2011 - Reformed Family Conference Report
Dear friends,
Biblical Reformation in Kenya has a long history. Our
gratitude will forever be to God and to the missionaries whom He has used
thirty plus years to introduce and propel the Reformed Faith this far; this is no
small or mean chapter.
December 6th to 8th 2011 will remain
engraved in our hearts and minds as yet the beginning of another chapter. This
will be so for a number of reasons. In February this year, pastors of three
churches with their wives met to pray and begin to plan the way forward in
seeking to see how Biblical Reformation may be carried forward in Kenya and
beyond its borders to its neighbouring regions with the locals leading from the
front; thus a vision was set. Four subsequent meetings for prayer and planning
were held with countless consultations in between. One of the aspects of our
mission is something that has not been done before within the Reformed circles
in Kenya. There have been profitable Pastors’, Men’s, Women’s and even Youth
Conferences over the years but it was our first time to hold a Family
Conference. During the preparation, there were moments when the reality of
holding the conference became seriously doubtful as we faced numerous challenges.
These challenges drove us back to God in prayer and He graciously and
mercifully answered and energized us to move on. The official registered number
of participants stood at 85. These men (including many pastors), women, boys,
girls and babies came from different parts of the country and from various
church back grounds.
The main conference speaker was Pastor Victor Kanyense of
Mt. Makulu Baptist Church, Chilanga, Lusaka, Zambia. We are sincerely grateful
for the brethren who facilitated Victor’s trip. The conference theme was ‘Your
Family God’s Way’ from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. This is a very urgent
issue since the Christian family is under serious attack. Victor began by first
laying the very necessary foundation by demonstrating God’s work of salvation for us (chapter one), then God’s work of
salvation in us (chapter two) and
finally God’s work of salvation through
us (chapter three). He then moved to the final three practical chapters of
Ephesians and with specific attention to chapter 5 verse 22 through to chapter
6 verse 4, he very faithfully and ably expounded and applied God’s word to our
hearts. He addressed wives from the passage but from hitherto a new perspective.
He stated that what makes submission difficult for a woman is experiences
before marriage. He then demonstrated that a woman before marriage lives a life
of independence but upon marriage, she begins a different life with a new
reference point. The preacher concluded that ‘willingness to prefer another
will over my will’ is the key which is only possible in a marriage context. He
then spoke to the husbands and laid responsibility squarely at their feet
showing that ‘Husbands, love your wives’ is Biblically the heaviest
responsibility with Christ being the yardstick. Finally he addressed fathers and
children showing from the example of the Lord Jesus Christ what is and how
obedience works. There were six main
sessions and all these were seasoned with plenty of relevant life
illustrations.
The key note address was delivered by Pastor
Michael Otieno of Bethesda Baptist Church Nairobi. He spoke of ‘The foundation
for a godly living’ from Paul’s letter to Titus chapter 2 verses 11 to 15. He
called our attention to four points: 1) manifestation of God’s grace, 2) training
of God’s grace, 3) expectation of Christ’s return and 4) reason of Christ’s
return.
There were three workshop groups:
Adults were divided into two groups. One group was led by Pastor Sam Oluoch of
Grace Baptist Church – Kisumu handling the topic on ‘How to succeed as a
Christian.’ The
aim was to dissuade our people from the unbiblical view which charismatics have
propagated that success is in worldly measure. The group began by looking at
the life of Jesus Christ from his birth, ministry and death to see if there was
any sign of material wealth/success, which of course there is none. They then
looked at the life of Apostle Paul crowning it with a study of Psalms 73. By
the end of it, Sam laboured to press upon the people that success in our life
is ONLY in the pursuit of the Gospel purity so that by the end of our life we
can say with Paul, 'I have fought the fight, and finished the race'. This
really is what we should all be concerned about to succeed. However, the group
also saw that God promises material success for His faithful people in this
life (Psalm 1). Nevertheless, that should not be our primary focus but the
Gospel success in our lives. The point was driven home that if a family lives
in the fear of God, there will be ‘success’ in this world. Our focus must be to
seek to live not for our own but for God's glory alone.’
The second group was led by Pastor Naphtally Ogallo of Grace
Baptist Church – Eldoret on the topic ‘Living godly in a sinful world.’ Temptation
to compromise our Christian faith is a daily reality. So often Christians give
in to sin and later wonder why they couldn’t stand. The group learned that it
is only by constant practice of saying ‘NO!’ to ‘little temptations’ that we
will dare to defiantly stand against greater temptations. The Old Testament
book of Daniel chapter 6 provided the basis of the discussion. Stuart Olyott’s
book ‘Dare to Stand Alone’ was of great help in preparation.
The third group was led by Brother Lawrence Muiruri of
Injili Bible Church – Kawangware, Nairobi. It was specially designed for our
young people (up to College level) in attendance and dealt with a very relevant
issue of ‘How to choose your celebrity.’ Lawrence is exceptionally good with
the issues affecting the youth. The group defined a celebrity is ‘a famous person who is
known widely and whose fame lasts only for a while.’ They then identified their
celebrities. Not surprisingly secular musicians made the bulk of their celebrities!
Others were drawn from different spheres of life including politics,
entertainment and sports. The discussion was guided by the instruction in Proverbs
chapter 4 verses 25 to 27. To make choices one needs to find their purpose/end
goal; determine the available options and settle for the best option informed
by the goal. Celebrities occupy every aspect of life; they have a significant
influence (+ve or –ve), and command large following. The distinction is not
always clear for many young Christians as was evident from the celebrities they
identified. Many of the celebrities share similarity with the description in
Psalm 73 which was also discussed. But the eye opener in verse 15 makes clear
the only option. Finally, the group shifted focus on the hall of fame in Hebrews
11 as the exemplary celebrities of all time yet even these were not equal to
Christ whom to know is life. Christ was thus commended as the ultimate
celebrity. The younger children in attendance were also given special
attention by a group of very able ladies.
In terms of the logistics, the unity and dedication of the Conference
Organizing Team ensured that the conference did not just run but ran
brilliantly well. Food was not just enough but excellent. The Conference was
held at Grace Baptist Church – Kisumu. Sleeping accommodation was a few
kilometres away from the conference venue so there were hired matatus (public vehicles) at hand
to ferry participants to and fro.
All who commented spoke of how delighted they were to have
been present and how much God’s word was shown to be relevant to their family
life. However, their only regret was that the Conference days were very few!
It is our sincere prayer that though these are the days of
little things, the Lord may be pleased to open windows of heaven and to shower
us with many more blessings. It is fitting in closing this report to loosely
quote from the ‘father of modern missions’ William Carey: ‘we will attempt great
things for God for we expect great things from God.’ So as the Lord enables us,
we hope to make Reformed Family Conference an annual reality.
Finally, brethren,
many of you have and continue to be sacrificially involved in the spread of
Biblical Reformation in our needy country; we beseech you by the mercies of God
to rejoice with us at what God has done and to stand with us in this vision and
mission. To all who made this Conference a success, we thank you so much.
Please pray on.
Written and sent out on behalf of ReCFoK by Naphtally Ogallo
