Kenya and Minnesota

Randy Schmor Gateway Global

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Kenya

Thank you for your prayers as I traveled with two pastors (Darren Platt and Nelson Mukiza) from Edmonton to Nairobi, Kenya. It was a very eye-opening and informative trip, where I was able to understand a lot better who these two men, and their church, were looking to become sister-church partners with in Nairobi.

Banyamulenge tribe church members in Nairobi, Kenya.

Banyamulenge tribe church in Nairobi, Kenya.

The two churches we met with in Nairobi are made up of people from the Banyamulenge tribe that are living under a UN mandate as refugees in the country of Kenya. Although safe from direct danger while in Kenya, they basically have no rights while living in Kenya. Their displacement (and current refugee status) as a people goes back over 20 years ago when they lived in the country of Congo and were violently forced to flee their homes there and resettle in three different East African countries, including Kenya. Pastor Nelson is a member of this tribe and is currently an NAB pastor.

Darren, Nelson, and I met with various leaders of these two refugee Banyamulenge tribe churches while in Nairobi and received a much fuller understanding from them of their situation and their need for sister-church partners in addition to Darren and Nelson’s church. I’m sharing their story here in my newsletter in the hopes that other churches (maybe yours?) may be interested in partnering with these Nairobi churches. Please contact me if you would like to hear more information on how your church could be a sister-church partner alongside these Banyamulenge churches in Kenya.

Minnesota

NAB Triennial in St. Paul.

St. Paul, Minnesota, was, of course, the site of the NAB Triennial Conference that I’ve spoken of in my past (and present) prayer/praise requests. It was definitely a time full of meetings, sessions, breakouts, and catching up with a number of people who interact with Gateway, Hungary, and Serbia ministries (my Central Europe fieldwork), and the NAB International Missions and missionary work I’m currently overseeing.

Whether meeting with the MAT (NAB Mission Advisory Team), facilitating breakouts with our Central Europe Global Mission Partners (Laci Daróczi and Marijana Čizmanski), or having the opportunity to address the whole gathering in general sessions, it was a full and good time to meet people from all over the NAB world (including undoubtedly many of you!). Thanks for stopping to say hi or cornering me in a hallway!

And yes, thanks to all of you for your ongoing support of my work, especially now in all of these areas.

For the Kingdom