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Friends United Meeting |
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March 1998
Witness in the Desert: Samburu Friends Mission
By Judy Van Wyck Maurer
Among the arid plains and buttes of central Kenya, where women wear strings and strings of beads to show how much their husbands love them, there is now a Friends school with 120 students, and a Friends Meeting next door, in the town of Lotulelei. Sponsored by Samburu Friends Mission- which pays the salary of one of the teachers-it is a result of the dream and careful planning of Isaiah Bikokwa.
"If you help the people with their needs, it will be much easier for you to start a church. People will be more willing to listen to your preaching after you have helped them," Isaiah writes. He has proven this in the Samburu District of Kenya. "We have identified Moses Biringi as a local Evangelist. We have 180 followers in the church." Isaiah finds a new Christian with the gift of evangelism, and then trains and mentors him or her to be a pastor.
A dispensary was also built in Lotulelei, but they must wait for funds for medicines and personnel to staff it. The community gave the Mission five acres adjacent to the school for further expansion. Many of the children and worshipers in Lotulelei come from a small town nearby in Lodokejek, where the Mission has a nursery school. The Mission is also considering planting a church nearby.
The chief of a smaller tribe in nearby Naperikechu recognized Friends work in Lotulelei, and asked the Mission to sponsor their school as well. "The school is up to standard with about 35 children and a nursery school with 40 children. We have many potential Quaker followers in this area."
"Isaiah sits with the councils or the elders of the tribes, drinks coffee with them and asks them what they need. While he is drinking coffee he is witnessing to them and pretty soon he has a Bible study going. Then he has a dozen Bible studies going," said Retha McCutchen, associate secretary for World Ministries at FUM. "Isaiah has the gift of evangelism."
After his outreach work in Turkana, Kenya, was flourishing, FUM challenged Isaiah to search out another unreached people group. In 1994, Isaiah traveled through Kenya, using government maps and university research materials, and selected the Samburu region for his outreach. FUM now partially supports the Samburu Friends Mission he founded.
Wabash Friends Church in Indiana gave $12,000 for the purchase of a new truck for Isaiah's work, delivered in September. "Without the truck," McCutchen said, "it would be impossible for Isaiah to reach all the people."
A mix of faith and diligence is part of his success, according to Johan Maurer, FUM's general secretary. "Isaiah is a wonderful combination of an astute anthropologist, a winsome evangelist and a man of deep prayer."
Isaiah himself is more blunt: "This is step one in starting a new church: Pray and plan."
Prayer was important to Jesus, Isaiah pointed out. "He prayed when he was baptized, before he called his disciples, before his trial at his death, and on many other occasions during his life. Likewise, we must pray much as we seek God's guidance about starting a new church in a new mission."
Isaiah also counsels careful study before deciding where to plant a church. He lists seven tasks, including a survey, to be accomplished before deciding on a place for a new meeting. Look for a place that shows progress in new roads, shops, and schools. "Where these are lacking, the future may not be so good. A new church might not grow."
He has savvy advice for identifying leadership. "There are always some persons in a community who make decisions.... If the decision-maker becomes a Christian and attends your church, many others will also come. Then they may also believe."
The complexity of his work among the Samburu peoples is evident in his advice: "It is hard to start a new church where there are many languages and people cannot all understand the same language. They will be different in their thinking. Each group will favor their own language."
Isaiah sees opportunities in the cultural complexities, as well. "Many times the people of a place will quickly believe a special message while other messages will not be convincing to them. The message will be "Special" to them because of their beliefs, experience and needs. Perhaps there is a traditional belief about blood sacrifices which can make them understand about Jesus' death or perhaps there has been trouble in the community which can be helped through Bible teaching. Pray much that God will help you find the way to win the people."
Samburu Friends Mission needs support from FUM, which can only send along the contributions FUM receives specifically for Samburu Friends Mission. FUM's goal is to fund Isaiah's salary and his travel expenses, as well as send money for the dispensary and the mission, enabling it to continue paying several teachers' salaries.
When Isaiah worked with three Uganda pastors in evangelism, he told them "Evangelism is not in the church or...on the pulpit but it is in people with the people. This makes a living church." Help Isaiah continue to build a living church among the Samburu by sending contributions to FUM, earmarked for Samburu Friends Mission.
Judy Van Wyck Maurer is a free-lance writer in Richmond, Ind.
Copyright (c) 1998 Friends United Meeting
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