When the call to join the STEM program came, I had some doubts that needed to be dealt with. However, I had faith that the Lord would sustain me wherever He calls me. I am grateful for the opportunity to be part of this life-changing program.
I have developed deep convictions about trusting God. His will is perfect and His supply is reliable. STEM has strengthened my desire to continually grow into a better disciple of Christ. My relationship with God and other believers has also greatly been strengthened.
In the beginning, I struggled with making new relationships, preparing sermons, preaching them, and reading. But as I transition from STEM, I have confidence and self-belief, I can approach anyone without fear. I now enjoy networking. Consequently, my resource mobilization skills have grown. Moreover, am a reading leader, writing a few articles and hoping to publish books in the near future. Lastly, I can address large audiences without fear and firmly express my thoughts. Generally, leadership, conceptual, decision-making, and interpersonal skills formed in me during this term of service are invaluable.
The students in the region were supportive, warm, encouraging, and always reached out to check on me and also seek help. This was heart-warming because it provided such a wonderful environment for ministry. Secondly, the FOCUS staff and western region teammates in particular proved to be such a supportive team. In a special way, I am indebted to my partners who gave their time, and resources and made efforts to support and pray for me. The Kibabii University and Diploma faculty members especially the very social patrons were very helpful to me. I appreciate the individuals who have challenged me to grow and become a better person.
As I transit, I hope that God would continually stir up in me and other individuals a desire to support students’ ministry through FOCUS Kenya. I rejoice in what God has always been doing. May God bless the students’ ministry in Kenya!
I am Walter Wanjala. It has been amazing to stay in Narok as a STEM Staff for Maasai Mara University and Bomet University College Christian Unions. I joined the STEM program to serve without knowing what God was about to do with my life. It turned out to be an experience of wholesome transformation within and around. I have come to appreciate that God has in mind every bit of our steps in life. He always knows what He wants to do with our lives in every season. There has also been a deeper sense of intrinsic transformation and self-awareness stepped
The greatest fulfillment, with thanksgiving, has been to see the lives of students being transformed by the gospel.
STEM has enabled me to gain many skills that are critical for my life, career and ministry. I have been able to acquire skills such as Counselling, small-group management, public speaking and communication skills in leadership training and preaching, conflict resolution skills, Courtesy in hosting people, budgeting and financial management skills, enhanced skills in working with Excel Sheets, Microsoft Word, Publisher and PowerPoint, Stress management, policy papers and Constitution making processes, Team leadership and management of official meetings.
All these could not have been possible without the mighty hand of God. As evidenced in His abundant grace, He has carried me through the different experiences that came my way. I was often discouraged when things did not fall in place as I could have expected. But God’s mercy kept me refreshed and renewed my energy.
First, I wish to extend my heartfelt gratitude to my team leaders who offered the necessary directional support when I needed it. Also, I am thankful for every partner that God brought on my way to support God’s work in many ways. It was humbling to have had them walk with me in my ministry. Finally, I am thankful to the Maasai Mara University and Bomet University College CU students for offering a fertile ground for God to plant the seeds.
As I consider my transition to the corporate world, I hope to still be involved in student ministry. I pray that God will provide for His work through me. May the Lord help me to use my time and energy keep serving in FOCUS as an associate. Glory be to Our Lord Jesus Christ.
“Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me…!” so goes the classic Christian hymn composed by John Newton in 1772. This timeless song resonates with the present ‘wretched’ state of every human being at the sight of God. What inspired John Newton to pen down this song, that has remained alive and sung in so many languages decades later?
The amazing story
John Newton was born in 1725 in London to a Puritan mother who died two weeks before his seventh birthday, and a stern sea-captain father who took him to sea at age 11. After many voyages and a reckless youth of drinking, Newton was forced to join the British navy. After attempting to desert, he received eight dozen lashes and was reduced to the rank of a common seaman.
While later serving on the Pegasus, an enslaved person ship, Newton did not get along with the crew who left him in West Africa with Amos Clowe, an enslaver. After a while, a sea captain, at the instruction of John’s father, went out to look for him. His mission was a success and John was rescued from the African coast. However, during their voyage back to England, they were caught amidst a great storm.
