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Three Congregations Visit Kenyan Ministries
MPEKETONI, KENYA (September 11, 2002) - Members of three Covenant congregations
traveled to Kenya this summer and visited three sites as part of an ongoing
ministry to that country by members of the Evangelical Covenant Church.
Pastor Marc Murchison of Christ Covenant Church in Florissant, Missouri,
and members Paul Macharia and Gordon Carlson were part of an eight-person
group visiting Kenya this summer. Others included Paul, Charlotte, Charissa
and Patricia Haworth of Bremerton Evangelical Covenant Church in Bremerton,
Washington, and Brian Simpson, a North Park Theological Seminary student
from Church of the Savior in Matthews, North Carolina.
Macharia, a native Kenyan, organized the trip to his hometown and gave
seminars along with Murchison and Carlson, who had spent time as Covenant
short-term missionaries in Kenya. The group also led a Vacation Bible
School program for four days and showed the Jesus film twice as part
of an evangelistic effort. Macharia has started an organization called
Agape, created for the purpose of running a school, an orphanage and a
medical clinic in Mpeketoni, located on the northern coast of the country.
The school is already up and running and it currently has 103 students, all
of whom are in third grade or below.
Simpson said Agape hopes to open an orphanage in the coming years. He noted
that there are approximately 3,400 orphans in the Lamu district, which
includes Mpeketoni and Lamu Island, located one hour from Mpeketoni. Lamu
Island, which has a population of around 20,000, has a Covenant presence
there through support of Christ Church. Lamu
Island is almost entirely Muslim and a new church planted by pastor John
Njaramba Kiruga has struggled under persecution since being founded in
April 1999.
Carlson made one other side trip during the team's visit to Kenya. He went
to a refugee camp to deliver letters that Sudanese refugees affiliated with
Grace Covenant Church in Chicago had given him. The Grace Covenant
contingent is part of an influx of the Lost Boys of Sudan, including
thousands of children and young adults who fled their country during its
civil war. Many were housed in Africa refugee camps for years before being
sent to the United States.
Copyright © 2008 The Evangelical Covenant Church. |
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