We at Bethesda Baptist Church
Tassia marvel at the Lords doing in our midst. The Lords guiding hand has led us thus far.
That’s why we can join with Fanny J Crosby in singing;
Great things He hath taught us, great things He hath done,
And great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son;
But purer, and higher, and greater will be
Our wonder, our transport when Jesus we see.
And great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son;
But purer, and higher, and greater will be
Our wonder, our transport when Jesus we see.
I am Dave Muema and I shall now endeavour to
fill you in on recent happenings and status report of the Bethesda Baptist
Church Nairobi Local Church.
1.
Bible classes
It pleased the Lord to open a door
for a bible class in our church aimed at equipping the saints with knowledge on
particular topics like bible study Methods, Church history, Evangelism Methods,
preaching classes, and others.
A former teacher to Pr. Michael in Bible
college and a dear friend to the church Dr. Reuben Ngume undertakes the
training every Sunday afternoon from 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm. The attendees
unanimously agreed to start with Church history which since commencement has
been received with Joy.
Dr. Ngume works with a college with campuses
all over east Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan) and some
Sundays he will be away on Duty but plans are underway to start a book reading
for the around-15 member group in his absence.
Among the attendees are a number of
young men being shaped up to take up church leadership and Dr. Ngume and Pr.
Michael are planning to talk to a bible college to confer certificate at the
end of the course.
2.
Prayer meetings
The church has several weekly prayer meetings.
Every Wednesday and Friday, at 7 pm, in Tassia and Doonholm estates
respectively, we have house fellowships, open to all. Saturday is an action
packed day in terms of fellowships: every Saturday at 3 pm in Ngomongo village
Nairobi, Brother Edward Mutesa leads children fellowship. They all don’t attend
the church because of the distance between ngomongo and the church which is
about 14km. The church plans to establish a branch in Ngomongo to serve the
need. On the same day, twice a month, in the church are the ladies having
fellowship. The Pastor joins them to teach them.
And now I plead guilty to the charge
of saving the best for last: Best in terms of number of attendees. The Youth
fellowship takes place every second and last Saturday of the month. It is a
house fellowship as well, and the youth host it in their houses alternatingly.
We have brothers from Emmanuel Baptist Church Nairobi preaching to the youth
(Caleb Nakina, and Stephen Maina). Steve is now tackling the theology of Joy
from Philipians 1. Around 20 young men and women attend.
3.
Evangelism
Once
a month, a team of five sets out to evangelize in Tassia and pipeline estates.
They also distribute gospel tracts. A while back Pr. Michael taught them on
evangelism methods. They’ve had positive
impacts and they are greatly encouraged to meet other Christians in the field.
4.
Bible study and Sunday School
These two run concurrently on Sunday morning,
10:30 am to 11:30 am. Sister Faith Atieno teaches the Sunday school and at
times aided by Sisters Magaret Otieno and Anne Kamau. The children are about 10
with majority from Ngomongo. They are currently going through the book of
Genesis.
The adult bible study is currently studying 1st
Peter guided by a study book “Watumishi wa Neno.” Brother Edward (a student
pastor), brother Kariuki, and brother Collins Have been assisting the pastor in conducting the
bible study.
5.
Sanitary Towels Project
The Lord put a burden in the Pastors wife, Sister
Margaret Otieno. The burden is to sew and distribute washable sanitary towels.
In 2014 a story was narrated to her about girls in a primary school who missed
national exams because of lack of sanitary towels. This touched her and fuelled her zeal towards
the ministry. In the wake of this she also started training other women on how
to sew the towels and she has been to Ruai (outskirts of Nairobi) severally and
Bissil (Maasai land) for trainings.
6.
In General:
We’ve continued meeting on Sundays to worship the Lord together as a family, a family of God. As a local Church we’ve witnessed the Lords presence and doing in our midst. We thank God for servant Leadership from Pr. Michael, zealous church service leadership from service leaders who are mostly youths. Some we see serving, some serving behind the scenes, all to the glory of God. We, once a month, have a close round table close communion.
“We share our mutual
woes,
our mutual burdens bear,
and often for each other flows
the sympathizing tear”
our mutual burdens bear,
and often for each other flows
the sympathizing tear”
This hymn is our lords Supper anthem, we continually
contemplate on the brotherly love and tie.
In conclusion we thank God for
taking us this far, and this far, we say He is Ebenezer. We trust that in his
time we will be registered by the government, and also we pray for growth in
the faith for our members and we also remember those in big and small need, we
trust that God in his appointed time, will intervene. We pray for the church to
be fulfilling its mandate and we pray for the spirits guiding, every hour of
every day.
