Dear Praying Partners,
From the beginning of ITEM’s ministry, there has been an awareness of the challenge of African Traditional Religions’ (ATR) influence on the church and Christianity in general. This morning I learned that it is making a comeback.
Dr. Tim Kiruhi, Vice Chancellor of Intl Leadership University took me to church but before we left for church, we had almost an hour to sit and talk. As we talked, the subject turned to apologetics and he mentioned that a new apologetics challenge is the comeback being made by ATR. The reason is that some are saying that Christianity in Africa has become to western and he mentioned “individualism” as one example.
The African culture is very communal, and some believe western Christianity is breaking that down and communal traditions at the same time. So, there is a resurgence of traditional rituals at weddings and other communal gatherings. At the same time, Tim explained that the resurgence has money and wealth mixed in which are both seen as western. So, it is not a pure form of ATR.
All that to say that it is an apologetics topic present here that we do not face in America.
NATHAN’S FUTURE?
My good friend and co-laborer, Nathan Chiroma, stopped by today with his two sons, Namiri and Nasuri. Shame on me, I forgot to take a picture. Nathan speaks all around Africa for different groups. He was recently in Rwanda speaking at a graduation ceremony at the Africa College of Theology in Kigali, Rwanda (www.actrwanda.org) and totally unexpectedly, he was offered the position of Principal of the school. This would mean leaving his position of Dean of Theology at Pan Africa Christian University in Nairobi. He and his wife Jane are praying about this opportunity. He is fully committed to ITEM and wants whatever he does to allow him to continue to minister with ITEM.
The rest of Sunday was pretty laid back. But Monday the pace picks up significantly. Monday I take a short flight to Kisumu, Kenya, travel with other team members by car 2.5 hours to the border of Uganda, the city of Busia. We have a team meeting with the Kenya and Uganda teams on Tuesday. Wednesday I drive back to Kisumu then fly back to Nairobi for one night. Thursday I fly to Rwanda and meet with the team the same day. Then Friday I come back here for the weekend. So, it is going to be a fast-paced week.
- Please pray that I’ll find beds comfortable enough to get the sleep I need.
- Pray also for safe travel. The road to Uganda is a trade route with many large trucks and only one lane each direction so passenger cars are passing large trucks regularly, passing on the wrong side of the road.
- Pray for the upcoming meetings, that the teams will be encouraged and all will leave on the “same page” when it comes to ministry.
Thank you.
By His grace,
Steve
Here is the link to the pictures. Note the denomination’s theme for 2022. See the pic-click here.