The PCEA Marsabit Church dedication was interesting and entertaining. Borana and Samburu are the main tribes here, and the dancing and singing reflected these cultures. Our group also participated in the singing, which was a first.
Building this church was very difficult. It was built over a period of four years encompassing COVID. The costs rose and available money shrank, but with God’s help, the church was completed.
Read MorePCEA Urisho Church in Arusha, Tanzania was dedicated in June with a happy celebration. The church is located on top of Mount Meru, just outside Arusha.
From our base in Kikuyu, it took all day to drive to Arusha for the dedication. We got to the border at noon, and it took about two hours to cross because of the paperwork for the vehicle. The main language of Tanzania is Swahili, and very few people speak English.
Read MoreThe dedication of PCEA Kwen-Siro Church on July 1 was the culmination of a week of mission celebration on the Kenyan coast. The celebration started on Tuesday when many went door to door in Sagalla evangelizing and inviting the town people to the church dedication on Saturday. Most of the Head Office including the Moderator, Secretary General and Deputy Secretary General attended.
Read MorePCEA Ng’alalya Church was dedicated on June 4. The new church is located about 1.5 hours east of Kikuyu. It is a growing area and has a lot of potential. I can see them expanding in five years. In the meantime, we have helped them with a church where they can grow their capacity and members and do much on their own. The closest PCEA church is PCEA Bethany, the mother of Ng’alalya, which is 10 kilometers (more than five miles) away. This is too far for children and the elderly to walk.
Read MoreThe Presbyterian Church of East Africa (PCEA) and The Outreach Foundation have enjoyed many years of faithful partnership, building churches in East Africa. PCEA Ol’Moran was recently dedicated with great joy! Stu Ross sent the following news:
After much work and many struggles, the beautiful PCEA Ol’Moran Church was finally dedicated on April 2, 2023. It was worth the effort. The congregation was able to move from this dilapidated mud structure to their beautiful modern stone church. Their old structure could only seat 25 people and was dark with few windows and a mud floor.
Read MoreThrough years of faithful partnership, the Presbyterian Church of East Africa (PCEA) and The Outreach Foundation have built many churches in East Africa. Outreach East Africa Mission Consultant Stu Ross recently sent this joyful news about a recent church dedication:
This Ndigu-Ini congregation was started in 1992 when members from the area felt their walk to their church was too far, especially for the elderly and the very young. They organized themselves and worshipped in an open field on the chief’s homestead.
Read MoreThe Outreach Foundation has come alongside the Presbyterian Church of East Africa (PCEA) to help them build churches in difficult areas. Once these churches are established, members do mission work in their communities like building schools and ministering to those in need. Coordinating this work is Outreach’s East Africa Mission Consultant Stu Ross, who works closely with PCEA leadership. Stu recently sent the following:
Last Sunday, October 16, Simba Cement Church was dedicated. The church is located in Maasai Land near a large cement factory, thus the name Simba Cement Church.
Read MoreWorking closely with PCEA leadership, Outreach’s East Africa Mission Consultant Stu Ross coordinates the construction of many churches in East Africa. Stu sent this note about one of the newest PCEA churches:
The dedication of Kianjau Church was very different in many ways. The group that helped build this church was from TOLI (Touch of Love International). We have been partnering with them for about six years. They do micro-loans and have been working in the Kiandutu slum next to the church. They have already given out over forty loans and by year’s end will have given out over one hundred. Many of their loans are going to single mothers with few skills and few opportunities. They not only provide loans but also provide training on how to run a business, open a bank account, and choose a sustainable enterprise.
Read MoreStu Ross, East Africa Mission Consultant, recently sent this note about the dedication of PCEA Churiri Church in Kenya. The church was built in partnership with the Presbyterian Church of East Africa (PCEA); Memorial Presbyterian Church, Charlotte, NC; Mid-Atlantic Synod Men’s Council through the Nendeni Outreach Program; and The Outreach Foundation.
Read MoreStu Ross, East Africa Mission Consultant, recently sent this note about the dedication of PCEA Ndagara Church in Kenya. The church was built in partnership with First Presbyterian Church, Nashville, TN.
Dear friends,
Today, February 6, 2022, we dedicated Ndagara Church in Laikipia Presbytery, which is about a six-hour drive from home. Although we have already built six churches in the Presbytery,
Read MoreThe Outreach Foundation has come alongside the Presbyterian Church of East Africa (PCEA) to help them build over 350 churches in the last 20 years. Coordinating this work is Outreach’s East Africa Mission Consultant Stu Ross who works closely with PCEA leadership. Stu sent this note on one of the newest PCEA churches:
Tigoni is a small town located in the center of a tea-growing area. PCEA Tigoni Church is a large, beautiful church that will seat 350+. The area has great potential and I can see the church doubling or tripling in membership in the next several years. We usually put the vestry on the side of the church but this time we put it behind the church. The land for the church was donated by a church member.