The story is told that the storm swept some of his men overboard and left others on the verge of drowning. With both hands fastened onto the wheel of the boat, Newton cried out to God saying, “Lord, have mercy on us.” After eleven hours of steering, the remaining crew found safety when the storm calmed. It is aboard this ship that Newton surpassed his earlier immorality and impiety, blaspheming to a degree that shocked even the older men and narrowly escaped death by drowning as he fell overboard during a party. All the while he reviewed his life: his former professions of religion, the extraordinary twists of past events, the warnings and deliverances he had met with, his licentious conversation, and his mockery of the Gospels.
At first, Newton was convinced that he had sinned too much to have any hope for God’s forgiveness. Yet when the storm did not recede and he felt he would soon meet his God, he, at last, clung to Scriptures that taught God’s grace towards sinners, and he breathed his first weak prayer in years. As he was later to recall it, this was “the hour he first believed.” After this incident, Newton mustered enough faith and knelt between the palm trees and the sea, and rededicated his life to God.
After this episode, Newton never went back on his faith. He developed a consistent habit of prayer, and his watchword became humility: “What a poor creature I am in myself, incapable of standing a single hour without continual fresh supplies of strength and grace from the fountainhead.”
When he returned to England, John was ordained as a church minister and helped William Wilberforce in the fight for the abolition of slave trade. If it were not for the grace of God, how else could a slave trader turn around and fight the same trade that his family lived on?
Who then is worthy of God’s grace?
The Lexico defines grace as ‘(in Christian belief) the free and unmerited favor of God, as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowal of blessings.’ From John’s story, we can agree that he was the least to deserve God’s forgiveness and so are you and me. Reflectively look at yourself, and you will realize that you equally didn’t deserve God’s forgiveness for your sins. Sin is the only rift between man and God, and is the cause of the chaos in the world we live in today.
We are all born in sin. As soon as we come into this world, we begin our treacherous journey to destruction. It takes God’s intervention to move from this pathway to the one that leads to life. That means, getting to know God, who then reveals to us our depravity sending us to a moment of remorseful confession of our sins and relinquishing our will and life to God completely. This is how God demonstrates his grace towards us, that regardless of our rebelliousness (sin) towards him or the number of sinful acts we have committed, He forgives us unconditionally. What manner of love that God has lavished upon us!
Experiencing the amazing grace of God
Our sinful state can be termed as “Disgrace” which the lexico defines as ‘Loss of reputation or respect as the result of a dishonorable action’ and in singular ‘A person or thing regarded as shameful and unacceptable. In Zechariah 3, Joshua the priest’s sin is described as ‘filthy clothes’ which the LORD removes and clothes him anew. This is the way God takes us our disgrace.
This amazing grace of God is demonstrated through Christ Jesus, who left his heavenly glory, lived a life like us here on earth, and took on our sins with him to the cross at Calvary. He paid a debt he did not owe; he took our place that we may be free. The only thing we can do in response to this love is to confess our sins and believe in our hearts that Jesus is the son of God. Besides this, is to live in obedience to His word as we eagerly await His second coming.
When you think of how hopeless we are without God; how much burden of sin we have to bear each passing day; and how much suffering this world throws at us – then you appreciate the gracious nature of our God. He not only takes away our sins but gives us the grace to endure our pilgrimage with joy. We are assured of the hope of eternity with Him.
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
In any electioneering year, political conversations are more heightened and heated. Some people, like the youth who are very disappointed by the political leadership in the country and they have decided not to vote again. While the frustration and disillusionment are understandable, each of us has a responsibility as citizens of this country to vote for our leaders.
Politics & Governance; the Big Picture
Government is about influence, administration, and distribution of resources. The need for a stable and efficient government is the reason Christians need to participate in choosing the right people and seek opportunities to be in government and engage in a way that is consistent with its God-ordained purpose.
When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan Prov 29:2.
The Bible contains numerous examples of God’s people engaging in politics as part of a holistic approach to ministry that meets both spiritual and socio-economic needs which are examples that today’s Christians need to follow.
If we convince ourselves that politics only deals with a narrow subset of clashing politicians, and thus choose to withdraw, the society—and our neighbors—will be worse of. Political decisions made by politicians determine the priorities of our nation and affect our lives from our food on the table to the oil prices, to public debts, to our access to health, education, and infrastructure.
