CBM Team Meetings in Africa

Meeting with the Canadian Baptist Ministries (CBM) 

Kenya team in Nairobi, Kenya 

This past week, Erica and I had the joy of meeting with our Canadian and national field staff in both Rwanda and Kenya. The longer we serve in Africa, we appreciate the fact that CBM and our partner churches are more than people with a mission, but people on a mission. Day by day, our colleagues and partners are living out holistic faith in community: strengthening local churches in participating in the transforming work of hope and healing through their words and their deeds.

Each of our colleagues are working in different areas of focus within our ministry partnerships. Over the next few months, we are planning on featuring a short interview with each of our team members to help you get a wider picture of the work of Canadian Baptist Ministries in Africa. We are very much aware that the ministries that we are apart of are directly connected to our friends and supporting churches in Canada. We are on this journey together!

KENYA

In Nairobi, we shared a great day yesterday with our colleagues Ruth Munyao, Pauline Kariuki, and Wayne & Maureen Morgan. In the words of Pauline, “We are very thankful for God’s care and protection.” The security situation in Kenya has reminded us of the importance of supporting and caring for one another.

In Prayer
Please pray for the work of the Guardians of Hope (GOH) with the ACC&S and ABC churches in Kenya. As we celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Guardians of Hope, there are three important new areas that you can be praying for:
(1) In October, the Kenyan GOH leaders will be travelling with Erica to Addis, Ethiopia to participate in training on “Gender and Human Rights in HIV and AIDS Education”. This will be the first step in a deliberate move increase the intentionality and effectiveness of the GOH in addressing gender and inequity issues in combatting the spread of HIV and AIDS, as well as in the support of people living positively with HIV.

(2) This November will be the launch of a new initiative to enhance the pycho-social support within the groups. Our key GOH leaders from Kenya and Rwanda will be introduced to the "Groups of Hope" approach developed by our colleague Faith Holwyn 

(3) Kamp Tumaini is an exciting new initiative of the Kenyan GOH projects. For the next three summers, orphans and vulnerable children within the GOH groups will be attending a summer camp program designed to share God’s love and support as Kenyan and Canadian volunteers provide mentorship and encouragement. Please pray for wisdom in the selection of volunteer camp counsellors and leaders as we receive applications for the camps.

Please also remember our team in your prayers. You can follow along with the Morgans through their blog at www.morgansinkenya.blogspot.com

RWANDA

In Kigali, we spent several days with our new colleagues Jonathan and Janice Mills, their son Robert, and the CBM Rwanda team, including Andre Sibomana, and Darrell & Laura Lee Bustin.

The Mills family have found a rental home are beginning to settle in very well.  Robert has started school and mom and dad are beginning to master driving on the steep and often narrow roads of Rwanda.

The Bustins, who have also just returned from Canadian home assignment, are in their last four months of part-time language study, and very involved in theological education, evangelism, and short term missions in Rwanda.

You can follow along with the Mills on their journey with CBM in Africa through their blog at www.cbmmills.blogspot.com and the Bustin family through their blog at www.bustininsfrica.blogspot.com

Janice Mills and Erica in Kigai, Rwanda

In Prayer
Please remember the Mills family as they begin their life and ministry in Rwanda. We are praying that their family will continue to feel at home and settled in Kigali, and that they will enjoy deepening relationships with our ministry partners and colleagues. Both Jonathan and Janice bring wonderful spirits of compassion and inclusion. We are so thankful to God for the blessing of new friends and colleagues.

We pray for Darrell and pastor Nathan’s work in helping the Rwandan Association of Baptist Churches (AEBR) in strengthening its ministries of discipleship and church growth. Please remember them over the coming months as they work on integrating a community evangelism program called “E3" into the over all outreach ministries of the AEBR. We are very excited for the prospect of a AEBR/CBM/E3 partnership and short term mission project in 2015.

Please join us in praying for the AEBR as it works with the Rwandan Education Board in assessing its secondary schools and teacher professional development programming. This is an area of the ministry of the AEBR that CBM has invested in over the past five years. We are prayerfully walking with the AEBR in the discernment of the next chapter of this important ministry.

Meeting with the CBM Rwanda team in Kigali