I Commit You to God...

 

The Top Tabitha Bible study leaders

“Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” Acts 20:32

Leaving Kenya after 17 years of life and ministry in November brought a mixture of emotions.  John and I were at peace that it was time to return to the States, and we loved the idea of living closer to our family.  But closing the Kenya chapter wasn’t all easy, and leaving my beloved Tabitha Ministry leaders was the toughest part.  We have worked side by side for years and have seen God do so much!  But, as Paul committed his elders at Ephesus to the Lord in this passage from Acts 20, I also committed these women of God into the loving hands of God and into the word of his grace.

It was a joy to participate in five main Tabitha celebrations with about 600 leaders plus pastors to recount the mighty works of the Lord.   Each gathering had testimonies of lives changed, leaders developed, churches built up, and women and husbands who have come to Christ. 

Celebration/Farewell at Silibwet

Hellen, a leader in the Mongango area, testifying of God's dramatic change in her life when she met Jesus.

And of course there were songs, skits, gifts and the essential cake sharing.

Mugutma Center leaders blessing me with a plaque

Feeding the first piece of cake to Peris at the Silibwet Celebration.

Remembering how God has so marvelously worked, it leaves me with full confidence of his continued faithfulness to build his church, using Tabitha Ministry as he chooses.  He has raised up humble, committed leaders on three different levels of leadership in 250 village Bible studies.  He loves them and will continue his good work in them and through them.

Just some of our Bible study leaders, at the Makimeny Celebration, most of these having served for ten years or more.

  We loved working together in all kinds of ways!

I am especially thankful for Peris Rotich  who will continue to lead Tabitha Ministry, as they had been doing with me for years. What a faithful God we all serve, who will complete the good work he has begun!

 

GETTING GOD’S WORD  INTO PEOPLES’ HEARTS AND LIVES!

My most consistent prayer for Tabitha these past six months has been to get the studies we have published off the shelves and into the Church.  God is at work!  And we are encouraged!  The following  conversations are just from the last week:

All of our students at the Kaboson Pastors’ Training College worked through your study on Joshua in their small groups this past term.  The well-developed questions are really helpful in getting to the meaning of the passage for each of us.  (Rev. Willy Kosgei, Principal, KPTC) 

Graduates from KPTC November 2021

Rev. Stephen Ngenoh, former principal of KPTC, with his wife, Alice

The Tabitha leader in my local church in Moburo  and I are leading a Bible class before the church service for everyone, studying Joshua, using the English and Kipsigis versions of the study. (Alice Ngenoh,  recently retired Academic Dean for KPTC)

Betty Mutai, Tabitha leader at Moburo, leading the Bible class with Alice

Pastor Joseph Sang

I have used several lessons from your Walking with God through Crises for my sermons and then we get into small groups and work through the questions.  (Pastor Sang)

We can help you get these studies into a free digital format on an app available to everyone who has a smart phone. ( A British visitor, CEO of African Pastors Fellowship)

WOW!  We are thrilled!    Praise God for using these studies to get people into His life-changing Word.  This gives us extra motivation to complete the John and Acts studies that we are presently working on.  Pray for God’s anointing on this process and his continued using of the studies already done, for men, women and youth in our churches.

 

 

 Walking with God through the Covid Crisis

When things locked down in Kenya a year ago, Tabitha Ministry stopped our Bible study group meetings. We didn't know when we would be able to resume them, or how many leaders we might lose to the pandemic.  We didn't know if many of our members who rely on local markets for purchases and business would be able to feed their families.  With churches closed, where would the fellowship happen? 

Our top leaders meeting in January

God worked in ways we could not have imagined.  We heard testimonies from our leaders when we resumed meeting in October.

Families: With schools closed and curfews in place, men, women and children spent much more time together.  Parents reported getting to know their children better than they ever had.  Christian parents had special times of devotions and teaching with their children.  Some marriages were strengthened.  One of our top leaders saw a significant movement towards Christ and becoming a responsible provider in her husband and is still rejoicing in this change.

