The SI Church Growth Program (SICGP) has been preparing and sending effective and passionate Turkana missionaries to remote parts of Turkanaland and beyond while supporting several pastors in the original mother churches. These indigenous missionaries and pastors  are more accepted among the hundreds unreached villages in the uttermost parts of Turkanaland. They have been able to plant over 70 churches across Turkanaland since 2006. Pronounced spiritual growth and maturity continues to be evident among the SI-planted churches.

As many Turkana people put their faith in Christ each month, more SI-trained missionaries and pastors are being commissioned to “occupy the land” in those territories and establish churches as the Lord provides for their support through His people. Biblically sound discipleship programs are producing spiritual maturity in the believers.

SI has prepared indigenous messengers to share the Gospel in unreached territories. Currently, SI has 51 trained missionaries that are ready and waiting to be commissioned as soon as financial support is available. We have faith that God will continue to place these needs on the hearts of believers and move them to give joyfully.

An indigenous Turkana missionary can be supported at $180/month. Here are just some of the men ready to go out from where they are currently serving to plant new churches. (Click on the image for a full bio)

The SI staff in Lodwar continue to encourage and help the missionaries plant new churches in neighboring villages where there is no Gospel witness. In the last quarter of 2010, SI staff and Turkana partners visited and ministered in 7 churches/villages where they witnessed a total of 201 adults surrender to Christ as Savior. Currently, the SI Discipleship Program is actively implemented in 50 mother churches between one and two days each week. Many of these churches were formerly sister- or daughter-churches which have now grown and become autonomous. The discipleship program is producing Christians who are now witnessing for Christ among their not-yet-saved neighbors without the help or presence of the pastors or missionaries, as has been the case. Between 2006 and 2010, the pastors, missionaries and members of their respective churches had planted 98 churches in Turkanaland and southern Sudan, with a total of 16,506 conversions to Christ! We request prayers for many of our missionaries who are ministering in volatile and insecure locations.

The SICGP team has been traversing Turkanaland this year to encourage the SI-supported pastors and missionaries and to follow up and nurture the continuing growth of the Church in the remote villages across that massive region. Here are reports of just a few of the churches that the team visited:

1. Kosogwoleetom Pentecostal Church (25 miles from Lodwar): Christians at the church “were so happy and encouraged when the SI team visited them for the very first time.” The team enhanced the SI Discipleship Program and reinforced local missions ministry among the unreached communities in the area. The team helped the church raise $720 for construction of a worship center.

2. Lochor-Emoit Church (35 miles from Lodwar): Many Christians in Lochor-Emoit are very poor, and drought and inadequate water forces frequent migrations in search of pasture and water for their animals. The SICGP team met with 78 adults and 33 children to provide encouragement from God’s Word. Every week the church holds discipleship and prayer sessions to equip believers and challenge them towards active evangelism and service in the community, and the church has planted a daughter church with 40 adults and 13 children in Sopel village. A motorbike is urgently needed to allow for visits and ministry to those in Sopel and the pastoralists in the area.

3. Napusimoru Church (81 miles from Lodwar): The residents in Napusimoru are 90% nomadic pastoralists and have been under the influence of witchdoctors and animistic religion (worship of moon, sun, and mountains) for a long time. However, the church has been witnessing spiritual transformation in the hearts of the new believers. A total of 63 adults and 32 children are now actively attending church worship services, discipleship, and prayer sessions. Poverty, starvation and death in the village, especially among the elderly and orphans, continue to be the major plights in the village and the vicinity. SI is responding to the plight by donating corn to the most malnourished as funds become available.

4. Nakabaran: A 3-day outreach and evangelism expedition led by Pastor Elim and 13 men from his church established a “preaching point” in Lochor-Edome (25 miles from Nakabaran) this year. “A dramatic event took place upon the arrival of the team in the village. The residents ran for safety because the motorbikes scared them! That’s how remote the village is! It took six hours for the situation to normalize after the village elders understood that we had come to bring a message of peace and hope for the lost tribes. The mother church in Nakabaran also held a one-week Youth Rally this year, with a total of 120 youth from Lodwar, Nakweei, Kaikir, Nakabaran and Lochor-Edome in attendance. The youth were encouraged to use the gifts bestowed upon them by the Holy Spirit.”

SOUTHERN SUDAN: SI commissioned her first Turkana missionary to southern Sudan in June this year. Michael Ngelecha Erupe (pictured to the left)) is a hardworking servant now reaching and serving the Toposa people and the neighboring Ndiga, Shiluk, and Lotuko people-groups of southern Sudan. In August, Pastor Samwel Kaaleng (the Turkana SI Kenya Board member) led a team from Lodwar to visit and encourage Missionary Erupe and his new church. Pastor Kaaleng reports:

“The Toposa people live without any written law to guide them. They kill each other indiscriminately. We thank the Lord for calling Missionary Erupe to serve among them and for sending us to visit the new church there. We were able to minister to a hundred people that week through house-to-house visitation. On the Sunday we distributed clothes donated by members of the churches in Lodwar. There are many unclothed adults and children. The land is fertile with lots of rain, so they can grow lots of food, but they have not been able to settle down because of the prevailing war. God has placed a burden upon our hearts for these people. They are our neighbors. God loves them just as He loves us. Please pray that God will provide so we can reach them more effectively.”

In general, the churches in Turkanaland continue to grow steadily both spiritually and numerically as the dedicated SI-supported pastors and missionaries diligently serve under difficult circumstances. The churches are appointing associate pastors/evangelists, elders and deacons to work hand-in-hand with the pastors and missionaries. The need of the hour is for continued teaching/training, sending and supporting the pastors and missionaries in order to impart sound doctrine upon the members of their churches. SI has been doing exactly that even more since the graduation of 76 pastors and missionaries from the SI Missions Institute (SIMI) in 2006 by holding regular workshops at the small SIMI Center and by making regular visits to the local churches to equip and facilitate effective church growth through discipleship.

While the local churches in Turkanaland are being taught and encouraged to give towards God’s work and support their own pastors/missionaries, the monthly donations of $150/pastor and $180/missionary by faithful donors have enabled SI to support 23 Turkana missionaries. There are 49 still waiting for support so as to be commissioned. These faithful and dedicated servants of the Lord need motorbikes to facilitate greater outreach and increased discipleship sessions in Turkanaland and beyond.