it. But the situation is still one of constant struggle for many families, and I wish that you would fervently pray for the people of Kenya, not just that economic struggles would be relieved but especially that they would know and love Jesus as their Savior.
Blessings to all,
Roger, Julie & Chloe
CONTACT INFO
Roger & Julie Tate
Moffat Bible College
P.O. Box 70
Kijabe, Kenya 00220
rojuta@gmail.com
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
Prepping to Teach Classes in New Term
August 10, 2023
Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ,
I completed my church planting class. It was one my all-time favorite classes to have taught at any level or any capacity. To see the students grow and change in their thinking and perspectives about church planting was a joy and pleasure. Last month I included Paul’s paper on church planting because it brought me such joy to read it myself. I will conclude my church planting class by briefly telling you about Joe (Not his real name. I have changed his name because these letters make their way onto the internet, and I want to protect him). Joe was in my church planting class. He hasn’t graduated yet but when he does graduate, he wants to return to his home country of India. He desires to go to the northernmost part of India where the population is almost one-hundred percent Muslim and Christians are not really allowed. The things we talked about in class will really help him in his endeavor and I pray that God empower him and protect him and that many Muslim people in northern India will hear the gospel and churches will be planted where there are currently no churches.
I am currently on term break from school but that doesn’t mean I am not doing anything. I am busy preparing for my classes for next term: 1) General Principles of Interpretation and 2) The Pentateuch. I have taught General Principles of Interpretation before, so I am just brushing up on that class. I have never taught the Pentateuch before so I am currently immersing myself into the books of Moses so that I can teach it to all these new students. Understanding the first five books of the Bible is crucial for being able to understand the rest of it. Genesis alone is foundation for the rest of the Bible. So, I see this as a very important class.
Julie was teaching computer class last year for elementary students at Rift Valley Academy. It is strange to think that she is teaching at RVA, a place all our kids graduated from and a place we have been so familiar with for the last fifteen years. Anyway, they loved her so much up there that she is now not only going to teach computers in the upcoming year, but she will also be teaching Swahili to the fourth to sixth graders. She is going to be busy, but she likes it. And we both view this as very beneficial ministry and missionary work – She is ministering to children of other missionary families who are working and ministering throughout Africa. As parents who sent all our children to RVA, we know the value and importance of the school. Without it, missionary families around Africa would be finding it very difficult to educate and raise their Missionary Kids.
Finally, for this month, I want to give a quick Chloe update. So far nothing has changed in the adoption situation in the country. We were hoping and praying that the new president would reverse the hiatus on foreign and expatriate adoption. Unfortunately, he has not. He still may reverse it, but it would take a specific mandate for it to change. The current situation won’t just “go away”. In the meantime, Chloe is almost nine years old now. She is currently going through Occupational Therapy at the Kijabe Hospital on a regular basis and has a teacher that comes from Nairobi to help her in her education. She is a sweet, loving girl and while she has a considerable amount of special needs, she is loved by God and us.
Blessings to all,
Roger, Julie, and Chloe
CONTACT INFO
Roger & Julie Tate
Moffat Bible College
P.O. Box 70
Kijabe, Kenya 00220
rojuta@gmail.com
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
Paul’s Church Planting Strategy
July 9, 2023
Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ,
Beloved, as I mentioned in a previous letter, I am currently teaching a Church Planting class to my students. Near the end of the class I asked my students to write a “Church Planting Strategy” in a particular context where they could implement the principles they were learning in the class. For my newsletter this month I want to include one of my students’ Strategy. This is a little longer than I usually put in my newsletter but I truly think you will enjoy it. My student’s name is Paul. He wants to start a church with motorbike taxi riders near his home. His Strategy follows. I have left it completely unedited so it is very “unpolished” and you may have to read some things twice to understand what he is saying. Remember, English is not Paul’s mother tongue. I pray you are edified.
By Paul Mwilu
Introduction
For one and a half years since 2022, I have been having this unending desire to reach out to the motor riders in my village market, Mbuani, Kola Location, Machakos County, Kenya. I have been having jitters, wondering how to go about it; what will I say to them? How will I assemble them? What will I do?… The questions have been endless, with no tangible answer, but the baseline has been that I just have to do it, anyhow. But deep down I knew that I have to have some solid theological base, and actually I had no idea that I was to Join Moffat Bible College. Now that by the grace of God I am in this college, and going through the Bible on a personal level beyond the lectures, and being led by the Holy Spirit, I believe God is readying me for that desire I believe He put in me. And what more! My Lecturer Mr. Tate has indeed equipped me with real great knowledge in the subject of Church Planting. Now my spiritual ammo is loaded in this field, and as my Field Marshall, Mwalimu Roger is giving the order, and the Captain of the LORD’S Hosts, Christ, is empowering me; I shoot!
