Missionary profile – Lenny Karanja

By Mercy Kambura

Lenny Karanja, Kenyan Missionary to Mozambique

I’m a missionary in Mozambique working with an organisation called Operation Mobilization (OM). I am also a youth patron at my local church Missão Mundial in Mocuba, Mozambique (it means World Mission in English). We are reaching out to the Mozambican youth.

I had settled in my heart that I’d be in missions for some time after graduating from college,. I didn’t know how and where, until the day I made a Mozambican friend.

Here’s how it happened.

I was involved in the university evangelistic teams and that inspired me to be involved in missions. We did short-term mission trips to Kargi and Olturot in Kenya.

When I finished my graduate studies, I joined Life Changers, a ministry of African Christian Mission International (AMCI). This is a youth outreach program made up of college and university graduates, who volunteer to reach out and serve students in colleges and universities within Thika Municipality in Kenya and the youth in the society.

While working with Life Changers’ International School of Mission (ISOM), I made a friend from Mozambique. He was a pastor who had come for training and as we got talking, I got to know how Mozambique was in terms of youth and children’s ministry. I was grieved to learn that there are no organised ministries in Mozambique to help people do ministry in learning institutions unlike in Kenya. As I explored more, I learned that almost half the population of Mozambique is children aged 15 years and below. I was deeply interested in youth ministry, and this caught my attention.

Later, another friend visited Mozambique and brought the same feedback. My interest was piqued and I felt the same calling. Nevertheless, I continued serving in Thika, Kenya, and trusted God to open a door in Mozambique.

I was later invited by a Kenyan missionary who had established a school there. Before I could leave, insurgents attacked the town I was set to go. That delayed my going, and I continued working with ISOM for another 7 months.

I went to Mozambique for the first time and reached out in Mocimboa Da Praia, from August to October year in 2018. I returned to Kenya and then took another short-term mission trip back Mozambique.

It was here that I connected with Operation Mobilization (OM), who are also involved in humanitarian work.

A cyclone hit a region of Mozambique, and OM needed a disaster response coordinator. I had studied Bachelor of Commerce (Finance) so I wasn’t sure I was a good fit for that role, but I went anyway. We got training and orientation and got to work coordinating the disaster response.

The Lord used us to minister to people’s physical needs as we helped those affected by the cyclone. It was life-changing. I got to preach the gospel to the youth, my heart’s desire. I preached the gospel of Christ to them and discipled those who became believers.

I’m still working with OM, and we now have about five discipleship groups. My greatest achievement was being able to connect with Mozambicans in their language. I decided to proceed even if I had not perfected Portuguese. Our deepest struggle is to get material in Portuguese.

Mission exploration was a part of growing in faith as I’ve had to trust God for the next provision. And God has always given me grace for all the seasons.