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Friends United Meeting |
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2002 Triennial Sessions
"So Now Finish the Work..."
Message
for the 100 Years Celebration
of the Friends Church in Kenya
"Continue And Complete This
Special Service Of Love"
2 Cor. 8: 1-15
by Joseph G. Kisia
July 14, 2002
Friends,
Let us look at the past with thanks and to the future with courage as we celebrate 100 years of the Religious Society of Friends in Kenya.
The first American Missionaries who came to this country were Willis Hotchkiss, Arthur Chilson, Edgar Hole, Emory and Deborah Rees.
These Friends came to an unknown country. A country without transportation and communication, a country without a good climate for them, a country which, at the time they came, was full of wild animals, mosquitoes which transmitted malaria and tsetse-flies which could infect one with sleeping sickness. But, fearlessly, and with courage and determination, they kept on and settled down because they knew that God was with them. They carried with them the seeds of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which they planted into fertile soil, being the hearts of our people. 100 years hence, the fruits can now be seen.
With their own free will, they were eager to come, to find, and to help us. They prayed and pleaded for the privilege of having a part in helping God's people in Kenya. It was more than we could have hoped for ourselves. Many more missionaries came after them—doctors, nurses, teachers, technicians and evangelists. First they gave themselves to the Lord, and then, by God's will, they gave and sacrificed themselves for us as well. We are most thankful for this service of love.
Those determined men and women missionaries blazed a trail in our land and established a church. At times it is well that we pause and meditate upon our church as Kenyan Friends. In so doing, we can see that we have a cause to be grateful for those seeds of the church that have brought such a great harvest to so many.
They worked hard to convert people to Christ. They worked hard in establishing health care to heal illnesses and sickness. They established an industrial work to train our people in the skills of using their own hands in making things needed for everyday living. They taught people how to read and write, to be able to read the Bible and communicate with each other easily. We thank God for all this.
What were some of the seeds that our missionaries brought with them to Kaimosi? One of them was vision. The vision was of a church of choice and worship. We can well be grateful for their vision. But without our fathers, who obeyed and accepted their call, our church would not have lived to colourfully celebrate its 75th anniversary in 1977.
There were also the seeds of courage; life in the past had not been easy for those missionaries. It would be less so in a strange and uncertain land. Only those courageous and determined would survive. But they just stayed on with courage. They knew that the Lord went before them, He was with them, He was not going to fail them, neither were they disheartened. (Deut. 31:8) It was due to courage.
Why such courage? It was mainly because the missionaries and our first converts carried with them a generous supply of the seeds of Faith.
Let us look at what happened after 30 years of the light of Christ in some of our first converts.
By 1952, Andrea Agufana of Vihiga, had brought a lorry for business. By 1933, Enoka Bwoyere of Vihiga had built a brick house to be followed by Chief Paul Agoi. By 1934, Petro Wanyama of Lugulu had bought a motorcycle for travelling and later bought a lorry for transportation.
These days, many Friends own motorcars, pickups, lorries, good permanent houses, some with electricity in them, telephones, and are able to communicate with foreign countries from their own homes. We are most thankful for these facilities which began being seen during the first 70 years of our salvation. By 1965, a Kenyan Quaker was able to fly an aeroplane in our own land and beyond.
It was due to their courageous faith in God that led them that far. They knew that the Lord would not desert them. Those travels of 1902 were like those who, long before them, crossed the Jordan to enter the promised land. They were like Abraham and his family, "who went out not knowing whither they went." They remembered that long ago, God had said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."
Our theme states clearly, "Now finish the work." St. Paul tells us in the first verses of II Cor. 8:1-7, that we are so rich in what we have for this service of love. We have faith in Christ, we have languages of speech (some of us speak three, four, or even five languages), the education and knowledge we have, and the spirit of loving our fellow man. He goes on to say that, he wants us to be generous for this service of love. He is really testing our real love for others.
Jesus Christ who was himself rich as he was, made himself poor for our sake, in order to make us rich by means of his poverty. We must be willing to act. Do the work and finish it. The work is just where we are and live. We have so many people around us who need our help e.g. the blind, the lame, sick and the disabled. They are looking at us for help.
Our purpose as Christians is to do what is right, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of our fellow men. This is to glorify our Father in heaven. It is against this background that we have to make our witness of confidence in the eternal good purpose of God. And it must be sincere confidence, a genuine faith, not a whistling in the dark to keep our courage up. The living truth proclaimed by the founders of the church in Kenya can so easily disintegrate into a set of cliches unless, we who follow, know and have in our lives, the same quickening power of the Holy Spirit.