Why Motor Bike Riders.
“Through God’s grace we have the Word and the Holy Spirit. What more could we want? Our only viable option is to be confident and courageous in spreading His Kingdom through the birth of new churches. Tomorrow is ours because we are His. Let’s begin the journey now.” (Brock, pg. 25). In my village, we have more than thirty young men who ride motorbikes for a living. Not more than 1% of them attend a church, or are born again. Hence I see a great and vital need to sow into them the Word of God. I ask the Holy Spirit to prepare me for this work, as the field belongs to Christ. I then will need to also prepare my soil, the Riders, as to receive the Word of God well. A village that has so many youths without God is more endangered than the Dodo itself, leave alone extinction. Most of these youths only see motorbike riding as the only available form of employment, and more so they admire the debauchery that goes along with it. If such trends are not tamed early, our society as a whole will soon fall, devoid of God. After establishing this church, I will have put a mechanism, together with the new members, so that they can reproduce the same in the nearby markets.
Where Are they to be Reached.
Back in my village, the notion of every Christian and non-Christians alike, including the pastors, generationally believe that a church is a building where “worshippers” go, mostly on Sundays to worship God. With this kind of an ideology, it therefore is not easy to convince folks to start a church under a motorbike shade, contributed by a campaigning local Member of County Assembly. The villagers will hush in small crowds, heaving up their shoulders like in an Afrosinema shoot (clarification from Roger – Kenyan movies), as the clergy too, cross their chests in a bid to ward off the “evil spirit” in me. Probably the question that will be in most heads is: “What became of William’s son? So he went to a Bible School to bring these weird churches here?” But amidst such a situation, I will forge ahead and incept the new church against the traditional backdrop. Actually, under this shade where the riders wait for potential customers, shielding them from the elements, is where I plan to first meet with them. I will first go and see them informally, and chat with them, then ask them how they feel if that following Sunday, or any other day of their choice, we could meet for a short prayer and Bible study. Once we agree on the time and date, I will encourage them to pass the word to their colleagues, so we may achieve a quorum of at least 20 people. Their ages range between 17 to 40 years.
How to Reach, Start and Sustain a Bible Study / Church with Them.
Now, with my initial reconnaissance done satisfactorily, I will go back to my closet and pray for success on the stage. I will review my strategies and commit them to God’s purposeful Word. I will refer(and note so) to Brock’s Good News for You, the Bible study guide, so as to give me an easy and in depth study. In it I will be able to systematically cover the 7 steps, as Brock recommends it for an individual, Counselor guided or even group use. This study is derived from John’s Gospel, hence I will need the Bible or a New Testament. On the material day, I will be brief in my introduction, as most of the riders get calls of duty. I will share to them why it is important to have a Bible study, to get to know more about God, and the purpose he has for us. I will get views from them on how they wish we conduct our meetings, especially the venue. I will suggest to them if we can also meet in one of the eateries, back rooms, and probably have tea at the end, to cover the venue expenses, or even meet in an open undeveloped plot owned by my family. The plan is to meet somewhere neutral and accessible to all and spacious. Concentrating on the organism(members), not the organization (like where to meet) will be my major emphasis. Most do know how to read and write, and as earlier advised, they will have notes and pens. A clear strategy will enable me and my members to stay focused on the right topics, at the right time. As Brock notes in page 96, “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.” So I will have come up with a normal process in this church planting with my acceptive Riders. These are geared towards establishing a New Testament principled church that is Self-Governing, Self-Supporting, Self-Teaching, Self-Expressing and Self-Propagating. This process aimed at a prolonged exposure to the Word of God, is highlighted below; First for the next seven weeks we will go through the 7 lessons of Brock’s Good News for You, (as earlier stated here, I will use Brock’s material and quote accordingly) and at the end of it, I will be able to invite any member who will be willing to get Christ’s salvation. Once they accept, there will be a class for baptism, so as to prepare them for baptism by water immersion as their outward sign of conversion.
