PROVIDENCE TRAINING CENTER
UPDATE
June 27, 2009
Fiscal Accountability
As of March 10, 2009 CARE TO LEARN INTERNATIONAL, the legal support agency for Divine Providence Training Center in Kenya, became a registered Non-Governmental Organization (NGO). On June 15, 2009 The National Christian Foundation, our USA 501(c)3, completed a positive vetting of our NGO creating the final link for sending donations straight to Kenya for the pastor-training school. Legalizing the financial process has been a long, complicated and arduous procedure, but thanks to God's frequent "interventions" and many lessons in patience for our benefit, the process is now finalized.
Website
Thanks to Neal Reynolds and his company, The Ad Shop, we also have a very nice website (http://www.providencetrainingcenter.com) on which a donor may make a donation directly to CARE TO LEARN at NCF. The website enables us to get our message out regarding the school, state our goals and needs, post status updates and facilitate online giving.
RECENT TRIP (May 22 - June 3)
Our recent trip to Kenya in May proved to be most productive in several ways. The team of ten RUMC members and one Sugarloaf UMC member was able to gather much information beneficial to the future plans of the school as well as contribute their energies and expertise to the current status of the project. Most exciting was the ability of our team to actually see the school in action, to learn first-hand all the needs being met by the school in the lives of the pastors, and to realize the impact training will make within the Kenyan Church... and beyond. The team was able to see, to understand and to catch the vision for the pastor training center.
We arrived during the second week of a school session so we were able to interact with the pastors and teachers. There are 24 pastors (students) representing six different Kenyan tribes. Including our teachers there are eight different tribes represented. Already it is apparent that the class is coming together as a family united in Christ according to His purposes.
Orality Training
During this school session (the second session in a two-year curriculum) the pastors were introduced to orality teaching/learning methods that are especially helpful in reaching the many non-readers in Kenya. Although all of the pastors in the school are literate (limited education for most), many in their congregations are not, and most of the unreached people groups in Kenya are illiterate.
A trainer with our partner T4Global conducted the orality sessions and distributed wind-up MT4™ players loaded with oral representations (stories, songs, dramas, poems) of Bible stories from Genesis to Revelation all of which tell God's cohesive story pointing to Christ. The MT4 devices are tools not only for aiding the pastors in learning oral teaching techniques, but also they can be used as evangelistic "mobile schools" within the pastors' communities.
As a point of note, oral or aural learning actually is indigenous to African culture (and probably all non-literate peoples) but was replaced by western learning techniques brought in by the British colonialists and missionaries of the past. The Kenyans are "naturals" at orality methods. By the end of the school session the pastors were performing their own versions of teachings from the MT4 players... with much drama and expression. The goal is for the pastors to eventually create their own teachings based on what they are learning in the school and then record the teachings in their own tribal languages on the MT4s.
T4Global is having the effectiveness of this orality program professionally tested since they have never used the program in a school setting. T4G usually takes the program straight to unreached people groups where a trained pastor or teacher uses the technique within a community as an evangelistic tool and a means of crossing the cultural divide. T4G's pre-testing team was present at our school to gather data from the pastors that will be integral in the evaluation process. We are pleased to be in on the ground floor of such potentially effective new (yet old) pastor-training methods.
Celebrating with the Pastors
The last night of the school session the pastors hosted an appreciation celebration for the RUMC team as supporters of the school. Following a time of praise and worship the Maasai pastors treated us to some of their tribal songs and dances and several pastors in the class presented testimonies to how the school has affected their spiritual growth and their roles as pastors.
Some comments made are:
"Knowledge of the Word of God is power and now that I am increasing in that knowledge I will be able to reach the unreached."
"I am so thankful for everything I am learning here and I want all pastors to learn what I have learned. Every month I invite all the pastors in my region to come to my church and I teach them everything I'm learning."
"Before I was really confused, but since coming to the school I have been able to arrange (plan) my teachings. Before, I was counseling in a very confused way, but now I'm not."
“Traditionally the pastor has much influence in Kenya but there is a big problem; most pastors are not educated. What we are learning here is life-changing. Go tell your people that when you teach a pastor, you are transforming the whole nation of Kenya!”
"I was called as a pastor and entered the ministry without any training and I was challenged so much. I didn't know what to preach and I couldn't answer people's questions. Now I am able to preach from the Bible. I even can teach Christ from the Old Testament and for the first time I am able to take a book of the Bible and teach it verse by verse all the way through."
