This year, there was joyous celebration among the congregation of Kajiado in Massai-land when their church was completed after many years of waiting.

Pastor Obadiah Muchene, watched as young and old from near and far, gathered excitedly to see the new building. 

In the midst of all the activity, a little Massai girl made her way to him and tugged his sleeve

She wanted to know why everyone was so happy. Pastor Obadiah smiled broadly and motioned to the building, "its because the new house of God among us" 

The little girl looked at the church for a long moment then asked in awe, “God wants to live here?”

When pastor Obadiah Muchene first shared Christ with the Massai people of remote Kajiado in Massai land, he faced many challenges. The people held strongly to their traditional religions, cultural practices that opposed Biblical principles, and were skeptical about Christ’s ability to save them. Through much effort, prayer and by God’s grace, more and more people in Kadjiado began to accept Christ over the years and receive Pastor Muchene’s words with great enthusiasm. The new believers began to meet faithfully to pray and hear the word of God every week. Many would travel for many miles, braving the dust, wind and scorching heat, to listen to Pastor Obadiah’s teachings. They would gladly sit under a tree or in a field to commune with the God they had come to love so dearly. They all prayed though that one day, they would have a church building of their own. God heard their prayer when CMA built a simple but beautiful church for the congregation.

Now, the little girl in Massai-land who’d wondered why God wanted to live among her people, knows, like so many of her people in Kadjiado, that the church building is a symbol God loves them dearly and wants to live among them. Not just in their humble church, but in their hearts.

Mt. Elgon

During the beginning of 2008, Kenya was wracked with post-election violence that claimed hundreds of lives, destroyed properties and homes and left thousands internally displaced. The Mt. Elgon area was one of the worst hit in the country. A crippling fear overtook the people and nearly all activity came to a standstill. Transport was disrupted and shops, businesses and schools alike were all closed. Yet in the midst of this violence and chaos, the work on the churches in the Mt. Elgon area kept going strong and became a powerful symbol in the entire community that God was in their midst and had not forgotten his people. Their great enthusiasm in continuing the work showed that even in their trying times, the people of Mt. Elgon had also not forgotten him. When the churches in Kapsokwony and Kamtiong were completed, there was great rejoicing among their congregations and heartfelt thanks. As peace is restored in Mt. Elgon after these difficult months, the churches will play a crucial role in the healing process and serve to extend God’s love, forgiveness and reconciliation in the lives of the people of Mt. Elgon after all the pain and devastation they’ve experienced.

When CMA first began training Lay Leaders in the Mt. Elgon area in 1996, Pastor Simon Naibei was one of the first graduating students. He had grown up attending CMA’s Vacation Bible Schools (VBS) and Youth Camps, then after graduating from the Lay Leaders Training, had gone to Bible College to better equip himself to outreach his people with the Word of God.

Kapsokwony, Mt. Elgon 

When CMA’s Christian Outreach went to visit Pastor Simon in his church in Kapsokwony, they couldn’t help but be moved by his powerful and fiery outreach to the people. His little mud church with a tin roof held over two hundred members on Sundays and hosted many Bible studies and children and youth outreaches during the week. Yet the church, which had been put up my missionaries from Australia many years back, was falling apart. Over the years, the congregation had put together their meager resources and bought wooden poles to keep up the structure, but it was rapidly disintegrating.
When CMA decided to put up a new church for the people of Kapsokwony through your generous support, the whole community was elated. This year, CMA will host a VBS in the new church and the Sunday school of over 140 kids will all get to attend.

Kamtiong, Mt. Elgon

Pastor Brian Psumeken was also a graduate of CMA’s Lay Leaders Training program. His passionate desire to outreach his people had created a stir in the community as he spoke of Christ in marketplaces, outdoor churches, Bible studies and even door to door.

Many accepted Christ and began to meet regularly to grow in their faith and knowledge of God. One of the people whose lives was strongly impacted by Pastor Brian was an elderly man who he had met during a door to door outreach. The elderly man had accepted Christ and was so moved to serve him that he had given his land so that the believers could have a place to learn about God and pray together every week. Pastor Brian planted a church in the area and placed a temporary structure made of sticks and covering iron sheets where the congregation grew to over 170. Through the support of other partners, CMA provided the first vernacular Bibles ever printed in their language to the people and when CMA LLT leaders returned to visit Pastor Brian, they were moved to the heart by the deep commitment and love for God the congregation of Kamtiong had. Through your generous support, CMA was able to put up for these believers a small church where they worship today. The congregation, eager to be a part of the building process, gladly joined in and worked hard to dig the foundation and aiding the workers, causing the construction to finish much sooner than anyone could have expected. The large Sunday school class of Kamtiong will also be attending VBS at the Kapsokwony church this year, and are excited to now be able to host their own VBS and youth camp for the community too.