Conclusion
With this summary of my strategy for church planting, powered by the Holy Spirit, I believe we will go far and extend to the nearby markets. The Bible will be the main textbook. Other people like the traders in shops and even bars, will be encouraged to join too. Within a specified time, I will encourage the new converts to take up leadership and even start other Bible Studies, extending to the larger Kenya.
Those are the end of Paul’s words and so I will simply pray: “Lord, bless Paul’s ministry and empower him in the work he wishes to do.”
Blessings to all,
Roger, Julie & Chloe
CONTACT INFO
Roger & Julie Tate
Moffat Bible College
P.O. Box 70
Kijabe, Kenya 00220
rojuta@gmail.com
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
Teaching Students about Church Planting
June 10, 2023
Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ,
One of the classes that I am teaching this term is Church Planting. Even though I spent fifteen years in Kitale doing church planting, I still hardly feel qualified to teach this course to new ministry students. It is such an important subject for my students to study and I can only pray that I teach them properly and to do everything I can to help them understand the importance of the subject and how they should be doing it. But what I’m teaching them has been a hard sell so far. Let me see if I can explain why.
My students are studying for ministry work. They are diligently studying the Bible and what it means to work in the ministry of Jesus Christ. They are good and godly students who want to know Jesus, want to know the Bible, and want to minister the gospel in the lives of people and in the world. But they usually also come with a certain mindset. I’ll call it a Traditional mindset. They come to Bible school, many of them want to become pastors. They are thinking of becoming pastors of already established churches, of preaching the Word of God and ministering in that church, of seeing that church grow bigger, and of eventually building a bigger church to accommodate this bigger congregation.
There is nothing wrong with the above model, is there? No, there isn’t. It is the same model that most of us are familiar with and, if we are pastors, it is the model we are probably participating in. So, no, there is nothing wrong with the Traditional model. But I am trying to teach these young Bible students something a little different. I am trying to convince them to consider a slightly different model. I don’t know what to call it, so I’ll just call it the Different model. In the Different model that I’m teaching them, I’m trying to convince them to go to a location where there is NO church already present, where there may not be any Christians at all, where the gospel needs to be preached, and where a new New Testament church is actually needed. My students can usually get on board with this pretty well, after all they are godly students wanting to fulfill the Great Commission of Jesus. Where they start jumping off the wagon, however, is when I begin to teach the really different part of the Different model. I am trying to teach them to start churches that will reproduce themselves and start other churches and to teach them principles on how to do that. They were on board at first because, while they do want to fulfill the Great Commission, they also want to start churches that will eventually become big, have lots of people and tithes, and be able to build big church buildings and have lots of structured programs. When I began telling them that church buildings are not always conducive to churches reproducing themselves because poor communities cannot reproduce such a thing, they began jumping off board. When I began telling them that when their church becomes big enough (defined as too big to meet in their house anymore) then the church should start convincing some of its members to start a new church in another location, even more jumped off board. After all, how can their church become big if they are always sending some of their members off to start a new church somewhere else? I think their biggest issue might be, “How can I ever get enough financial support from my church if my church membership is never more than 15-25 people?” The other issue they face is the issue we all face – the mindset that “Bigger is better.” They want to pastor a big church because “Bigger is better” for a thousand and one reasons. I want them to start churches that will start churches that will start churches so that the gospel will spread, the kingdom of Christ will spread, and there will be a church presence preaching the gospel in every place in Kenya and in every place in the world. It is a hard sell, even for godly, Jesus loving Bible students at Bible college. I can see some changes in them, though. They are beginning to ask themselves the question I ask them all the time, “What is your goal?” Is your goal a big church, with a big membership, a big offering plate, a big building, and a big reputation? There is nothing wrong with that goal, my beloved students. But consider another goal – a dozen churches, spreading out over the city, preaching the gospel and reaching the lost, all with the purpose of spreading the Kingdom and starting more churches that will all be doing the same thing.
“My beloved students – What is your goal?”
Blessings to all,
Roger, Julie & Chloe
CONTACT INFO
Roger & Julie Tate
Moffat Bible College
P.O. Box 70
Kijabe, Kenya 00220
rojuta@gmail.com
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
Holding Grief & Gratitude at the Same Time
April 21, 2023
Greetings to all of you from beautiful Kijabe, Kenya.
