I’m sitting in a hotel room right now. A pastor friend of mine is asleep in the bed next to mine. Cars are whizzing by outside my room. My eyelids are starting to get pretty heavy. It’s about 1:30 in the morning. For the last two days I’ve been traveling, with 13 other people, to Nairobi, Kenya.
Why am I in Nairobi? If you cut those of us who are a part of the Credo House we will bleed discipleship. Several months ago a man named Scott Werner started coming into the Credo House. Scott is over an 8 state regional area for Compassion International. His job is to connect churches with the work Compassion is doing around the world.
As the weeks went by Scott and I had conversations about all sorts of topics. One day we started talking about discipleship. I’ve sponsored a kid through Compassion for more than 10 years, but I really don’t know what Compassion is doing to make disciples of the people they touch.
So here I am now in Kenya. In full disclosure Compassion has paid all of my expenses so I can report on the work they are doing. Please check this blog daily for the next several days as I report on, “How to Disciple 1.3 Million People.” That is how many people they are currently ministering to on a daily/weekly basis. In Kenya alone Compassion is actively ministering to around 71,000 people.
Kenya is a fascinating country. Did you know they’ve only been a free country for about 35 years? That’s like the United States in 1812. This is a very “new” country. Additionally, they are very progressive for Africa. Kenya could set a powerful model for the rest of Africa to hopefully modernize.
Kenya has also been bordering on hard times. The last election seemed pretty shady. Riots broke out here in Nairobi. Additionally, Kenya is surrounded by some of the most dangerous countries in the world (Somalia and Sudan). Wouldn’t it be amazing if at least 71,000 people in Kenya grew to become fully devoted followers of Christ! If they became the next mayors, governors, business people and possibly a president one day, the face of Africa could radically change.
I’m hoping to meet these people over the next few days. Compassion has given me free reign to write it as I see it. If they’re doing a fantastic job feeding kids but a poor job of discipleship, I’ll let you know and hopefully be able to offer some solutions. I’ll be interviewing people of all ages finding out how grounded they are in our Lord. How is the reality of Christ changing their life? How do you really set out to disciple 1.3 million people.
I hope you enjoy the journey with me.
3 replies to "How to Disciple 1.3 Million People: Episode #1"
[…] all that they are doing, as well as the success that they are having. Tim has written three posts (1,2,3) so far with more to come. I’m looking forward to hearing more about this unique […]
I once heard from my pastor that for every ONE child that is sponsored through Compassion, that single sponsorship touches THIRTY-ONE people. So, by directly ministering to 71,000, they are touching over 2.2 Million people in Kenya. It’s so amazing to see the work of Compassion and how they are changing lives. I’ll be checking out the rest of your series as well.
[…] Tim chronicled his experience with Compassion. If you’re someone who loves the details of both human impact and the practical business of making it all happen, you’ll enjoy reading his thoughts about the trip on his posts ‘How To Disciple 1.3 Million People‘. […]