Siaya Diocese, Kenya, Training of Trainers

We have just completed our first "Training of Trainers" seminar. The seminar was in Siaya Diocese of Kenya Mennonite Church, northwest of Kisumu. We met at Majiwa Mennonite Church. It is an unusual, 8 sided building, with the sanctuary in the center and classrooms around the outside. This church also operates a pre-school for local children to prepare them for entering elementary school.

Standing with some of the leaders who attended the Training of Trainers seminar, Majiwa Mennonite Church in the background

There were 10 regular attenders, including bishop Moses Otieno. The purpose of this seminar is to prepare pastors and other leaders to lead training groups in basic leadership training. Many of the lay leaders, and some of the pastors, had no training in Bible knowledge and leadership skills, yet they have been placed  in leadership positions because there is no one else to lead the new church fellowships. The trainers are those who have had some training in the past and have experience as a church leader.
The seminar introduced them to the concepts of training and to the curriculum they will be using, which are 1) life of Christ and 2) Mennonite history and faith. They were especially interested in the lessons on Mennonite history and faith. We heard comments such as, "Now we know what the name 'Mennonite' means," and "we have never heard that before."

Meeting with future leadership training "trainers"

At the end, we asked them to describe the training group they will be starting, and they described groups to be held in 10 locations, with possible attendance of 6 in each group to 40 in each group. They have a lot of vision and enthusiasm to start their groups. For us, this represents answered prayer. But we continue to pray that they will follow through and the training program will prepare many for church leadership.

Fishing boat on Lake Victoria, near Homa Bay, Kenya

On the way back to Tanzania, we took a shortcut that includes a 45 minute ferry ride across part of Lake Victoria west of Kisumu. It was a pleasant ride and a chance to relax before continuing the journey on to Tanzania. Again impressed with the natural and cultural beauty of East Africa.

Transition

We are trying to move into a different phase of our work. Since we arrived near the end of September, we have been visiting the Mennonite church locations, talking with bishops and pastors, listening to their vision, and trying to distill what we are hearing into a leadership training plan that will strengthen the churches. That was the first phase and we decided to use the first months, to the end of 2012, for that. Now we have done it. So we are moving from the exploration phase into the implementation phase, and trying to adjust our thinking in that direction.
In summary, the plan we are proposing is to prepare local pastors to lead training seminars for their lay leaders. We are committed to work in the background in a "capacity building" role so the program will not depend on us or other persons and resources from outside donors. In the past, when missionaries left, too often their programs also stopped eventually, because they depended too much on outside expertise and funds. We were told, "We want a program so that, when you leave, we can carry it on." So one of our priorities is to keep it as simple and "grass-roots" as possible.
The Mennonite churches have vision for evangelism and church planting, but they lack people with training to put in leadership in the new churches. So that is the need we are focusing on first. Some of the subjects they would like to focus on are Mennonite history and faith, discipleship, Bible study methods.
We will begin with "training of trainers" workshops for the pastors, and we are scheduling them in the various dioceses (the Mennonite churches in East Africa is organized in dioceses, each led by a bishop). The focus is on basic, entry-level Bible study with training in discipleship and leadership. As we have presented the plan to the leaders, they have all said, "this is what we need." We will begin with the first of these, in a sort of pilot program, on January 21 in Kenya, with others to follow in February.
So we feel like we are about to begin what we came to do, even though we are still working to develop materials. Books and printed materials are too expensive for many of the people in rural areas, so we are developing most of our own materials, using the Bible as the main textbook. Recently, we have been thinking about the need to provide materials in Swahili, especially Anabaptist-oriented, and we are considering a special project to develop a translation team to make some of the key books and materials available. On our recent trip we had a request for a Swahili translation of the "Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective" by a pastor who has read it, and that started us thinking. Several times we heard concern that the younger leaders are borrowing from other traditions and denominations, and therefore a need for more awareness of our own tradition.
There is a spiritual struggle as well. Some of the churches face a need for revival, to move beyond a focus on organization to working and walking with God in the power of the Holy Spirit. So as you pray, think of the training programs and those who will benefit from them, pray also for the present church leaders, for sensitivity to God's Spirit.

Morogoro

Morogoro is a small city a couple hours drive west of Dar es Salaam. The Mennonite church in Morogoro is in the process of building their place of worship, as many buildings are built in Tanzania. The first Mennonites in Morogoro were from northwestern Tanzania where the Mennonite church started in the 1930's, and had moved to Morogoro for jobs. That is the way many of the Mennonite churches started in the cities throughout Tanzania, and even today, many of the churches in the cities are mostly people with roots in northwestern Tanzania.

Morogoro Mennonite Church

When the Mennonites  were given a plot of ground several years ago, they put their building plans on hold and built to serve the local community instead. They built a computer lab to offer classes to local youth, a classroom where they offered sewing classes, and a preschool. They soon discovered church attendance was increasing with the increase coming from the local area.
Later, they began to build their building, which is now under roof, but not yet completed. The pastor, Michael Rubingu, is native to the local area and relates well with the community.

Children playing on the grounds of the church-sponsored pre-school

We also enjoyed the hospitality of cousin Mary Hershberger and her husband, Dave Kraybill. Dave is on the staff of Sokoine University, through an arrangement with Ohio State University, where is a professor of agriculture.

Pastor Michael Rubingu, his wife, Gloria Bontrager, Dave Kraybill in front of the church