It’s interesting writing these newsletters every year. One of the neat things about it is looking back over the letter from the year before and seeing all the answered prayers. Last year I listed 10 things for you to pray for. Of those 10 things, only one has not changed in the least – adoption. All the others have been answered to one degree or another. That is so encouraging!
God has been good. Well, God is always good even when circumstances are difficult – which they still are. But God has shifted a lot of things for us. Many of them you already know about from Roger’s letters.
I will be honest with you. After going through several months where things were looking up with Chloe, this last month has been difficult and disheartening. I feel like we’ve taken several steps backwards, and that’s really discouraging. In the middle of that, it’s sometimes difficult to remember that things are still better than they were a year ago – on every level: Chloe; support from professionals; community; ministry; marriage; growing in patience, faith, strength, and perseverance…
One of the fundamental things God has been teaching me is that it’s okay to hold grief and gratitude in my hands at the same time: they are not mutually exclusive. I think this is difficult for a lot of people in Christian circles. Anytime someone expresses hard things our knee-jerk reaction is to remind them to be thankful or to minimize the pain they are trying to express. We want to fix things, correct things, and make people feel better about their situation and about God. We say things like, “But don’t forget,” or “At least it’s not as bad as…” or “But look at the important work God has called your parents/spouse/you to…” which communicates the message that the person talking to us isn’t allowed to express those difficult emotions. We shut them down and communicate to them that there is something wrong with them or that they are bad Christians…or even worse, that they are just collateral damage. We’re often not good at sitting with suffering and difficult emotions.
As a mom of three adult MKs now, I can look back and see how I did this to my own children way more than was healthy for them. It seems like experiencing trauma is considered a badge of honor for missionary families in many circles, and we lose sight of the fact that our missionaries and their wives and children need better support in processing those traumas without fear. This doesn’t negate the things we do well for our missionaries – not at all. So please, if a missionary says, “We need a little bit more emotional support right now,” don’t hear that as, “Y’all aren’t doing your job…” rather, just hear the humble admission that life is extra tough in this season and we need our far-away Christian community in extra-ordinary ways right now.
Well, this is where we are as a family: trying to remember that it’s okay to struggle, and it’s okay to ask God difficult things. It’s okay that we feel the “hard.” This “hard” isn’t unique to us. Of all the missionary families I know at RVA (and there are a LOT of them) there isn’t one that doesn’t have a LOT of trauma they are trying to process. And though there are very unique aspects of this for missionaries (especially and most devastatingly for their children), “hard” isn’t only part of missionary life – it’s just part of life, isn’t it? Only the details are different.
So, I want to encourage YOU. If you are going through a difficult period, it’s okay to process that grief. It’s okay to talk about it without feeling like you have to couch everything in “Christianese.” It’s okay to be real. It’s okay to feel overwhelmed today. It’s okay to stop, plop in a chair, look up to God (whether physically or in your spirit) and just say, “Lord, this feels too heavy for me today. I’m overwhelmed. This hurts. I don’t feel like I can keep going today. I need You.” It doesn’t make you a bad Christian or a weak Christian or an ungrateful Christian; it makes you a real, broken person in a real, broken world who is learning how to lean hard into grace.
Roger and I are still learning how to leaning hard into grace in this pro-longed season of our lives. In the middle of all the answered prayer, in the middle of all the continued struggle (because we haven’t yet entered fully into the “rest” promised us), leaning hard implies the idea that we can’t stand on our own…because we can’t. And that’s okay.
God has answered many prayers. God has given us incredible opportunities. God has done amazing things. …AND… We’re hurting. It’s hard. We need your prayers. We need your encouragement. We need to know that our peeps back home still have our backs in this difficult season.
So now, may the God of all comfort comfort us all in all our afflictions so that we may be able to comfort others with the comfort which we have received from Him.
Love,
Julie
CONTACT INFO
Roger & Julie Tate
Moffat Bible College
P.O. Box 70
Kijabe, Kenya 00220
rojuta@gmail.com
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
Rain and Showers of Blessing
April 8, 2023
Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ,
First, I want to give you a quick update on the drought situation here in Kenya since I have been speaking about it in the last couple of newsletters. I want to say, “Praise the Lord!” This past month we have been getting rainfall in good quantities and the Lord has blessed us with rain. I really wasn’t crying “wolf” in previous newsletters. Kenya does have yearly dry seasons, but this season was extraordinarily dry for a much longer period. We thank the Lord that we have received rain here in Kijabe but the crop and economic situation for many Kenyans is still dire. We need the rains to continue, and I still don’t know what the drought will mean for the crops this year. We are still very much dependent upon the Lord’s blessings.
