Isaiah 61:
“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon you.
The Lord has anointed you to bring good news to the poor,
to bind up the broken hearted, bring freedom to the captives,
and comfort those who mourn…
That they may be called oaks of righteousness.
You shall build up the ancient ruins;
you shall raise up the former devastations;
you shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations…
Instead of shame there will be a double portion.
Instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their lot. They shall have everylasting joy.”
Jesus cares deeply about discipleship. He commanded His disciples to, “Go and make disciples of all nations,” right before He ascended into heaven. Since our team has lived in Kenya, we have tended to become one-track minded, focusing more on community development than on discipleship. Since God called us here to help Camp Tumaini, that should be our sole focus, right? We came here to bring them clean water, houses, employment, and of course, the love and message of Christ.
And while all of those are beautiful things, God has expanded our purpose for being here. In the last few months, God has consistently given us a word about discipleship. He has been bringing more and more young people into our lives. They have literally been showing up at our door.
We are focusing on discipleship because Jesus told us to and because we see depth of faith as a real issue here. The church in Kenya focuses a lot on evangelism and physical needs. These are good things, but sometimes this causes Jesus-followers to lack depth in their faith.
Somehow students have heard that we have started sponsoring children, paying for their school fees. Secondary (high school) education is an elusive dream for most students. Most parents live day-to-day and struggle to put food on the table and cannot afford to send their children beyond primary school.
Discipleship and lack of funds for education and are both needs here. So why not create a way to meet both of them?
We are called to live out Isaiah 61 and raise up others who will live it out as well. The Six1 Project seeks to do just that. We have been empowering and discipling four local young people between the ages of 18-22. Each of them has finished secondary school and loves Jesus. We have a classroom and an office near the camps where they will offer afterschool tutoring, counseling, discipleship, and English classes to over 50 children ages 5 and above.
We have also started a sponsorship program to place students in secondary school who otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity. There are a lot of students waiting to be sponsored, and more are showing up every day! Please let me know if you are interested in getting involved by sponsoring a student! (Below are Mwangi and Wanjiro who are waiting to be sponsored!)
We are excited about how God is moving! Visit the facebook page and the website to find our more info and follow the updates: http://www.iiistrands.org/.
