Slaves of all - Jesus Army

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Continued from overleaf Gregory (left) along with AMEN delegates and friends from the Jesus Fellowship over and over and over again. This was a lesson Gregory quickly learnt as he chose, for example, to cut himself off from his former friends in order to pursue his new life as a child of God. Within a month he was elected leader of the Christian Union. “That really pushed me on my knees because I was teaching some really mature and able children of God,” recalls Gregory. His 5am prayer times provided fuel for the day and Gregory was soon thrilled to see people that he had been praying for committing themselves to Christ. Every disciple has to learn the way of working out their faith in an alien world, with its many distractions. On returning to Kenya, Gregory put his Rural Industries and Management degree to use as a teacher at the Kenya National Polytechnic and later as a management training consultant. In 2001 he knew the Lord was telling him to leave to pursue ministry full-time – but his boss persuaded him to stay. It took three deaths in his family in one week to pull him back in line with God’s call. Brokenhearted, he cried out: “God, if there’s another price I have to pay, let me go through it now.” Suffering leads to fruitfulness, and now he plunged himself into the work of Christ Evangelistic Church. Its mission, based on Ephesians 4, is to equip leaders with the necessary skills to successfully plant other successful churches. It started in 1997 in one member’s house; today 70 adult members meet in a hall in Nairobi, and there are three other churches in Kenya - in Mombasa, Tall Station and Kitale - and one in Uganda. Another key scripture for Gregory is 2 Corinthians 4, which speaks of “setting forth the truth plainly”. “If we have to sell truth, we ourselves must be truth,” Gregory says. The accountability and integrity that he saw in the Jesus Fellowship leadership structure at the first Multiply International Leaders Conference in 2002 was therefore very attractive to him, and played a key part in his decision to link “If we have to sell truth, we ourselves must be truth” with the network. He and the leaders of the other churches in the Kenya Multiply Network have now been meeting weekly for three years. “It has made a tremendous difference,” says Gregory. “As a leader you suffer from a lot of loneliness, a lack of people to encourage and inspire you.” The five churches also fellowship together once a month and work together on crusades. “Working jointly means we have more impact than we’d have single-handedly,” he explains. The love that reached beyond walls of family, tribe and race in Jesus Fellowship also greatly inspired Gregory, who has a vision to have a church with all 42 Kenyan tribes represented: “I see Multiply as a network that assists in the breaking down of walls that have separated believers in terms of denominations and of races. Though we have extended families, inviting people who are not your own relatives to a meal is not very common. But I saw that here. “And the bringing in of new believers, discipling them, that really touched me too.” As a result, when Gregory returned to Kenya he took in a boy from the Luo tribe and educated him. He now has a job and is almost independent. What Gregory saw of sharing has also been put into practice, with church members bringing in unused clothes, household goods and shoes to share. “The church is now full of smartly dressed people,” laughs Gregory. The ever-present challenges of resources when unemployment is rife, the need to support family, a transient population and restrictive regulations don’t stunt Gregory’s vision. For Christ Evangelistic Church, he has his sights set on five new churches in Kenya and more in Uganda too. And for the mother church, he wants 250 disciples – and at least 150 seats (currently there are just 30 seats!) For Multiply, the net spreads wider, with four more towns in Kenya – Kisumu, Eldoret, Kitale and Bungoma – plus Burundi, Tanzania, Rwanda as well as Kenya and Uganda all in his sights. An East African Multiply Conference in Nairobi on Saturday 2 February 2008 is set to draw them in. The apostolic path can be lonely, but God always produces needed encouragement, as Gregory found at another desperately low time: “I was walking with the then president in a cassava field. All of a sudden there was a small dais. We climbed on it. The president was holding a microphone and I saw hundreds of people running towards us, from all directions. But he didn’t say anything. He handed me the mike and said: “Preach to these people.” One thing is certain, Gregory can be relied on to deliver the gospel of Jesus Christ plain and clear, whoever is listening. Jesus Life Three/2007 Page 20 www.multiply.org.uk
EMBODYING VISION IN THE UK I’D ALREADY been involved in organising Multiply Conferences with Multiply Director, Huw Lewis, and towards the end of last year I was appointed as the Multiply Coordinator. My job is to visit Multiply churches and prospective groups, mainly in the UK, at least once a year and to strengthen and develop relationships with their leaders. So far I’ve visited ten groups. We usually chat about what God has been doing among us, encourage each other, share a meal and pray together. Multiply is a growing partnership around the UK as well as internationally. Jesus Life hears from Multiply UK Coordinator, Iain Gorrie. I felt it was important not just to speak about the vision of Multiply, but to embody the vision. That meant carrying an openhearted love and genuine care, a passion for souls (including all nations), a desire for growth and increase, being church of the poor, release in worship and training the next generation. Leadership teams are encouraged to maximise the effectiveness of their particular spiritual gifts and ministries and to increase in faith. We want to see the Multiply Christian Network stronger and more united – and we will! JL UP AND COMING IAIN’S VISITS SO FAR: Tony Oldbury Rishton Christian Fellowship, Blackburn Frank Andrews Hyndburn Christian Fellowship, Blackburn Daudet Lumakangilu Living Water Church, Gloucester Eugene Tenga Flaming Evangelical Ministries, London Matthew Guest King’s Church, Medway, Kent Joe McDavid Glorious Revival Eagle Ministries, London Pascal Orome Mission Ensemble Pour Christ, London Robin Caine Church of Shalom, High Wycombe Moses Adebiyi Glad Tidings Evangelical Church, London Promise Ngowe and Patrick Zimba Kairos Community Church, Harlow MULTIPLY LEADERS CONFERENCES UNITED KINGDOM Saturday 24 November 2007 INTERNATIONAL Wed 21 May - Wed 4 June 2008 Main Conference Sat 31 May 2008 WHAT IS MULTIPLY? Multiply Christian Network is a worldwide apostolic stream of churches, initiated by Jesus Fellowship Church. It is a member of the Evangelical Alliance UK. Multiply now has 18 UK groups and 105 worldwide. WHO’S IT FOR? Any fellowship, of any size, from any culture or race, as long as it is basically evangelical. The latest partner to join was Living Water Church, a Congolese Frenchspeaking church based in Gloucester, UK. WHAT DOES IT OFFER? Relationships between leaders are central and are fostered through regular conferences, celebration gatherings and fellowship. Leadership and evangelism training plus a variety of resources, including free literature, are also available. MORE INFORMATION: Contact Multiply Director Huw Lewis Tel: +44 1327 344533 Email: huw.lewis@jesus.org.uk or write to: Jesus Fellowship / Multiply Central Offices, Nether Heyford, Northampton, UK NN7 3LB inspiration, challenge and brotherhood info@multiply.org.uk www.multiply.org.uk Jesus Life Three/2007 Page 21
Page 1 and 2: esusLife #76 three/2007 FREE INSIDE
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Page 9 and 10: Uncharted On 1 April 2007, Deborah
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Slaves of all - Jesus Army

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