Nairobi Community Christian Church

Well, it's been a while since I've posted. Sorry for the lapse. But you know what that means...LOTS of posts in the next few days! Lord willing, I will get caught up this week. Joe is going out to Loita, where he used to live in the bush, to deal with some property issues. After contemplating a number of days, I decided to stay behind as we are short-handed here in Nairobi with our teammates being on furlough. Please pray for:

Joe as he travels out and has MANY meetings - that God would be glorified and people would be filled with the Holy Spirit as they discuss the property issues.

For me as I stay behind and get caught up.

On to the church opening...

Nairobi Community Christian Church had its opening service on June 7. We were excited to see the great turn out of both new folks and supporters from other CCC congregations in Maasailand.

Here is the main portion of the new space. If you look at the former pictures, you'll notice the wall with the door has been knocked down to create one large room. We had 50 seats set up in the hall - 48 of them were used that day.

James Sinkua gave the opening message about living in the Spirit, that it doesn't make us perfect, but it gives us the power to strive to be like Christ.


Here he is in the area that serves not only as the pulpit but as his office as Chairman of Community Christian Church throughout Kenya. During his message, he also presented the idea of cell church structure to those present. This seems to be a new concept in Kenya. Pray for further understanding as we move forward.


Here James is preaching with Simon Chirchir translating into Swahili. Another large emphasis of the day was the desire to see the church be accepting of all peoples in Kenya no matter what tribe they are. This is especially important after the post-election violence in January 2008 which was fueled by tribal divisions. Nairobi CCC seeks to be ministers of reconciliation and peace within Nairobi.

James also did a great job on spelling out the three "C"s of Nairobi CCC. The desire is for this church to be a place where people "Celebrate" the joy in Christ, "Connect" with others in fellowship, and "Contribute" to the body of Christ through their gifts and talents. Here you can see a few pictures of us enjoying the second "C."



Please continue to pray for Nairobi CCC as we grow. Tomorrow Joe will be presenting a message on the authority of Scripture and our role in it.

Visitors - Loved Ones

Our visitors from Lakeside Christian Church arrived last night. Joe met them at the airport. They were all there and were only missing two pieces of luggage. This is great as they had to reschedule at the last minute since they were to be on the "new" direct flight that has been postponed in it's maiden voyage. Delta finally came through in rebooking them. The more amazing part is that the airport actually called up when the bags arrived! Maybe Kenya is coming up in the world of customer service! We are getting ready to head to bed for hopefully a full might of sleep.

Nairobi Church Plant

"This has been a long time coming." That's what our teammate, Connie Crum, said when we first announced that a group was coming together to plant a church in Nairobi as a branch of Community Christian Church (CCC).

As you may recall, CCC is the registration that was given to the churches planted over the past 32 years by CMF in rural areas of Kenya. The vision of the CMF team those many years ago was to reach those who were unreached in the bush areas of Maasailand and Turkana. Now some of the over 10,000 Kenyans who are a part of CCC are launching out as missionaries from their bush origins to the urban context.

Connie is right. This vision has been a long time coming and has gained ground mainly through one individual in CCC - James Sinkua.

James is currently serving as chairman on the national level of CCC. He was in a group of youth Joe originally worked with in Maasailand. God has grown him over the years, developed gifts of leadership, vision, and preaching within in him. His wife, Diana, has been an encouraging and strengthening force in this work.

It is exciting to see this dream realized for James and for CCC as they continue to reach out beyond their normal boundaries. Please pray for CCC as they continue in this missional mindset.

James and Joe have been meeting together with six others in April to brainstorm and pray about how to begin this church. Last month, they were presented with an opportunity to begin renting a location for the church in an area known as Dagoretti Corner. It is a small "hall" above a chemist shop.

Here you can see the main room with James and Moses standing in front of a make-shift wall that houses a second room. This wall has since come down (new pictures hopefully next week!) with other touch-ups done.

The first service of this church will be held THIS SUNDAY, June 7th. While this may seem quick in our estimation, we just have to remember...this has been a long time coming.

Please pray for this first gathering of the church. Pray that it will be a light into the community of God's love. Thank the Lord for his working through each involved and his timing of this first service. Pray for James as he gives the sermon. Rejoice with us in this new adventure for CCC.