Church Growth:  A hospital employee at the Kapsoiyo local church had been using our "Walking with God through Crises" Bible study guide with his family.  He urged his pastor to obtain copies for the church.  The pastor did so, and divided the congregation into 11 areas.  For each area, he chose four laypeople to lead, and gave them a copy of the guide in Kipsigis.  Each Sunday during the lock-down, these layleaders visited two families each, using these studies to share God's Word, and worshiping together.  The church members grew in faith and fellowship, and at least two men came to Christ through these visits.  Praise the Lord!  In many other areas, our Tabitha leaders were chosen to lead house fellowship groups during the lock-down.

We were very concerned about Marta, one of our older leaders, and urged her to stay at home during the pandemic.  She did, but could not turn away the children in her neighborhood who were home from school.  Each day she welcomed them and taught them the Word of God.  They began asking her to teach their parents, too.  Today, there is a Sunday School and preaching point in her neighborhood because of her faithfulness and God's work in her neighbors' hearts during COVID.  Praise the Lord!

Marta and her husband

Economic help:  Hannah, one of our Tabitha leaders, was already making soap and selling it in the market when COVID hit.  So we carefully invited six leaders at a time to come learn the skill, and then they taught their leaders under them.  Many of them were helped to produce the soap needed for cleanliness at home during the COVID time.  Some were able to keep making it and still have a thriving business.  Sarah, one of our leaders, testified that the income from selling soap is now paying for her childrens' school fees.  Praise the Lord!

Hannah teaching soap making

We also thank God, that just as lock downs began last year, fields were getting ready to harvest.  God provided a good harvest that helped the rural families.  The government allowed trucking to continue, so the rural areas were able to continue providing produce for the cities. 

Health: COVID-19 did arrive in our side of the country and in our county eventually, around August.  But the numbers of cases were much fewer than anticipated, and the number of severe illnesses were limited.  Churches and markets are now open, with spacing and mask-wearing, and our study groups have been meeting since October.  We thank God that vaccines arrived in Kenya this week, and we hope for God's continued containment of the illness.

"Sheltering at Home"

What does “Sheltering at Home” mean to you?

To David Langat, his wife and eight children it meant gathering in this small hut, which leaked when it rained and was very cramped!  A local church recently recognized their need, and came to their assistance.  They organized themselves to build the framework and doors, and asked Tabitha Ministry to help with the roofing.  Last month they completed the modest new house, now waterproof, with space for everyone to sleep.  David has been an alcoholic for years, and his family suffers.  But now they have daily evidence of God’s love for them.  Pray with us that David will turn to Christ and find victory in his life.  Pray for his wife to be strengthened in her faith, and for the children to choose to follow Christ.  And pray for the local Christians to continue to reach out to this needy family.

Who is Tabitha Ministries? - As seen by Rebecca

“What is Tabitha Ministries right now?” That is the question I wanted to answer when I came to visit my parents in Kenya. I came to realize after spending time with them that the real question is “Who is Tabitha right now?” Tabitha began as a Bible study led by my mom, acting as God’s hands to serve and mouth to speak into local women. As time went on, Tabitha became groups of women overseen by my mom and her partner Peris as they sought to learn the truths of God as explained by the Bible studies she had written. Now, however, I have truly seen that my mom’s passion for women to be able to study the Bible for themselves has begun to be realized. I have seen a different side of the ministry that has emerged. I realize that the most recent blog my mom wrote was about this, and shows even more pictures, but I wanted to share my own experience of it.

The second week of my visit to Kenya, I had the privilege of attending a monthly center leaders meeting, one of the only parts of Tabitha that still takes place in our house. This is because the leaders have taken hands on ownership of so much.

The morning was spent with the top leadership team who shared how their personal devotions had impacted their lives. This recent focus, trained women to study the Bible personally, outside of Tabitha bible studies. This leadership team of six women visit locations where groups want to start new Bible studies, among many other hands on leadership activities and decisions. They talked about all the places they would visit in the next month to encourage and strengthen the work of local leaders.

The second half of the day all the pairs of center leaders came and reported in. They studied one of the studies for the next month, and took back stacks of four printed bible studies. They will meet weekly with their overall leaders, who will meet weekly with their leaders, who will meet weekly to teach their Bible studies. They also learned and received printed copies of a song of Psalms 91 that had been written by one of the women’s groups.

