The Vital Necessity Of Ministerial Training In Kenya
According to one estimate, there were 10 million professing Christians on the continent of Africa in 1900; by 2015, that number had swollen to half a billion; if the growth continues at the same rate, the number will be over one billion by the early 2040s. (https://www.christiancentury.org/article/notes-global-church/christianity-s-explosive-growth-kenya).
If these professing Christians are to persevere in the faith and grow in grace, they need to hear the voice of Christ minister to them week by week from the pulpits of Kenya. Tragically, what is most often preached is a mixture of health, wealth and prosperity with traditional religious practices, all “in Jesus’ name.” Such ministers are often completely untrained, sometimes having no education at all; if they possess some kind of ministerial qualification, it may only be a two week course in how to anoint with oil, exercise deliverance and bring a prophetic word “in the name of Jesus.”
The need for ministerial training is desperately urgent. Genuine believers need to be fed with the solid food of sound preaching, and false professors need to hear the challenge to repent and believe in the biblical Jesus for salvation.
TRAIN(Kenya) is committed to sponsoring and supporting the work of training men for the ministry. We work alongside local pastors and teachers, equipping them for this work and helping to provide the resources needed.
The Bible Light College, Kasei, Pokot North
TRAIN(Kenya) supports the work of the Bible Light College in Kasei. These are sections of reports given on the progress of the college over recent months:
October 2024: There has only been one new leader in Pokot in the past 20 years. We regard helping with the development of such leaders as a matter of great importance for the many existing churches and the future of the work. We are helping two men with support towards their studies in the training programme (TPC) in Nairobi, one from Pokot and one from Mombasa. The Pokot brethren have planned the Bible Light School in Kasei to start, God willing, in January 2025. They are hoping for 20 men from the area to be the first class. There is a large church building that can be used, and we have helped towards the building of specific facilities, which yet have to be completed.
December 2024: The three leaders have been discouraged that the facilities for the college have not been completed but we have encouraged them to start as they have facilities in the large church building. They recently spent a couple of days in Mumias with brother Elly Achok of the Gospel Mission Agency (GMA) church. They are going to use the materials the GMA uses for its Wisdom Training Centre studies which have been so much used of the Lord. They needed to be introduced to the material. Please pray that they might go ahead, not waiting for absolutely everything to be in place.
March 2025 (following a visit by two trustees): The need for basic ministerial training in Pokot has been acknowledged for many years. Only the three men (Andrew, Thomas and Joshua) had ever completed the TPC course in Nairobi, with many others attempting to do so, but being unable. The gap between their level of education and the classes in Nairobi was too great. The need was for something more basic in Pokot itself, to lay a foundation. It became clear during the visit that one of the reasons for delaying this had been a lack of confidence on behalf of the three trained men who would have to do the teaching – but by God’s grace they took the step in faith and astonished themselves by completing the first course on Scripture just a few days before we arrived.
The course is based on the Wisdom Training Centre studies developed by Elly Achok in Mumias and elsewhere. Nine men completed the four days of study, and we met a number of them. Indeed, they were amongst the faithful one-woman-men that we have mentioned! This is some of the encouraging feedback from students concerning their learning at the Bible Light College in Kasei:
1) The Bible is basic for the Christian’s life and practice.
2) All the books of the Bible have a systematic flow.
3) The Bible is God’s word written directly (like the 10 commandments written by the finger of God) and indirectly.
4) The Bible is complete, with no space or room for addition or subtraction.
5) The Bible is God’s word.
6) The Bible is a Christian’s rule of faith and practice.
7) All questions must be under Scripture.
8) General revelation talks about God, while special revelation reveals God himself.
9) The Bible is God’s breath.
10) God used men to write the Scripture.
April 2025: We have helped with running costs and infrastructure project for the
Bible Light College in Kasei (Pokot). They had their second teaching session in March and it
was reported that all the students had completed their work on time. The studies are based
upon the syllabus in the Wisdom Training Centres in Mumias and Mombasa (WTC). We are
also contributing towards expenses for two students of the Trinity Pastors’ College in Nairobi
(TPC) – Geoffrey Muketi from Pokot who is in his third year, and Milton Nyaritho from
Mombasa who has just commenced studies. This is part of the March report Muketi wrote.
“Thanksgiving for our March classes which went successfully. Pray that I would put more
effort and be faithful in the assigned work. And that I would grow in the knowledge of God
through these studies. Thanksgiving for the evangelistic opportunity that West-Pokot’s
pastors have arranged. Pray that the Lord will bring many of the teens and children to that
rally, and that the Lord’s saving power will graciously save our young ones. Pray also for me,
that the elders will release me and that I will be of great support to my home church
pastors.”
