Christian Community: Forgiveness

Even when sin and misunderstanding burden the communal life, is not the sinning brother still a brother, with whom I too stand under the Word of Christ? Will not his sin be a constant occasion for me to give thanks that both of us may live in the forgiving love of God in Jesus Christ? Thus the very hour of disillusionment with my brother becomes incomparably salutary, because it so thoroughly teaches me that neither of us can ever live by our own words and deeds, but only by that one Word and Deed which really binds us together - the forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ.

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together

Real Life Bible Story

We read the Bible and read of the stories of old.  The stories seem so amazing and supernatural.  And then, you pray the words of Isaiah, “Here I am, Send me.”   According to the faithfulness of the Lord, He sends us and then we find ourselves in the middle of our own incredible Bible Story.  I found myself in the Kibera Slums of Nairobi, Kenya; standing on stage, singing songs of hope, sharing the Gospel, and staring into so many eyes urging them to come to Jesus, sit at His feet, and let Him live out a life of Purpose in their own lives.  So many faces whose names are known by our God whose arm is not too short to save, heard the message given by our team.  What was MOST encouraging, were the local ladies who came from Calvary Chapel Nairobi to participate in our skit: Cardboard Testimony.   Each lady wrote a few simple words of what they were before Christ: Prostitute to Bride of Christ, Man-pleaser to God Pleaser, Alcoholic to Free in Christ Jesus!  We gave the opportunity to receive Christ and many in the crowd raised their hands.  What a privilege to walk through this real-life Bible story!

Women's Prison Ministry

Langata Women's Prison Entrance

On Friday the 9^th of August we had the privilege of going to the maximum security women’s prison here in Nairobi.  After a bit of confusion regarding our paperwork and entering the prison we were invited in. We walked through the gate and all around the prison grounds we could see women dressed in striped dresses scrubbing the steps and sidewalks.  Guards were posted throughout the women as well to make sure everything was going smoothly.  We entered a room where we took our seats that faced about 20 inmates.  

These women, we later learned, were on death row.  It was very sobering to look into their faces and realize that the days were numbered for these women, and how important it was that we were there to share with them.  There were even a few  children in the group (the women are allowed to keep their babies with them until they are three years old). 

We sang some worship songs in Swahili, which the women enjoyed immensely with singing, clapping, and dancing.  We then each introduced ourselves and then one of our team gave the gospel message.  After the message we all stood in a circle, holding hands while a closing prayer was said. 

Natasha and Twinkle

We were then able to mingle with the group of women, which was such a special time.   In tears one of the inmates confided in us that she had not had any visitors in the last eight months, and just that very morning she asked the Lord to please send her a visitor - and there we were!  She thanked Jesus over and over for sending us. 

After spending our last few minutes with these beautiful women, we left, SO grateful for the opportunity to love them and share the great hope in Jesus!  There is a wide open door to these women, so please be praying for direction in how to effectively reach out to them.

When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?  And the King will say, 'I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters,  you were doing it to me!'

Matthew 25:39-40

Christian Community: Thankfulness

We thank God for what He has done for us. We thank God or giving us bretheren who live by His call, by His forgiveness, and His promise. We do not complain of what God does not give us; we rather thank Him for what He does give us daily. And is not what has been given us enough: brothers who will go on living with us through sin and need under the blessing of His grace? . . . In the Christian community thankfulness is just what it is anywhere else in the Christian life . . . If we do not give thanks daily for the Christian fellowship in which we have been placed, even where there is no great experience, no discoverable riches, but much weakness, small faith, and difficulty; if on the contrary, we only keep complaining to God that everything is so paltry and petty, so far from what we expected, then we hinder God from letting our fellowship grow according to the measure and riches which are there for us all in Jesus Christ.

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together

Christian Community: The Vision

He who loves his dream of a community more than the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter, even though his personal intentions may be ever so honest and earnest and sacrificial. God hates visionary dreaming; it makes the dreamer proud and pretentious. The man who fashions a visionary ideal of community demands that it be realized by God, by others, and by himself. He enters the community of Christians with his demands, sets up his own law, and judges the bretheren and God Himself accordingly . . . He acts as if he is the creator of the Christian community, as if his dream binds men together. When things do not go his way, he calls the effort a failure . . . So he becomes, first, an accuser of the bretheren, then an accuser of God, and finally the despairing accuser of himself. Because God has already laid the only foundation of our fellowship, because God has bound us together in one body with other Christians in Jesus Christ, long before we entered into common life with them, we enter into that common life not as demanders but as thankful recipients.

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together