The third week, as Mom was busy with other missionary station duties, Tabitha mostly ran itself, though she still worked on studies, and Peris still worked on translating. It no longer depends daily on the work of the mzungu, the white missionary. It is God’s ministry, and the local Kenyans are a growing multitude of people who allow themselves to be God’s hands and feet. So “Who is Tabitha right now?” Tabitha is a group of local Kenyan women who serve their communities.

Expanding Tabitha's Leadership Team

Gladys,Linda,Peris,Monica,Alice,Beatrice,Julianna

Our top leadership team is growing!  For the past 13 years Peris and I have been working together to give leadership to the Tabitha Ministry.  And then a year ago, we chose five of our top center leaders in which to invest even more. It is so fun to watch their gifts and personalities blossoming  as they are given increased responsibilities. 

In our monthly meetings we are currently studying Nehemiah together. Worship, prayer, reports and planning for our next trainings are also a part of our times together.

I had the joy of watching part of the team in action at a recent training seminar.  Not long ago, Peris and I were the main trainers.  But now these gifted women are leading and doing a superb job.

Among other lessons,  a skit about how NOT to lead a study…

Monica, the teacher, arrives late, unprepared, with no time left to teach or pray.

 A talk on the importance of maintaining your personal relationship with Christ.

Beatrice explaining how to listen to the Lord as you meditate on the Word.

A three-legged race to illustrate principles of the leader and her assistant working well together.

I recently took a group of these leaders to Kapkisiara where Tabitha Minstry is just getting started.  A pastor and his wife are spearheading the movement and we are excited to see what God will do in this new area.  The leaders’ gifts shone as they ministered, made new friends, and encouraged the new leaders there.

Alice, left, listening to a member recite her verses.

Our leaders with the Tabitha study members at Kapkisiara AGC.
They listened to 42 women say their verses in order to earn their own Bibles.

Leaders at a Global Leadership Summit

Attending the Global Leadership Summit was stretching for the team. We followed up with a day of planning and prayer, discussing our strengths and weaknesses, and areas where we can improve.  These women know how to pray, and it is exciting to see how God is moving us ahead together.  Thank God for them, and pray that He will draw each of us deeper into Him as we seek to serve Him together.

When Your Words Came, I Ate Them

When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight…

Recently Angeline invited us to her home because she wanted to share how Christ had changed her life.  Eleven years ago, Angeline was living in darkness, as she puts it.  Brewing and other wrong ways of bringing in money were part of her lifestyle.  She had many children to put through school and did not see any other way to earn money.  But she was unhappy with her lifestyle and tried to leave it.  She cried out to God for help.  About that time, a Tabitha Bible study began in her area.  Angeline had rejected the Christians who had visited her at other times to share Christ with her.  But the Bible study intrigued her and she began to attend.  Almost immediately she learned the seventeen verses necessary to earn a Bible and received her own Bible.  Having completed two years in high school, she could read well and eagerly read God’s Word.  As she shared her testimony with us, she shared the verse from Jeremiah 15:16,  When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, Lord God Almighty.

Angeline sang, “That God Should Love a Sinner Such as I”

The Lord changed her heart and her lifestyle in the months that followed, showing her other ways to make a living with the land that she owned.  Her neighbors were amazed to see the change in her, and to see how God provided for her to be able to put her children through secondary school, and some through college.  She gave God praise, quoting 2 Corinthians 5:17. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

Three of Angeline's daughters, on the left, have come to know Jesus, too.

Julie Ganey, Center Leader Monica, Peris, Leaders Alice and Grace, Angeline, Linda

Alice and Grace have been teaching Bible studies for ten years in Angeline’s community. We thank God for leaders who faithfully teach God’s Word, week after week, year after year, because they love the Lord Jesus and have a passion to see lives changed like Angeline’s. Thank God that He changes lives as we meet Him in His Word.  Pray that each of us would eat God’s Word with joy and delight.