Second, it seems like there is always some kind of catastrophe to be praying about here in Kenya. Now we are facing weekly tumultuous riots, mainly in Nairobi. We went through a stressful presidential election last year and now the candidate that lost (who has been running and losing for the last forty years) has called his people to riot in the capital until some of his demands are met. So, his people have obeyed and are rioting in and around Nairobi, burning things, hurting people, causing trouble, and preventing business. Oh, what can I say? I understand so little of Kenyan politics, but I can’t see how this is helping the Kenyan people. Please don’t lose patience with me but it seems I’m always asking you all to pray for peace in Kenya, and I’m doing it again now.
School is currently on break and the students are home resting, doing ministry, and spending time with family. With school being out I have had a couple of opportunities to speak at a couple of churches. The first church was by far the biggest church I have spoken at in Kenya. It probably had six to seven hundred people in it. That’s probably close to the largest congregation I have preached to in my life. The second church was a church that one of my students is a member of. He and his pastor invited me to come and preach. It was a considerably far drive and I got to see a large portion of Kenya that I had never seen before. My student told me that there were two services with about 300 people in each service, so I was expecting a fairly large town. After I arrived and checked into my guest house I went to “town” to see what it was like. Can I just say, there was nothing there. The whole town consisted of about ¼ mile of wooden shacks on either side of the road. It certainly wasn’t what I expected. But the student was correct, and I preached to two services of about three to four hundred people each. Simple, gospel messages that focus on Jesus and salvation to a total of about 1200-1400 people. What a privilege. Now, in the meantime, I am busy preparing classes for my students returning next term. I am looking forward to teaching them 1) General Epistles of the New Testament and 2) Church Planting.
Blessings to all,
Roger, Julie & Chloe
CONTACT INFO
Roger & Julie Tate
Moffat Bible College
P.O. Box 70
Kijabe, Kenya 00220
rojuta@gmail.com
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
Fires in Kenya
March 9, 2023
Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ,
Last month I mentioned the drought that is currently plaguing Kenya. We have now entered the time of the short rains, but it has not rained. Yes, it rained a couple of times but then stopped again. We have not received the rain we should be getting in the short rainy season and the situation is no better. The students are back on campus, but we are now having to truck in water from outside sources and fill our water tanks in that way. It is still extremely dry throughout the country and that leads to the adventure I don’t want to experience again, and I’ll recount in the next paragraph.
We live in the middle of the Kijabe forest, half-way down the escarpment into the Great Rift Valley. When I look up the escarpment, I only see forest. When I look down the escarpment, I only see forest. With no rain, the trees, leaves, and ground all dry up. The forest becomes a tinderbox. We have no-burn policies right now because of the threat of fire. But most Kenyans cook their daily meals over open fires just outside their front doors and burn their trash to dispose of it. Here in Kijabe, the wind also races up and down the escarpment at a furious pace sometimes. The scenario provides for many unwatched fires which can then lead to, you guessed it, forest fires. About two weeks ago I was at the school, looking out my office window when I saw smoke rolling off the next hill over. I went over to the classroom block for a better look and saw half the hillside covered in smoke. I knew it was not a good sign, but I went home and didn’t hear any more about it. Later that night, Julie looked out our kitchen window and said, “Is that a fire?” I looked out and up the hill, and sure enough, it was a large fire. It looked like it was about 150 yards up the hill. I immediately began thinking about what important things we needed to grab before jumping in the car and getting the blazes out of here. We began making some quick phone calls and found out that what, in the night looked like a couple hundred yards, was in reality on a ridge about a mile away. A bit more comforting, but not too comforting. I walked back up to the classroom block for a better look and saw that the entire ridge on the hill next to ours was engulfed in flames, with the nighttime wind whipping around like crazy. I watched it for a few minutes, not knowing in what direction it was going to go – down the hill, away from us, or towards us? We spent a couple of restless hours waiting to hear what direction the fire was going before we heard that it was currently heading in the opposite direction. We eventually went to bed and went to a somewhat restless sleep, knowing that people in the area were staying awake to keep an eye on things. As a person who has always had a small fear of fire, I really didn’t like that experience and don’t want to go through it again. PRAY FOR RAIN IN KENYA.
