Nairobi, Kenya Mission Trip Reflection
“I could talk to them endlessly about what a mature church looks like, but nothing beats experiencing the body of Christ in motion”
When I moved back to my home country of Kenya in 2018, I didn’t imagine that exactly (to the day) 4 years later, my home church — Midtown Baptist Temple (MBT) — would be with me in my city, seeking to reach it and ministering alongside me. Yet that’s just what happened in June of 2022; MBT was in Nairobi in a quest to fulfill the Lord’s command to teach all nations to observe the things that he had commanded us. It felt surreal. I missed MBT body life a lot after moving away, and the Lord privileged me to return to the States and visit with my church a number of times, seasons that were all extremely encouraging. But this time, MBT came to visit with me and the saints in Kenya!
Kenya is largely churched and reached with the gospel, but when I moved back home there, it was challenging for me to find a church that lined up with the biblical training I had received. I couldn’t help wanting to have a church body similar to MBT here. This was not so that I could be part of a cookie-cutter church movement, but because I’d long experienced the pattern of a biblical church ministry. Once you’ve tasted that, it is impossible to go back to just holding services and be content with it. God used the 2020 pandemic somehow to fold me, and later the fledgling saints and disciples here in Nairobi, back into MBT’s ministry through online Bible study and church, zoom prayer meetings and check-ins, etc. As a church that prays, MBT had a fellowship in the gospel with us that began before ever setting foot in Kenya through prayer, encouragement, planning, preparation, and giving.
“It’s what God accomplishes in the fellowship of believers — mutual comfort and edification”
Paul said to the Thessalonians: “But we, brethren, being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavoured the more abundantly to see your face with great desire” (1 Thes 2:17). 1 Thessalonians 3:6 shows that the Thessalonians were just as eager to see Paul and his posse. Paul knew how encouraging it would be for the Thessalonians to see him. He also knew that it would be a mutual encouragement, and that he and his team would be encouraged too. It’s what God accomplishes in the fellowship of believers — mutual comfort and edification.
Rom 1:11-12 For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established; that is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.
As someone who’d moved away from my home church, I was so encouraged to see familiar faces from the body in my city. It was so refreshing to be in prayer and in God’s Word with my brothers and sisters during their visit. To hear them “speak the same thing” in our Bible studies was a strengthening experience, because I sometimes feel like a lone voice in the field.
Those that were now part of our Bible study also saw the love and care of the church first-hand in making such a big trip to visit with and minister among us. I could talk to them endlessly about what a mature church looks like, but nothing beats experiencing the body of Christ in motion. I was so thrilled that this touchpoint happened, for the young believers to be encouraged in their faith by the mature believers on the trip that knew and cared about them before ever meeting them.
“The blessing of being with the body in my city has been immeasurable, and I’m thankful to the Lord for how he moves in his people”
The mission trip to Nairobi was a discovery trip, with one of the purposes being to see the field. You don’t know exactly what to expect on a discovery trip; what can be known with certainty are the spiritual realities of engaging in God’s mission. Paul purposed and determined to go to Jerusalem (Acts 18:21, 19:21, 20:16, Rom 15:25), in the same way that many would purpose to go on a mission trip. He didn’t know exactly what awaited him there, but he knew to expect afflictions and bonds as the Holy Spirit had testified to him (Acts 20:22-23). I shared with the team my own observations of churches in my city and the spiritual atmosphere from the four years I had been living there, but they were able to see for themselves and make their own observations of different aspects of the city and its general spiritual state. We walked through the book of Nehemiah in our morning devotions for the duration of the trip. From that we saw interesting parallels between several aspects of the trip and Nehemiah’s burden for Jerusalem, the prayer and preparation that preceded his visit there, his eventual journey to see its condition, and the process of doing the work that God had called him to do there in the face of much opposition.
On the first couple of days of going out into the city, it wasn’t easy to find people to engage with the gospel as we went around the malls and parks, but this just drove us to keep praying for open doors. We did meet a few people to talk to, some of whom joined us in Bible study. We also ended up having an open door with the main university in the city, but not without facing some hurdles (1 Cor 16:9). All the universities were closed and didn’t have much going on, but God made a way for us to meet a group of students and begin forming relationships with them and with the campus and its administration. We were able to engage the students through the platform that the Friends of Internationals (FOI) ministry at MBT provided. A few of them started attending our Bible study after that. This in-road into the campus is a testament to the blessing of the body of Christ; one person may not have been able to find an audience with the university, but the body working together did.
“One little girl came up to me afterwards, eyes glistening, and asked if we would have the VBS every week and told me how much she enjoyed it”
The team came prepared to minister to kids, and at the end of the week we had a kids’ VBS. A few neighborhood kids, the kids that are in Bible study with me regularly, and kids of friends showed up. I think that I can speak for everyone in saying that even the grownups were ministered to in the lesson about Jesus as the Good Shepherd. One little girl came up to me afterwards, eyes glistening, and asked if we would have the VBS every week and told me how much she enjoyed it.
On the Sunday that the team was in Nairobi, we had a church service. Several of us tune in to MBT’s services online, so it was special to have a live service in Nairobi. We had a small crowd of people attend, including those who are not believers yet. My childhood friend Ciru got baptized as picture of the Lord’s work in her life and her decision to follow him as a disciple. First fruits. Her family members who don’t share her faith yet were there to witness it and hear the gospel.
The Nairobi trip ended with an excursion out of Nairobi and into more of the country. It was sweet to experience the beauty of my homeland with my spiritual family. In the end it was hard to say goodbye to the team, but my heart was so full that they came. What was wonderful was that a part of the team — the whole Fyffe family — stayed behind to continue the work, reaching those that God brought their way, with James leading us in Bible study week to week. He was later joined by three more guys, and they focused on reaching men in the city. The blessing of being with the body in my city has been immeasurable, and I’m thankful to the Lord for how he moves in his people.
Jeanette Bichage is a former member of C&YA and LFBI graduate. She leads a Bible study in her hometown of Nairobi, Kenya.