A Faithful Leader

Having married into a family who brewed the local alcohol for a living, Florence was used to attending a church on Sunday mornings, only to come home and return to her brewing.  Church had little meaning for her. Some years into her marriage, her father-in-law died. A new Bible-believing church had begun nearby and they reached out to the family in their grief.  As a result, Florence came to understand the salvation message and gave her life to Jesus Christ.

God changed her life and very soon after, she began teaching other women the Word, gifted by the Holy Spirit in making biblical truths clear.  About that time, a Tabitha women’s Bible study was begun in her neighborhood, and she began attending.  Within a year, her gifts were recognized and she became the main teacher for the weekly study.

Florence with five of her nine children

Florence thanks God for the change in her life and in her family through the study of God’s Word.  She left brewing and God has helped her flourish in her gardening and small business so that her family is well cared for.  There is peace in their home, and the children are growing up to fear and love God.  Twelve years since her conversion, she continues to faithfully teach God’s Word and live it out. 

Betty and Florence

The day Peris and I visited Florence, our friend Betty, who came to know Jesus in 2006 through the Bible studies, accompanied us.  Unbeknownst to Peris and me, Betty and Florence had been friends in their before-Christ days.  Betty always knew she could get a free drink from Florence on Sundays.  Praise God for the change he has brought into both of their lives and families since then.  The bond these women have in Christ goes beyond anything the world can give.

Florence is moving into top leadership in Tabitha in her area in May.  Pray she will be able to mentor other leaders and share with them her enthusiasm and skills in teaching God’s Word. Pray that each member of the studies will have their roots go down deeply into Christ as they study, meditate on and memorize God’s Word.

Experiencing God's Faithfulness in Life's Battles - the Study of Joshua

In 2012, Peris and I chose the Book of Joshua to study with our Tabitha women.  I wrote the studies each week, Peris translated them, and they were taught in at least 200 local Bible studies throughout our hillsides.  The women loved the stories of the battles, that made great drama material, and taught them to be strong in the Lord, and Peris and I were encouraged in our faith, too.

Moses praying as Joshua led the Israelite army in the defeat of the Amalekites

With over eight years of studies in our files, we finally were able to begin the process of getting them published in our third term at Tenwek.  In January 2016, we formed a local editing team that began working on our study of the Book of Joshua, adapting it to be appropriate for men, youth and women.

Peris, Carol Trachsel, Rev. Elijah Bii and Rev. Elijah Bii working on the Kipsigis translation as I looked on.

Working with our church’s Discipleship Department Director, Pastor Hellen Rutto, in August 2016 the Kipsigis and English versions of the study were published in Nairobi.  When they were presented to our church leaders at a conference, they immediately asked for a Swahili version, which was then published in October.

Slowly, Pastor Hellen and other church leaders have promoted the studies, and little by little, groups here and there are beginning to use them.

Shortly after returning to Kenya in August this year, we had lunch with our friend Peter Rono.  He was excited to tell us about a study his home fellowship group had recently begun. “Do you know how difficult it was for Joshua to take up where a leader like Moses left off, to lead God’s people into the Promised Land?  But God had prepared him during those years in the wilderness.”  As Peris and I listened, we were thrilled to hear that our study of Joshua was being used, even though Peter had no idea where it had come from. “But the problem we have is translating the English into the Kipsigis for the mamas in our study,” he said.  He was overjoyed to find out that the study was also in Kipsigis and immediately put it to use in his home fellowship group. These fellowship groups, centered around the study of God’s Word, are relatively new to our area.  Praise the Lord!

The study is being used in two other churches in Bomet, and in a laymen’s group nearby; a youth group in Nairobi hopes to begin the study in January; we are hearing more stories each week of how it is being used.  We thank God!

Distribution networks are still developing, and include our local Tenwek Bookshop, run by our friend Joyce,

All three translations being sold at Tenwek

and the Bomet Book Center, managed by our friend Eric Bii.

Peris and Robert talking with Bookstore Manager Eric Bii

Pray that we will be able to streamline the distribution network to make it easier for groups to obtain the studies.  We are all new to this.  And pray with us that people will really meet God in these studies and grow deeper in their faith.

