Missionary profile – Harriet Ngugi

By Mercy Kambura

Kenyan Missionary and Mobilizer in Kenya and the United Kingdom

How can an African Christian in the Global West meet the Gospel needs of the people there? My husband and I moved to the UK primarily to further our education in Missions. We have been involved in missions since 2010 in Kenya. We’re now mobilizing the Africans in the diaspora to spread the Gospel in their contexts. This wasn’t an afterthought for us; even before we left Kenya, we knew we wanted to be involved in the missions movement in the West. We have joined the movement of Africans doing missions in the West.

I grew up in a Christian home and was exposed to the Gospel from a very young age.

I probably got saved several times when I was young, but when I was a teenager, a fellow teenager shared the Gospel. It resonated with me powerfully. I finally understood my sinfulness and my need for a saviour.

When I joined the university, I met a mentor that discipled me systematically. After finishing my studies at the university, I did a one-year internship in Ministry Training in Discipleship at Trinity Fellowship (TF) in Kenya. I later joined TF and worked with them for four years.

Part of the curriculum in the discipleship training was a one-week mission training through the Kairos course. After this missions training, I began to understand mission as I understand it now. I did a lot of soul-searching in the four years I worked with students. One thing became clear—I could not talk comprehensively about discipleship and not talk about missions.

Discipleship is not just an inward-looking venture; it had to be about me growing my character. I’m now involved in missional discipleship. Discipleship is not about us being changed from within; it also has to be outward looking, becoming a blessing to others by sharing Christ. That’s part of being made more like Christ—He came as a missionary.

14% of the population in London is black. 60% of the people who go to Church on Sunday are blacks. It’s not an easy place to reach out and evangelize, but we have the potential to share the Gospel. We have been invited as children of God to the most remarkable thing happening on earth. It’s a privilege to be invited like this, and it’s a tragedy to miss out on it. Wherever God takes us as Christians, He wants us to be the salt and the light. He’s worthy of every sacrifice we make to share the Gospel. Let’s take up the challenge; it’s our heritage.