CHURCH KENYA STYLE
It was off to Church today in the Eastern part of Nairobi with our team of nurses and many of our Worldcomp leadership team. We celebrated with one of our favorite Kenyan churches, The Mwiki Deliverance Church. Valerie stopped by the restroom to wash her hands and as she approached the sink, a large lizard jumped out of the drain hole. Isn’t Kenya fun!
The church was packed and the presence of God very strong. I came to the early service exhausted, but within minutes I felt revived and refreshed. Let me tell you we had church; Two three hour services followed by group meetings that started late and went long. After my preaching in the two services, Valerie shared with the women about prayer walking, Pastor Ben and I shared with the men on the subject of love, and Ben’s son Flavius and the entire team of nurses shared with the college age youth about cultural differences and life in America. All in all 10 hours of church and an hour of drive time each way!
First we prayed for the nation and the community, then several hundred people knelt at the altar in prayer for “situations” in their lives, then another 50 came forward for prayer because they needed jobs. Following that we worshipped and took the offering in wonderful African style. February is the month of fasting and prayer for the church. People signed up to pray for a week and fast for one day during the week. So over 100 people came forward for prayer as they prepared to fast and pray in the coming week. Then the visitors came forward for recognition and prayer. Not through yet! A touching moment was when the leadership prayed over two people who had lost loved ones that week. After you leave a service like that, you know you have observed the Sabbath. But if the Sabbath is supposed to be a day of rest, I think we missed it!
In my humble opinion, Pastor Peter Waweru who pastor’s the church is one of the finest pastors in Kenya. He is thoroughly non-religious. He didn’t come into the ministry through a bible college. He was an accountant, who quit his job to pastor the church. He just has the gift. He is full of love and joy and he is very progressive in his thinking about how to build a church and reach the community.
The team went out for dinner to celebrate Flavius’s birthday but Valerie and I were just too exhausted so we headed home to rest.
We haven’t had time yet to completely set up our apartment, so tomorrow will be dedicated to that.
Heard the weather is really wet back home. Here is a perfect 85% in the day and 70% at night. Wish you were here suffering with us.
You are all loved,
Blessings to all
Richard and Valerie