What THIS is All About

Missions, Adventures, Journies, and more. What is all of this about anyway? What is our team going to do? The answers are below but let's start with a little over all background first.

In everyday usage missions means Christian witness in other lands. This use derives from the modern Protestant missionary movement of the past two centuries and indirectly from earlier Roman Catholic precedents.

But in recent decades the term missions has taken on additional nuances. Today some people insist that the term missions should be replaced by mission, in part because of the historical connection between missions and Western colonialism. Most often when people think of missions trips they think about the harm that was caused to some traditional African tribes by missionaries and other white settlers. In those times drastic measures were taken to make sure the “natives” forgot their complex culture to adopt a very Western/European way of life.

We are pleased to announce times have changed! Mission trips are now structured around a greater understanding of the cultures they come into contact with. Let us remember that Jesus commissioned his disciples to be “witness in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). He also said the key was love: “This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples – when they see the love you have for each other” (John 13:35).

Picture it this way:



The team began preparations for the 2008 Kenya short-term mission trip in April of this year. A team of 12 was gathered; and planning began. However about two weeks into planning, our trip was cancelled because of the political unrest in Kenya as a result of the December 2007 elections (see Is Kenya Safe? for more details).

But when the door was closed to travel to Kodera, God opened a new door. Now we are going as a small team of 6 to Nairobi to host a small scale workshop to develop the leadership of the Health Community, Church and all the teachers of Kodera.

This workshop has three goals:
1) teach goal setting and strategizing to streamline community efforts
2) teach basic computer training as required by the Kenyan teachers’ mandate
3) celebrate in the word of God with our fellow brother and sisters in Christ.

To accomplish these goals we will use The Pacific Institute’s materials on self-actualization, (setting goals, prioritizing needs, etc), from a Biblical perspective to help the group of leaders from Kodera become better equipped to help Christopher Sure (see Meet and Greet section) with plans for community development.

We will be brining laptop computers, essential applications and training materials to help the Koderan teachers fulfill the Kenyan teachers’ mandate, that all teachers are computer literate in 4 years, as well as instruction on how to utilize the computer as an awesome tool for ministry. And there will be a wonderful Biblical teaching on the Book of Ruth, as well as on Missions in Kenya as shared by the teams personal missional friends who reside in Nairobi.