Please welcome Pastor Steve Kariithi this weekend in the Life Center between services! We're so thankful for the 20+ years of partnership with Steve & his wife Joyce, his parents (Jepson & Edith Karau), and their ministry in the Mathare Slum area of Nairobi, Kenya!
Join Pastor Steve for a Mission Update Dinner Sunday, September 10, at 6pm at a private home in the NW part of Colorado Springs. The entree will be provided, just sign up to bring a side dish or dessert!
Mathare Slum has a population of about 600,000 people living in 3 square miles. The average household income is about $80 a month. Families in the area are challenged by poverty, HIV and other disease, lack of education and jobs, but most of all, broken relationships with each other and God.
Steve is the pastor of Mathare Worship Centre (MWC), a dynamic church that shines a beacon in Mathare, teaching the gospel and seeing Jesus transform lives. The church has partnerships with 12 daughter churches scattered around Kenya and has created leadership programs for youth that impact hundreds of thousands of children around the country. Please praise God that MWC received final building permits to begin Project Nuru, the 3-story church building and community center. They hope to break ground early next year! Pray for wisdom, continued favor with the government, and a good place to meet during construction.
Mathare Worship Centre and Pastor Steve also work with Hope's Promise, another CWC partner ministry. Hope's Promise was responsible for Sanctuary of Hope (SoH), 2 homes where the Karaus and Kariithis raised 24 orphans from Mathare Valley into young adulthood.
“Some of the children are doing great and some aren’t, but those challenges are accepted knowing that each of them are different, going through different phases.”
Several of the children have navigated high school, university studies or vocational training well while others struggle to find vision for the future. Despite every difficulty, the Karaus continue to love each child exceptionally well, tirelessly advocating for them. They strive to use every resource available to help set them on the path to success, whatever that looks like for the individual child. Their unconditional love for the children is a beautiful testament of their love for God and passion to fulfill the work He has called them to do. Pray for them to continue to have wisdom and longevity as they navigate difficulties and usher the children into adulthood. Updates on a few of the children:
Alvin
17, 11th Grade
Alvin enjoys Biology, Physics and Chemistry. He performs well in his classes and shows interest and initiative in his studies. He really enjoys playing hockey and does a good job balancing sports and school responsibilities. He has expressed interest in pursuing a career as a doctor. Pray that Alvin will continue to thrive in his studies and have wisdom and direction for the future.
Esther K
18, Vocational School
Esther attends a vocational school to learn beadwork, knitting and life skills. Once Esther completes her last year of school, the hope is the school will provide help for her to get a job. The lack of resources for people with special needs in Kenya is a challenge. Please pray for the Karaus to have wisdom and discernment in finding a way to help Esther move forward into adulthood after school.
Janet
23, College
Janet was about to complete a vocational program for agriculture but struggled with her final exams and started talking about changing to a community development program, which would require two more years of school. In her spare time, Janet likes shopping and listening to music. Please pray that Janet will have wisdom to make a decision about her career path and that she will have provision for whichever direction she goes.
Sammy
21, Applying to Colleges
Sammy continues to serve as a representative for the Special Olympics and visits schools to share about training and leadership in athletics. His latest trip was to Berlin this Spring. Sammy enjoys running, cycling, and swimming and is often tired and achy because of the frequency of his exercise. Sammy would like to go to school for mechanical engineering so he is looking into options that might help him get the accommodations he needs for auditory notes and test taking. Pray for Sammy to find a school that will be able to accommodate him.
Another arm of Hope's Promise is Kuza, Swahili for "nurture". Kuza works within Mathare to support and encourage children who are being cared for by relatives and single parents. Kuza helps provide school fees and uniforms, along with other support as needed. Mathare Worship Centre (MWC) works alongside Kuza, providing discipleship, counseling, and programming during school breaks. Please pray for the staff and volunteers of Kuza & MWC as they build relationships and Christian support around the families. Pray for the children and families to come face-to-face with the love of Jesus and to experience real transformations. Pray for the staff and funding as Kuza grows from 25 children last year to 100 by the end of 2023, and as they look at expanding the program into a sister church's community, a rural town called Gatete.
