Impact of Missions: A Heart for Kenya
by Duncan Muriithi
Kenya is a top destination for tourists escaping cold winters in the Americas and Europe for warm weather and safaris. But to me, Kenya is home. I was born and raised there until I came to Kansas City to join my brother and attend college. Seven months after being in Kansas City, I was invited to Midtown Baptist Temple (MBT) through Friends of Internationals (FOI). I heard the gospel for the first time based on scripture, and two months after that, I placed my faith on Christ. I had the privilege of being discipled by a dear friend and brother named Man Kit.
Being a part of a church like MBT, whose culture is that of Eph 4:1-16, it was clear that there was a path of spiritual growth for me. So I plugged into the work of the ministry in FOI and C&YA. I was invested in, and I got to see the value of what was being poured into my life by how it transformed me. If you attend MBT for any length of time, you can count on hearing this heart of our leaders, “We want to be a soul-winning, disciple-making, leadership-equipping church planting church.” In that statement alone, there is a clear trajectory that I can trust God with as a believer. As I am getting invested in, it’s only reasonable for me to invest in others also (2 Tim 2:2). I can anticipate for God to use me either in church planting, or if I stay in Kansas City, that God would have a specific plan for me. By knowing what I was trusting God for ultimately, then I knew preparation meant for me to be faithful and making full proof of where God had me.
“God’s mission (His will) is the same no matter the geographic location, and God’s plan (your calling) is to use you for that mission.”
That is my brief testimony, but the main objective of this blog is to communicate my heart for Kenya and my experience on a Mission trip that we took as a church to Nairobi, Kenya in June of 2024. I am aware that a lot of you will not relate with Kenya as your home, but I do hope that this can be encouraging to you whatever stage of life you are in and wherever you are from. God’s mission (His will) is the same no matter the geographic location, and God’s plan (your calling) is to use you for that mission (2 Cor 5:19).
Why Kenya? Well, by the grace of God, we have a church plant in Nairobi. After a long season of praying as a church for a key man to shepherd that flock, one of our own leaders, Myles Cheadle, answered that call. But as we were praying, we had a season where our brothers and sisters in Christ in Kenya were without a shepherd. As a result, MBT sent short-term and long-term mission trips in order to encourage and support them. There is just something about coming together as a body of Christ and lifting up our burdens to God. For me, seeing MBT come together to pray for Kenya — well that did something in my heart. Things that moved my pastor’s hearts moved mine. I guess I can be a little biased too because that’s my home, but with a renewed perspective, I was able to see what they were missing out on by not having a pastor. It’s the equipping work that we have at MBT through discipleship, LFBI and the pulpit ministry. I think of Nehemiah and his heart for God’s people that were in Jerusalem: their state of affliction and reproach, walls broken down and clearly having no man of God with them. Nehemiah 1:4 says that he (Nehemiah) wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven. Soon enough Nehemiah goes to Jerusalem, rebuilds the wall, and establishes leaders before going back. I got to watch MBT do this as a church. This resulted in more fruit: a Bible study established, salvations, and long distance discipleship, which I got to partake in by discipling a young man named Brian with Ken (another young man from Kenya) as an apprentice, so my heart became even more invested in what God was doing.
An opportunity to go on a mission trip opened up in June of 2024, and my wife Ali and I were praying if we should go. God opened the door and provided for us, so we went. Preparing for this trip was a stretch for me for many reasons. I was going to meet my disciple in person for the first time, and that got me excited to see him and to see what God had been doing the previous years. At this point Myles had asked me to consider and pray about joining him, moving with his family in 2025 to be a part of the church plant. Along with all of this, I was helping lead the team from MBT on that trip and I was going to see my family, so, to say the least, my heart was on a roller coaster of emotions that I had to bring before God. I went from fear of all the ways I fall short to having joy in the privilege of being a part of such a work with an amazing team and God on our side.
Our main objective was to encourage the members of that church (Living Faith Nairobi) and to evangelize. This turned out to be such an encouraging trip, not only for them, but for our team as well. All our prayers in preparation were answered greatly! LFN was such a great host, they held a youth event that we were able to support them in and we got to see young men and girls saved. Months later there’s still a couple of them that attend the church. The women had a conference, we hosted a worship night, we evangelized in the neighboring malls, and in all these activities, we saw God move. There were times that the weather was not going to be in our favor, we prayed, and it changed to our favor. Other times mall security would follow us to stop us, but connections were made anyway without any of our team getting in trouble. For a church that did not have an active pastor with them, LFN encouraged us with their zeal for God’s Word, their desire for their pastor to join them, and faithfulness to what God has given them so far. They were learning to live with God as their all in all.
Do you currently call MBT your home church? If yes, I humbly encourage you to be faithful. Faithfully anticipate for God to use for His mission. Through His Word, Spirit, the local church and LFBI you can be equipped to win souls, train leaders and send/be sent to reproduce the same. I encourage you to also go on a mission trip and see the work God is doing in other places. You will learn from other believers, you will be able to teach as well, and due to the exposure, you may grow a burden for this place or foreign missions in general. God doesn’t need us for this mission, but He wants to use us and promises to be with us in it (Matt 28:18-20).
Duncan is a member of Midtown Baptist Temple and a part of C&YA. Duncan and his wife Ali will be moving to Nairobi, Kenya in the summer of 2025 to assist Pastor Cheadle and the believers there in the establishment and growth of the local church.