A team of 5 from the UK (Clive & Ann McIntyre, Michael Woodger, Pamela Holloway and Alexandra Crawford) left on Friday 2nd November for the Barnabas Mission to Kenya, spending 18 days in Mombasa.
During the first week, we worked with Pastor Eric Otieno who started a church plant a couple of years ago in the Likoni area of Mombasa, under the cover of Sean & Joyce’s church.
Working in Likoni meant a daily journey across Mombasa town and a ferry crossing. The ferry crossing itself would only take about 10 minutes but sometimes we had to queue in the extreme heat for over an hour to get on it! Before we arrived, there had been some unrest in this area and so, as we walked around, we were careful who we stopped to talk to and in our approach. God led us to some wonderful people with whom we were able to share the love of Jesus and minister to in prayer. Eric’s church organized three days of open-air evangelistic outreach. They had a struggle finding a suitable and safe location for this, as many pieces of land to rent are owned by Muslims who would not, of course, permit Christian outreach to take place. But amazingly, God stepped in and after sharing their difficulty with a Christian brother, he suggested a place that could be used; it was right beside the local Police station where he worked. We certainly felt secure there as we proclaimed the Gospel message to the local people. On previous occasions, open-air outreach has always attracted a crowd, but this time, it was different. Although a small crowd did gather while the songs were sung, testimonies given and preach delivered, many held back. But when prayer was offered, the people came forward, as if out of nowhere. During our time in Likoni, we also enjoyed attending a mid-week meeting in a home and the Sunday Church Meeting, which included an infant Dedication and an African-style “Happy Birthday” celebration for Alex. On our return to the UK, we received a lovely message from Pastor Eric and his wife, Lucy.
“Praise the Lord and thanks for the mission in Mombasa Likoni. We enjoyed great time in your company doing door to door and open air meetings. The church in Likoni is experiencing one of the greatest moments since your coming. God is bringing new faces to the church and we are still doing follow up to our new converts. Brother Joseph who had a broken arm is now healed and the bandage has been removed – we praise the Lord for that. We look forward to continuing working together in the future. Thanks indeed, God bless the entire team from UK that joined us for the mission”.
The second week was spent working with New Life Church in the area of Bokole, in a different part of Mombasa, outreaching to the local community there. We walked around the area where the church is located, visiting people in their homes. We also visited a local hospital, reaching as many as we could on the different wards. We joined members of New Life church for their mid-week evening meeting and two Sunday morning meetings.
Thank you to all who lifted us up in prayer while we were away. We praise God for the salvations and healings witnessed, for making the mission itself possible, for travelling mercies, safety, protection, health, opportunities to strengthen our faith and above all, we thank the Lord for all the great and wondrous things He has done.
A short video is available below:
[embedplusvideo height=”462″ width=”580″ standard=”http://www.youtube.com/v/yV37MyK-zaw?fs=1″ vars=”ytid=yV37MyK-zaw&width=580&height=462&start=&stop=&rs=w&hd=0&autoplay=0&react=1&chapters=¬es=” id=”ep9493″ /]