Electoral Cycle
An election is a cycle involving processes that occur before and after the elections. One of the critical aspects of the electoral cycle is joining a political party as a member and participating in the nomination process. This critical step, though overlooked, is where the leaders who are finally on the ballot papers have a chance of winning in the general election. This makes the process very fundamental because if good leaders don’t get through the nomination process it means we lose them on the ballot box. The nature of politics is that it is easier to vie and win while vying under a political party than as an independent candidate.
Kenya is a ‘democracy’ meaning that every citizen has a right to participate in the voting process which leads to regime change. Refraining from the electoral process does not consider the civic responsibility Christians have to steward the blessings and opportunities entrusted to them. Christians living in a democratic republic should seek to vote in a way that honors God and advances the wellbeing of their neighbor/nation (Watson, 2014).
God’s government
The Bible teaches that God appoints governments. In Romans 13:1-7, Paul describes the governing authorities as “ministers of God” and says they are responsible for administering civil justice. God in His sovereignty, uses human governments to carry out his will in the civil sphere. Voting is an exercise in delegating God-ordained authority, when Christians vote, they are delegating their ruling authority to others.
By voting, Christians are entrusting their “sword-bearing” responsibility to officials who will govern on their behalf. Failure to vote is failure to exercise God-given authority. Given the unavoidable role of politics and the direct, real-world impact that government decisions have on people’s lives, downplaying the responsibility to vote amounts to a failure in Christian discipleship (Closson, 2020). As God spoke to the Israelites about Babylon (where they were in exile) in Jeremiah 29:7 that they seek the welfare of the city, pray to the Lord on its behalf for in its welfare they too would find their welfare. We have a responsibility to make Kenya a better nation.
Consequential Avoidance
For believers who think that voting and engaging in the political processes is a waste of time, be assured that avoiding politics is a tacit endorsement of the status quo, which might include perpetuating flagrant injustice. A few examples will explain what not voting or not taking action means.
- American churches in the 19th-century refused to denounce slavery and in mid-20th-century remained silent on Jim Crow laws. By refraining from becoming “too political,” these churches were de facto supporters of evil institutions and laws.
- Secondly, the Church of England in South Africa’s (CESA) response to apartheid (1948-1994). Although the Church sought to take an “apolitical” stance, this pretense of neutrality allowed the CESA to be misled into accepting a social, economic, and political system that was cruel and oppressive. By trying to be apolitical, the church effectively sanctioned a system that tolerated profound injustice.
- The third is the German church’s capitulation to the Nazis in the 1930s which represents a similar failure. By not denouncing Hitler’s explicitly anti-Christian ideology, pastors failed to shepherd their churches during a time when faithful Christian discipleship was sorely needed (Closson, 2020).
If the gospel has implications for all areas of life, including politics, should not the Church and para-church organizations strive to ensure their members are equipped, and sufficiently informed to faithfully engage in the public square? Voting is a matter of stewardship, and Christians should be encouraged and equipped to steward their vote in a way that honors God and expresses their love for their neighbors.
Christian leaders must help their people make the connection between biblical principles and political responsibilities. In other words, it is not enough to pray for candidates and speak on a handful of issues when there is the ability to do more. In Genesis 3 a world plagued by sin, Christians are called to reverse the corroding effects of the fall wherever they exist. Our decision to cast an informed vote is an attempt to do just that (Closson, 2020). You fight corruption by having people who believe in integrity and will not foster corruption.
Withdrawal and complacency is not the answer to the struggles we have as a nation, we must engage biblically to truly become the light and the salt of the world, as God intended. This requires that we be prepared to grapple with the moral issues of our day, the reality of our party system (not based on ideologies or philosophy but election vehicles), and the nature of Kenyan politics. The Bible doesn’t clearly say which party we should join or which candidate we should support/vote for but He uses the Scripture to help us build convictions that should help us make informed decisions (Park, 2020).
Invitation to action
Where are the Nehemiah’s who will see the opportunity in these elections to rebuild Kenya by voting the right people in political leadership? As a Christian Kenyan citizen, make an intentional decision to engage in the whole electoral process; register as a voter, join a political party, participate in the nomination process, volunteer or support (morally and financially) a candidate of your choice, work for/with IEBC and vote for your candidate because that is good stewardship of our civic responsibility.
Christians are stewards of the ballot box, just like we are stewards of everything else God has given us.