Kenya

First off let me start off by saying that African church beats out American church every stinkin' time. (Those of you who've been to Zambia can attest to this truth. The rest of you will simply have to trust me!) Yesterday Alicia and I went with Murray and Diana to their church, AIC Ngong. (Africa Inland Church - Ngong.) AIM started AIC over 100 years ago. AIC Ngong is one of nearly 5000 churches AIM has helped establish across Kenya, boasting over 1,000,000 members and 2,000,000 affiliates.

The pastor shared the following story in his sermon:

"I have heard that America has designed a machine...a machine that can catch thieves. They decided to test it out by taking it to various countries. America tested it out and in 20 minutes caught 30 thieves. Then they sent the machine to the U.K. to see how it would work there. In 20 minutes it caught 300 thieves. In Spain, 25 thieves after 20 minutes. The machine made its way to Africa. In Ghana it caught 600 thieves in 10 minutes. Then the machine came to Kenya. In the first 5 minutes...the machine was stolen."

Everybody laughed...it's a funny story! But it is a sad illustration of the culture here in Africa, specifically Kenya. Kenya boasts that 80% of its population calls themselves "Christians." But Kenya also continues to have one of the top 10 highest corruption rates in the world. How does that compute? if 80% of the population are self-proclaimed "Christians," shouldn't some of the Christian morals and values filter their way into the government and way of life here?

One would think that. There is a church on almost every corner here in Nairobi. A private Christian university down the street from where we're staying. The Lord has definitely blessed this country...there is a lot more money here than I expected. Like a LOT. In Zambia "downtown" was three buildings that had more than 5 floors. We spent 2 hours walking around downtown Nairobi today and didn't even see half of it. I see BMWs and Audis pretty regularly driving down the streets. There are lots of wazungu here - it's not abnormal to see white people here like it was in Zambia. I went to a 4 story mall on Friday. FOUR STORIES. With escalators and elevators. The crazy part? It's not even the nicest mall in Nairobi.

Yet even with all of this, I am reminded at every corner that I am in a "developing" country. Cell phones here require a pin number to be entered in when they are turned on - it helps prevent thieves from using them if they are stolen. Nearly all parking lots are gated and have guards on duty - you take a ticket when you enter the parking lot, and you must show the guard the ticket when you leave. (It's supposed to help prevent you car from being stolen beccause the thief wouldn't have the ticket when they tried to exit the parking lot.)

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There is a saying here in Africa that the Sub-Saharan church is "a mile wide, and an inch deep." The Gospel is so prevalent here - millions in Kenya have come to believe in Jesus. But after that, what? There has not been much done to invest in these millions of lives. We are learning that the grandparent's generation here has a deep knowledge of their faith in Christ, but the younger generations do not. It's becoming more shallow as the generations come. Even more so are the dozens of tribes in Kenya (there are 42 total) that have yet to be reached for Christ. The "majority" have heard and know, but what about the rest? There have been missionaries in Korr for over 25 years. They've only just finished translating 80% of the New Testament into Rendille. The Rendille tribe is still one of the most unreached in the world - and we've been sharing and showing Christ to them for 25 years! There are dozens of other tribes in Kenya alone who have no access to the Bible in their own language.

When God first started calling us to Kenya I was doubtful because of these statistics. 'Why would God call us to go where somebody has already done all of the work?' I thought. Now I see.

There still is much work to be done.