"What you (RUMC) are supporting will live for many years... long after you and I are gone."
"We have been preaching without knowing what we are preaching. Divine Providence is a prayer answered. Many times I have been asking God to give me a chance to be trained. I did not know how to study inductively. I did not know how to preach Christ from the Old Testament. I did not know Bible doctrines. I did not know what is orality. I did not even see the need for counseling. I did not know how to arrange my preaching. I could not even teach a Bible study. In Maasai-land people are dragging behind; they are not educated. Divine Providence has been a great resource and a great providence for me. Now I take it as a challenge to educate my people through what I am learning here. The sponsors of this school are doing a great work."
"When I first started preaching I knew only one verse and I really didn't understand that one verse. Now I have learned how to study the entire Bible inductively and to preach with understanding."
From Mercy, a pastor's wife and student: "In African tradition they don't consider educating women. This school is an answered prayer to me. We women have needs and want women to counsel us. Because we are not privileged to get knowledge, we don't know how to counsel women. We don't know how to incorporate them into the Word of God. We don't know how to tell them or give an example that women can serve God and also be wives. I have had this desire in my heart to get trained to know the Word of God and to learn how to teach other women and to show women that we have a part in the Christian society. When I was accepted to this training I felt like just crying because God had really answered my prayer. I was told that Bible theology was man's work so I would never have the chance for training, but God has opened a door for me and my heart is filled with joy. Thank you to our sponsors because if it were not for you I wouldn't be here. You have done such a great job because it is said, 'When you educate a woman, you educate a whole community."
The gratefulness of the pastors was overwhelming. In response the RUMC team surprised each pastor with a copy of the African Bible Commentary as appreciation for their sacrifices and perseverance in their educational process.
QuickBooks Training
While at the school one of our team who serves as Providence’s financial consultant spent several days working with the school's director setting up the school's financial accounts in QuickBooks. The team member not only tutored the school director but he also purchased the QuickBooks program for the school along with a business computer.
Teacher Retreat
During the weekend following the school session there was a teacher's retreat with the three Providence teachers. They made revisions to the curriculum which will be "in flux" until they have worked through the two-year cycle for the first time. They made plans to transform all student hand-out materials into a simple yet consistent format, and they attended to unforeseen issues that had arisen (also an on-going occurrence). They established a guide for guest teachers and discussed teaching methods. Other topics that arose included fundraising within Kenya, a topic that was further addressed during the school's annual board meeting held before we left the country.
Self-sustainability Models
The team was able to inspect several models of self-sustainability and assess their adaptability for the school whenever the school secures its own property. In visiting Simon Mwaura's Good Shepherd Orphanage in Nyahururu the team observed his successful greenhouse for tomatoes, his bio-gas system for extracting power from manure, and his small cow feed lot. Elsewhere, other research was done on fish farms, raising chickens and pigs and on empowering women in businesses.
At Good Shepherd the team also saw a guest cottage under construction using hydraform blocks made with the block-making machine purchased for the school (and for Simon's use until we need it). The hydraform technology which has just been officially endorsed in Kenya uses soil from the building site mixed with cement for making interlocking blocks that do not require the use of mortar except in the foundation. Supposedly this technique reduces the construction cost by at least one third. Providence has engaged an expert in hydraform building, John Bovard, an American missionary who expatriated to Kenya 20 years ago. Bovard secured the block-making machine and will oversee any future construction of Providence.
Property Search
Probably one of the more exciting yet apprehensive events of the trip was the property search. This was the third trip during which we have looked at potential properties for the school, but this is the only time we actually became enthusiastic about anything we have seen. We saw not one, but three properties that excited us. We left the choice of property in the hands of God and His working with Silas and Paul (without expressing our preference) and we left Kenya on that note. We admit that was hard but God is teaching us to rely on Him as this is His mission, not ours.
Since our return home Silas and Paul have conducted research on the two best properties and have informed us of their choice which just happens to be our first choice, too. God is good! Silas and Paul have begun negotiations for the property and are in the process of purchase.
Another bonus that the Lord has provided is an architect. He has offered to work up a land-use plan, design the whole school compound and assist in its phased execution. We already have met with him and are working on preliminary assignments.
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