This week Pastor Hellen asked how soon we can get going on the next project.  We hope to begin with a series of studies of God in Crises, in January, followed by the Book of Ruth, followed by the Book of John.  The studies are written.  Pray for God’s wisdom and timing in getting them edited and published for His use and glory.

TABITHA MINISTRY CONTINUES TO THRIVE

It has been a delight to travel in the States this year of Home Ministry Assignment and share about the great things God has done through the Tabitha Bible Study Ministry.  Many stories have been shared, and Christ has been lifted up as partners have heard about changed lives, changed families, and communities being transformed through the study of God’s Word and the related compassionate outreaches of Tabitha.

 Meanwhile, the ministry keeps going strong in Kenya, under the leadership of Peris Rotich.   We have written studies on Genesis this past year, with Peris translating, and these studies are being used in over 250 Bible studies under the leadership of these women, and those under them.  Praise God for His Word that is being faithfully studied and taught!

As the Bible studies spread, new leaders are enlisted and training is needed.  I am thrilled that  Peris and team have traveled to six of our ten centers to do training workshops for the leaders.  Pray for these leaders to really take hold of Jesus and of His Word, and grow in being able to teach others.

 And new members are joining new and old studies.  One thousand more women have earned their Bibles over these past nine months!  Praise the Lord! Peris is pictured above instructing nearly two hundred women who received their Bibles in a newer area in December.

 

Continue to pray for Peris and other leaders, like Mercy, pictured here with Peris, who are key to Tabitha Ministry. I look forward to returning to Kenya in August and rejoining all that the Lord is doing there.

A Tale of Two Grace's

First, meet “Grace the Customer”.  Living alone, she lived for drink, going early in the day to the local brewer’s house to do chores so she could get the corn-based local brew for herself.  Tobacco was her other habit, and it all took a toll on her health.  Last year, sick, and troubled in her home by visits from evil spirits, she cried out to God.  He released her from the spirits’ grip, then appeared to her in a dramatic dream. She saw heaven and wanted to stay there, but was told she needed to return with messages for her children.  She was healed from that time on, and shortly after, she finally got up the courage to look for a church. There she heard about Jesus and gave her life to Him. 

She began attending a Tabitha Bible study, and although illiterate, learned the verses to earn her own Bible.  She takes her Bible to others who can read it to her.  She says, "His Word is like a bone.  I chew on it until it becomes soft and it enters my heart. I never went to school.  I ask God to teach me Himself, and He does.”    She loves Galatians 5:1, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.  Stand firm then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”  Her neighbor friend attests to the witness she is having in her family and in their community by her changed life and word of testimony.

Meet the second lady, “Grace, the Brewer,” to whose home our first Grace went to work and drink each day.  Needing a way to support her family, this Grace began brewing alcohol years ago.  She perfected the process and was known for the “Number 1” brew in the area.  Although she did not drink herself, she says her yard was always full of drunkards, with her husband being one of them.  There was no peace in their family.  In spite of the business, she never had enough money for the family’s needs, and lived in fear of a police raid, day and night.  Finally, one day last year, she cried out to God, “How long will I have to live this way?”  Shortly after, she was arrested and taken to jail and there she decided she wanted to change.  Her son paid her bail, and then three Tabitha  Bible study leaders visited her in her home. 

Caroline and Julianna, on either side of Grace, visited her in her home

She says, “They brought life to me, sharing with me about Jesus.”  She gave her life to Christ, and has a whole new life. “God has really changed me.  No one had hope for me.  They were scared to come to our compound because of the drinking and fighting.  But now there is peace. God is wonderful!"  Luke 1:37, still encourages her.  “Nothing is impossible with God."

Best friends in the drinking business, and now sisters in Christ.  They were both baptized in December, earned their own Bibles in January and have been so eager to grow, they have been first to arrive at church and at the Bible studies.  Praise God that He heard their cries and revealed Himself to them.  And thank Him for faithful believers who pointed them to Christ.  

In October,  having accomplished God's will for her on earth, Grace the former customer, was welcomed home by Jesus.  Praise the Lord!