Since we have a Pastoral system in our church, our religion of life must devote itself to vital processes and vital relations. These are the things that concern our truest welfare.
a) Discipleship
What Jesus did, was to gather around himself a band of disciples who received His spirit and in turn would bring others into touch with the life which redeemed them. His life, springing up in the lives of men, was that which should regenerate the world. It called for the fullest dedication, the closest following, the daily taking of the cross. But it gives us Him who is the Way, the Truth and the Life.
Discipleship then is the first vital relation that must be always energizing the church. The great initial success of Quakerism was due to, beyond all else so far as human means went, to the travelling "Publishers of Truth," as they called themselves, who carried their burning message far and wide. They were for the most part, men and women of competent Bible knowledge and religious training, men with intense sincerity, with great experience, who were talking about Christ because they knew Him. Many of them were devoted young men and women in their prime, they were strong, and people who would fit in the many changes of life. We need such people in the church today.
b) Inspired Leadership
There is indeed a need for inspired leadership in our Church. It is our business to raise up, not only Pastors but prophets, Christian men and women of trained intelligence and wide outlook, who know God and have a sure insight into the great social and spiritual needs of humanity. People whose lives have been touched with the live coal from off the altar. There is every need for a leadership which continues and educates and inspires and illuminates. Democracy requires an advisory leadership, moving along channels of inspiration and personal influence because, "For lack of vision people perish."
c) Warm Fellowship
The church has to be fostering warm fellowship. In the early centuries, Christianity became a great power because, it was a great Brotherhood. Surely, we need to warm up our church organisation so that it becomes quickened into a living fellowship. It means that each individual shares in, and contributes to the larger life of the whole. And so a "group life" means a great deal more than the collection of persons within the four walls of a particular building.
d) Loving Service
A healthy church fixes each member with personal responsibility for using the life he has received. It finds work for all to do. It knows that activity is the natural expression of life. The church will be rightly judged by its output of services for the Kingdom of God.
e) Steady Spiritual Growth
The vital relations which are the wealth of the church, produce, not only a unity of life with God and with one another, but produce that progressive development of personality that we call growth. As leaders in the ministry, we must be asking ourselves questions like these all the time:
1. Are our church members, bigger men and women, inwardly
stronger than a year ago?
2. Have their spiritual senses developed?
3. Are they stronger in faith, more radiant in hope, and warmer in love?
4. Are their feelings alert, their loins gird, their hands eager for sacrifice
and service?
5. Are our meetings for worship still mixed with meetings for business?
6. Are our meetings for worship and funerals still tiresome that we take
too long?
Here surely, Friends, is what I may call, the intensive work of the church. The making of men and women not after the pattern of the world, but after the pattern of Jesus Christ, who shall go forth in his power and spirit to serve the Kingdom of God. A church which will attract and gather the unbelievers to itself. With our faith, hope and love built on the solid rock, we can build the church we need for the future.
Finally Friends, I know it is hard work and in most cases, difficult. We need dedication, courage, determination and sacrifice in order to finish the work. We must continue to nurture the seeds of vision, courage and faith. From these, came the roots of the church in the past. They can be depended upon for our victories in the future as we step into the next century of Friends Church in Kenya.
Missionaries came, collected and gathered sticks, lit a fire and left it burning. It is our duty to continue adding more wood to this fire to keep it burning wherever we are.
When all is done and completed well, our early missionaries,
some whom are with the Lord and some who are still living, who toiled
on foot in the hot sun, who went without food, will join with St. Paul
who said:
"We must thank God at all times for you, brothers, you whom the
Lord loves. For God chose you as the first to be saved by the Spirit's
power to make you His holy people by your faith in the truth. God called
you to this through the Good News we preached to you, He called you to
possess your share of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, our
brothers, stand firm and hold on to those truths which we taught you,
both in our preaching and in our letter." 2 Thess. 2:13-15
When the present is discouraging and we can not turn back, when the future looks dark and uncertain, let us look up. The God of eternity, of which we are a part, will not fail us.
May God Bless us all as we look to the future with courage and confidence in Him. Thank you. Let us pray.
Return to main Triennial page:
"Friends United Meeting Celebrates Double Centenary—Double
Blessing"
Return to November 2002 issue of Quaker Life magazine.