On a happier note, I always like to know I’m doing something or involved with something that is making a difference and doing some good. Sometimes in ministry it can be hard to rate if you are making the kind of difference you desire. Julie reminds me that long-term change is generational. It can take a long time to make real changes. I oftentimes wish it was more like constructing a building where you can watch the progress and see the growth. But sometimes you get little hints that what you are doing is making a difference, and sometimes it comes in unexpected ways. In this case, I needed to go up the hill to “the city” and go to the bank, but Julie had the car. So, I asked one of my students who owns a car for taxiing purposes to drive me to the bank and back. We got to talking while he was driving (as he was driving very fast, I might add). He comes from and grew up in a church that teaches a wealth and health gospel, where the pastor needs to be the example of receiving God’s blessings by being rich and prosperous, and where church leadership/pastorate is a lucrative job opportunity funded by unsuspecting church members. My student Samuel (pronounced Samwel in Kenya) confessed that is what he thought the ministry was all about. Now, however, he says that he has learned that ministry is not about that, that ministry is about teaching the Word of God, sharing the gospel of Jesus, loving people and helping them know about salvation and following Jesus, and equipping the church for discipleship and reaching the nations. Now he wants to return to his own village and take the true gospel of Jesus back to a people who go to church every week but never hear about the true gospel. Making a difference one life at a time, folks. PRAY THAT SAMUEL’S NEWLY FOUND CONVICTIONS WILL STICK AND PERSERVERE UNTIL HE REACHES HIS VILLAGE WITH THE LOVE OF JESUS.
Blessings to all,
Roger, Julie & Chloe
CONTACT INFO
Roger & Julie Tate
Moffat Bible College
P.O. Box 70
Kijabe, Kenya 00220
rojuta@gmail.com
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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Praying for Rain in Kenya
February 10, 2023
Greetings in the Name of Jesus Christ,
I pray this newsletter finds you well. I’m sure that life in the United States is not without its challenges. We find ourselves with some challenges here in Kenya as well.
First, Kenya is currently suffering through a more than usually severe drought. Kenya usually has its annual rainy season and dry season. And during the dry season it is always, well, dry. It gets dusty, things turn brown, crops suffer, etc. But this year is the worst of my fifteen years in Kenya as there was basically no rainy season this year. People started talking about it months ago but now we are really starting to see the effects of it. People all over the country are really suffering from a lack of water. Here in Kijabe where we live there has been no rain and so we have no water. We are now rationing water – no laundry, no showers for a while (we are at least able to take “missionary” showers now), and no flushing toilets (until it is necessary). We don’t know how long this situation will last but it has gotten to the point where we have had to send all of our students home. They were already supposed to go home for mid-term break but we had to cancel classes early and send them home. They are scheduled to return late next week but this will only occur if the school is able to somehow get some water. Nobody around here really knows when that will be. This is not really the rainy season, but we could really use some rain. Please pray for rain.
Second, the drought is really beginning to effect Kenyans financially. I am seeing it mostly in students’ inability to pay school fees. Fees are usually paid when families sell crops or livestock and then they use the proceeds to pay bills. But right now, crops and livestock are not faring well and families are struggling to eat, let alone have extra for school fees. Last month I did mention a student, Milkah, who had been left in a bad spot and couldn’t pay her fees. I want to thank you all for praying for her as she was able to raise her fees, pay her bill, and return to class (except that class has been canceled and students sent home because of the drought).
In more happy news, we had our first visitors here to Kenya in a very long time. It was a joy to have Doug and Sharon Brook visit us for a few days. They are our dear friends from our home church in Ohio. I realized when I was introducing them to folks around here that Doug and Sharon are my “oldest” friends. I don’t mean oldest in age, but oldest meaning “longest standing friends”. Of all the friends in my life, Doug and Sharon have been around and stood in there the longest. I have been friends with Doug for 43 years and Sharon for 40. You probably can’t imagine how much we miss “home” sometimes. Having friends here brought a little bit of “United States Home” to our “Kenya Home”.
We are praying for you all, that you would know and love Jesus, that you would follow and serve Him, and that the Kingdom of Christ would grow in your neck of the woods, wherever you call home.
Blessings to all,
Roger, Julie & Chloe
CONTACT INFO
Roger & Julie Tate
Moffat Bible College
P.O. Box 70
Kijabe, Kenya 00220
rojuta@gmail.com
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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