Praise God for Augustin Tharsis, CWC Missionary in Paris, France. Augustin and the church planting team recently volunteered to clean streets in their area. Although cleaning the streets does not attract many Parisians, their cleaning activity allows the team to spend time with those who like to volunteer their time and who love the city of Paris. This allowed them to develop relationships with the most motivated. They had a few remarks like, "It is useless what you are doing!" but also people who thanked them for doing it. After cleaning, it's an opportunity to laugh and relax with their volunteer friends. Please pray for continued connections and relationships with the many unreached in their area!
Praise God for Carlos & Yolanda Casco! They recently returned to Ecuador after weeks of teaching Inductive Bible Study Seminars in Bolivia. Pray for the students to put their training into practice, to not just hear the Word, but to do it! Pray also for the Cascos to continue to have the energy and health to do all that God has called them to!
Thank you for your prayers for Matt & Noelle Harris, serving in Gulu, Uganda! In addition to serving the Bible college, in 2021, Matt became one of the pastors of Calvary Chapel Gulu. It has been so exciting to see God moving in and through their church more. However, it has been hard to be involved with the church family while they were living miles away. God has blessed them by placing their new home very close to the church, and with the time they will save from the commute they will be able to be more involved. Among other things, they are specifically looking forward to creating new believer classes that will help new converts become grounded in their faith. Please pray for Matt & Noelle and their family as they adjust to their new home, and for their expanded ministry in Calvary Chapel Gulu.
Please pray as the Bible college has recently trained in a holistic approach to ministry called Community Health Evangelism (CHE). CHE is designed to help a community recognize their own physical and spiritual deficits/needs and work together to solve them using whatever resources they already have. This method is being employed in every continent of the world and is having tremendous impact in communities in areas of health and hygiene, how to raise families, business ventures, agriculture and animal husbandry, and many other things. It is even being used to plant thousands of churches. After finishing the training, Matt had the privilege to tour Northern Uganda and South Sudan to see other groups of people who were implementing CHE. They plan to incorporate CHE into the Bible college curriculum and are excited about how the Holy Spirit will use it to transform communities around them!
Please continue praying that:
• The Harris family will be able to fully adopt their daughter Apio Cynthia.
• God will bless their transition into a new home and community.
• Many people in Uganda will be touched by God’s Holy Spirit and will come to a saving belief in Jesus.
• God will give Matt & Noelle boldness to preach and represent Him.
Jon & Teresa Simons, CWC Missionaries to Medellin, Colombia, recently hosted the leaders of CWC's Young Adult ministry, Everlast, on a short-term mission trip. Teresa shared:
We deeply appreciate your prayers for the short-term team we hosted in late July. God heard them and answered mightily. The team had a relentless schedule of serving and ministry in their 6 days here, but God sustained them and used them for his glory: over 200 kids came to the VBS they planned! It was incredibly encouraging time for many people and we are still seeing the longer-term ripples that have continued to spread from the work the team did. Many people have been weary and the team injected a boost of energy and joy that has been lacking. We have seen worship styles change in several congregations, we have kids coming to campus that weren’t attending the community ministries before, and we have profs and students opening up in both community and worship in new ways. For Jon and I personally, one of the sweetest parts of this time was the way the team encouraged and loved on our kids. I’m confident that those three lives were eternally impacted. Praise God. Also, never let people tell you that short-term trips aren’t valuable. We can say with assurance that they can be incredibly valuable to both the team and the hosts.
Please rejoice with us for the good work done by the team and pray that both the members of the team and those they worked with in Colombia will be strengthened and that they will continue to bear good fruit.
Please thank God for publishing of Jon’s book, Divine Simplicity in the Theology of Irenaeus. We thank God for Jon's faithfulness and hard work!
Please pray for Teresa’s family. There have been several very scary and difficult health concerns among family members back home. Pray for healing, comfort, and sustaining strength of the Lord, and please pray for God to encourage and strengthen Jon & Teresa as they minister from afar.
Please continue to pray for Janice Evans, serving in Ukraine and Hungary.
Praises & Prayer Requests:
- Please pray for Janice to receive a Hungarian residency permit, which will allow her to move freely in and out of Hungary for a year.
- Janice has taken a break from the last months of hosting Ukrainian refugees in her small apartment. Please pray as she discerns God's will regarding re-opening for long-term visitors versus shifting to giving short-term breaks to those leaving Ukraine for short time periods.
- Please also pray for Janice and the Ukrainian Christians to have compassion on Russians, especially Russian refugees in Hungary. Pray for forgiveness.
- Pray for Janice to find a good dentist since she has lost a filling.
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