Missions: African Outreach
In 2000 we joined in covenant with EDFRI International to build an orphanage and Bible training center in the Isiolo-Meru section of Kenya, which is a difficult to access mountainous region of the country that is home to impoverished and needy Kenyans. This area has also been devastated by AIDS and suffers greatly from Muslim persecution.
The Isiome Centre of Hope is designed to house 300 orphans as well as 200 ministers in its Bible Training Center, complete with feeding & medical services. Since its building we have also regularly sent emergency funds for disaster relief in times of both famine and flooding, when many homes have been swepy away in the rainy seasons. In addition, we fund yearly evangelistic outreaches that enable ministers and trainees to take the Gospel to surrounding villages, including in the bush, where people have not been reached before. Several of our messages have been translated and printed in Swahili for distribution to the non-English speaking population.
The work at the Isiome Hope Centre continues to thrive. The orphanage actively cares for several hundred children at a time, many of whom are rescued from the streets. The goal is to provide temporary shelter and care and medical treatment until they can be placed in a permanent home with a good Christian family.
In conjunction with this basic care, they are also given godly training and the opportunity to learn a trade in one of the Center's training classes.
The Center also provides opportunites for the community at large: Spiritual, medical, legal as well as job training through these facilities:
- Isiolo Chapel
- Free Medical Clinic
- Free Food Distribution
- Free Sewing Classes
- Free Metal Work Shop Training
- Free Counseling and Legal Assistance
The Bible Training Center conducts training sessions year round, during which time ministers & students are also provided housing and food.
During evangelistic outreaches across Kenya, including bush villages, the trainees & ministers take the Gospel to areas where the people have not been reached. Often these include Muslim strongholds where Christians are greatly persecuted.
Last year a new evangelistic outreach was launched: New Season Wave, reaching into other African nations: Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda, & Ethiopia, where over 370 new churches were planted. In addition to these, in six other nations a solid base for Christian evangelism is underway.
To facilitate the preaching & teaching of the Gospel to these tribal nations, several of our publications have been translated and printed in the Swahili language.