Read MoreDear friends,
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, many churches could not be dedicated after they were completed. So, we recently dedicated four churches and have about ten more to be dedicated soon. The four churches are located in Kieni West Presbytery, a very poor, dry area that has not received much attention. The Very Rev. Jesse Kamau, a past Moderator and good friend of The Outreach Foundation, dedicated the churches. The Rev. Kamau is known as the father of the Presbyterian Church of East Africa (PCEA).
PCEA Imani Church
Mugunda Parish in Kieni West Presbytery
Dedicated October 7, 2021
Imani Church started in 1984 in the Rutunguru Primary School. Soon after its inception, a church member donated the land and a wooden structure was constructed around 1990. The wooden structure served the congregation for many years but was leaning due to termite infestation. Over the years the church grew and was vibrant in the community. But they needed a larger church that would survive termites. The new church will allow the congregation to grow and thrive.
Read MoreDear friends,
The dedication of Kianjau was very different in many ways.
The group that helped build this church was from TOLI (Touch of Love International) led by Executive Director Abigail McConnell, a former Outreach board member. We have been partnering with them for about six years. They do microloans and have been working in the Kiandutu slum next to the church. They have already given out over forty loans and by year’s end will have given out over one hundred. Many of their loans are going to single mothers with few skills and few opportunities. They not only provide loans but also provide training on how to run a business, open a bank account and choose a sustainable enterprise. I have been through the slum several times and met many of these women that have been helped. This program has lifted families out of poverty, empowered these women, and given them a chance to excel.
Read MoreOn February 21, we dedicated PCEA Kirathimo Church. Because of COVID, the congregation waited a year for us to complete the church. The foundation stone was laid in November 2019 in anticipation of a group coming in March 2020 but they were unable to travel, so The Outreach Foundation completed the work in January 2021. The project included the church and two classrooms.
We first dedicated the two classrooms for the 71 children that currently attend. They would like to continue building two classrooms a year until eight are completed, which is a complete primary school.
Read MoreDear friends,
Today, January 10th, we dedicated PCEA Kiburuti Church. The first picture shows the former church building and the second picture is their new church. EVERYONE was very excited about “their new modern church.” It was completed in about three months with the congregation doing all the masonry work and then donors through The Outreach Foundation finishing the upper part of the church.
When the construction started at the end of October, the church had 40 members. By the time the church was completed the congregation had increased their numbers to 60. I predict the church will grow to 100 by year’s end.
The church is located in Central Province about a five-hour drive from our home base. It is at the foothills of the Aberdare Mountains, beautiful countryside. Despite the beauty, the people living here are subsistence farmers and have very little.
This is a very special church for all of us in Kenya and our Outreach colleagues in the U.S. since it honors The Outreach Foundation’s recently retired Executive Director Rob Weingartner
Read MoreStu Ross links U.S. congregations with East African partners to strengthen the church for God’s mission. Through these efforts, over 300 churches and over 150 schools have been built, hundreds of girls have been cared for and over 500 evangelists have been trained. The following report from Stu includes information about partnerships between the Presbyterian Church of East Africa (PCEA) and The Outreach Foundation:
PCEA Church Construction
PCEA Mabati School Construction
Girls’ Education and Rescue Centers
Clean Drinking Water in Kenya
Despite COVID and curfews and masks, the work of The Outreach Foundation continues – cautiously – here in East Africa. Travel and work during this time have been difficult. We currently have about 125 workers and no positive COVID tests.
This year we will complete twenty churches and three schools. Many of the churches were great distances from our home in Kikuyu. Many were in very isolated areas.
Read MoreBased in Kikuyu, Kenya, Stu Ross is responsible for partnering through the Mission Projects Committee of the Presbyterian Church of East Africa (PCEA) in a ministry of building schools, churches, and girls’ rescue centers as well as managing water projects. Stu helps link U.S. congregations with East African partners to strengthen the church for God’s mission. We recently received the following update from Stu:
Everything in Kenya has been shut down since March 23. Kenya has a dusk to dawn curfew which is strictly enforced. There is no movement allowed between counties. This has affected our church construction work in Kenya since that would involve moving from one county to another. Consequently, construction has stopped on ten churches that were in the process of being built.
Read MoreOn November 1, we dedicated Itangi Church. This was the fourth baby of the mother Gateway Church in Embu, which was built in 2007. Itangi Church was started in 2014 in a rented 8 x 8-foot metal structure. They celebrated their first Holy Communion on April 15, 2014. Then in 2017 they struggled to buy a one-acre plot of land and constructed their old church. After a while, their 65 members couldn’t fit into that church so they visited me to see if we could partner in building a new modern church.
Their new church will seat about 500 members. It is a very different feeling going from a mud floor to a nice, clean tiled floor. At the dedication, the church was filled with worshipers, about 400 spaced somewhat for COVID. There were also four tents outside with another 300 people. There were many visitors and many more from other parish churches.
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