New Congregation Springs from Message of Hope
Release No: 09-10
By Gregory Koenig
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Feb. 3— NAIROBI, Kenya: Nuru Lutheran Media Ministry is the Lutheran Hour Ministries ministry center in Kenya, based in Nairobi. Recently, after a successful mission event at a Lutheran congregation in western Kenya's Samanga area, the Nuru ministry staff received an invitation to send a team to Kodula, a village not far from the Samanga site.
Resources were limited, so instead of planning a weeklong mission event, the center's director arranged to send two staff members, Isaac Ngala and Geoffrey Gunyali, to host a "weekend challenge," which included preaching and an open-air film viewing.
The showing of a Christian film would be the first of its kind in Kodula, but the LHM staff learned that it would compete with another first: a disco dance featuring a live - and very loud - band at roughly the same time. Regardless, Ngala and Gunyali reported that the two events went on as scheduled.
At the LHM showing of the powerful JESUS film produced by Campus Crusade for Christ, the audience sat in rapt attention-unperturbed even as chaos erupted at the dance. They were amazed that Jesus was speaking to them in Dholuo (pronounced tholuo) a language spoken by the Luo, Kenya's second-largest people group.
And when Jesus said, "Kwe obed kodu," Peace be with you, on the screen, the mesmerized audience shouted back, "Amen!"
One of those watching the JESUS film in Kodula was Thomas Okuthe. Okuthe had become disenchanted in recent months with what he saw as legalism in the staunch denomination in which he had grown up; he had stopped going to church and so had his wife. But he was moved by this presentation by the Nuru ministry staff; and the next day he went to his father to tell him of his decision to become Lutheran.
Seeing how intent his son was, Okuthe's father went with him to speak to the Lutheran pastor. When they finished, it was evident to him that Thomas had been led to faith again by the power of the Holy Spirit. Not only did Thomas Okuthe's father rejoice at this, he also offered the pastor some land he owned for the building of a church.
Today the Okuthe family is enrolled in baptism and confirmation classes, and 20 members of the brand-new Kodula Lutheran Church hear the words "Kwe obed kodu" spoken in the name of Jesus every Sunday.
Once again, "Amen" seems to be a fitting response to that.
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