Missionary profile – John*

By Mercy Kambura

John*, a missionary in Kenya

My wife and I are the first missionaries among an unreached people group in Southern/Coastal part of Kenya. Others before us would be kicked out of here once their agenda was known.

We don’t announce that we’re here to spread the Gospel. We create friendships with the community and hold events that bring us together. They know we’re Christians, but we’re just like them.

My dad was a Catholic, and he used to read the Bible, making notes in a notebook. I started reading the Bible to make him happy, but I didn’t feel the move that always made him cry while reading.

When my dad died, all my brothers converted to Islam. My firstborn sister was a Christian.

Life was hard because I wasn’t a Muslim – I was very lonely during times like Ramadan. So, I became a Muslim. My sister heard that I had become a Muslim too, and she was grieved. So she asked me to read the books of John, Acts, and Romans.

I did it to make her happy, but something happened – it was so different from what we had been told in Islam. I felt what my dad had felt; I was reading and crying.

I wanted to study theology so that I could go back and preach to my brothers. But they were Muslims – they couldn’t pay for it. I studied mechanics, which was not my will. Later, two of my brothers agreed to pay for it.

One time, a man from Kenya came to our church to speak about missions. The man directed me to one of the schools in Kenya.

I studied for one year, then went to North coast Kenya for exposure. I married my mission schoolmate and fellow missionary. She was a missionary in Tanga, Tanzania, and after we wed, she joined me.

Missions is not about speed, it’s about impact. We have seen people’s lives being changed; we’re planting God’s Word in hearts that didn’t have the word at all. We share everything. It’s life to life. There are no programs. We’re just living with them, as they learn from our lives. It’s slow, but it’s working.

#Pray:

* For the young people we’re reaching out to.

* For the entire community – there’s a lot of witchcraft.

* For God to send more workers – there’s much work and only the two of us and a volunteer.

Representative photo