Ruaka and the saving power of Christ.

Today has been challenging, a learning curve and eventually glorious.
We had a brief planning meeting and time of prayer and worship before heading to the nearby town of Ruaka. This is an up and coming area with lots of businesses and a large shopping mall. Many of the people are preoccupies with their business but we met numerous people who were prepared to listen.
Ruaka is also marked by varying religious ideas. There is a large Roman Catholic church there and there are many who buy into various ideas such as Rastafarianism. This leads to some interesting conversations.
Although we did not see anything miraculous during the most part of the day we did find sharing testimonies effective. People seem to need to see you are real and you are not just there to preach religion to them. They want to know if you understand them. We are developing our mission approach as we go along. We are learning and we saw the fruit of that near the end of our outreach.
One of the things we do is to keep our eyes open for needs that can be immediately met such as the person whose wares had fallen from their tipped barrow. We helped them with this and, as a result, they are more open and happy to talk and listen. Today we saw a man struggling up a hill with a large barrow carrying lengths of metal. He was finding it hard to steer with all the potholes in the mud track so we helped him take it back to the yard where he worked and we got talking.
One of the two men we spoke to was already born again and his workmate 'Kennedy' was listening intently as I shared my own life story with him.
Another thing we have learned to do is to encourage them to share their thoughts and any questions. This helps us to know where they are at with the whole subject of God and faith. It also helps them to know that we actually care about them and respect them. This has led to some good conversations about difficult subjects today.
Kennedy really thought hard about what we shared with him and had some questions of his own. At the end he said he wanted to give his life to Christ so I had the chance to pray with him. It was an awesome end to a day which, in terms of salvation or healing, looked empty {although we trust God that many good seeds were sown}. We collect contact details from people who are happy to be contacted and so there have been numerous good bridges built over the last two days. I think these outreaches over the last two days have been every bit as good as the crusades of last week.

Today Deus travels back to Uganda. This was his last outreach of the mission. Tomorrow I will be working with the two young people from PAIS Kenya who we have been working with so far. They are very good. One of them will be traveling to the U.K soon for an internship. Who knows, maybe I will meet up with him in the future.

Tomorrow we will go to Huruma which is a slum area. We are going door to door and also looking for any other opportunities for mission there. This will be the last day of mission. We are looking forward to a great final day.

God bless you...Steve

Face to Face in Kiambu County

We has a much needed rest on Monday which was very much appreciated after doing so much over the course of the previous week {and having out itinerary changed to include a busy Saturday and Sunday}. Today we have been able to approach things having been refreshed and refocused.

We are doing things rather differently this week. This morning we met for breakfast, devotions and prayers along with a planning meeting for the day. We decided to reach out to a nearby town called 'Banana' {Yes, you did read that right}. We have used a three fold strategy.

Along with prayer walking the area and interceding for the people we have been approaching anyone who might listen and introducing ourselves. If they are open to talk then we share the gospel with them. We must have spoken to around 30 people today. There is a young man called Samuel who has given his life to Christ today. Please pray that he would stay true to his commitment. We routinely offer prayer to people we meet as this is a positive way in which people can encounter the power of God and also shows our heart toward people as a positive witness.

This day of street witness and door to door has been marked by many shared testimonies and use of the word of God to share the gospel. We trust God for much fruit to come of the seed we have sown today.

We are working with a young man called Collins who is part of the PAIS movement now operating in Kenya. They specialise in reaching children and young people and he has brought some really useful skills in helping us to have a good outreach. He is off to The United States in a few weeks for a one year internship. We pray that God enlarge his capacity to minister during that time. He has a real heart to reach people and  spiritual maturity for a young man which is very god to see and also a testament to PAIS philosophy of reaching and developing young people.

During our prayer walk we had a look inside a local church that turned out to be only one week old. We had a chance to pray for the church and the new minister of this church plant and they have offered us an opportunity for a lunchtime open air preaching platform in front of the church which is facing the main road. We are praying about this.

There are two other nearby towns we are considering reaching out to in the next two days. Pray that God would guide our steps.  

Crusades in Obama district.

For the last two days we have had services in the Christ Believers church in the Obama district of Nairobi. We had a really good service there on Sunday morning and the people were very receptive to the word. We learned the difference between the mindset of a son and that of an orphan with the emphasis being that we are sons and daughters of God and the view we have of our heavenly Father will shape our mindset.
We had a really beneficial bible study in the church before the main service. The church was full with around 100 people there. I wasn't expecting the bible study until about 30 seconds before the pastor invited me up to speak but I was led to a passage in Matthews gospel when I was waiting at the hotel which was the parable of the sower and I felt it was important to train people how to prepare their hearts in readiness to receive the word of God being taught and preached so that it would bear fruit in their lives.
Many of the people in this church are reading their bibles as you give out the texts {They are encouraged to do this} and numerous people are taking notes which is very positive. It means they are taking what they hear seriously.
Deus ministered at the crusade yesterday and there were three people who responded to the call of salvation and a number of healings. On Sunday, I had the chance to preach at the crusade and we saw another person come forward to give their life to Christ as well as four people who after being prayed for were set free of all pain.
Today we are in Kiambu county just north of Nairobi. This is our opportunity to rest after a very busy week. It will also give us the chance to plan for the mission work in front of us in the next few days. We are also staying in a decent house which is such a blessing.
I think so far at least six people have given their lives to Christ and at least 10 have received healing. We are working with a really good well trained missions movement this week so we are hoping for a really good second week. The work will focus on young people in the area.
This should be a very fruitful week.

God bless you...Steve

Great end to our meetings in Kariobangi

We have just finished our final meeting in the gospel fire church. it was a really good evening which went up a gear as it came to the end. after the preaching i invited deus to share anything god may have put on his heart. although he said he didnt have anything, as he stepped up to the pulpit asking god to speak to him it all began to flow. we shared prophetic words for people and prayed for pretty much everyone there. became a time of empowering and anointing. the presence of god was very much there.
today and tomoorow morning i will be in christ belivers church for two days of crusades.
please exccuse the poor typing. these keyboards are terrible. the keys keep sticking.
mungu akubariki sana {god bless you very much}

Update

Due to having to jump through numerous online security hoops i have only been able to log on today. I will give you a full mission update tomorrow.

Arrived safe and sound

I have arrived safe and sound.

Today is my rest day as I got about an hours sleep on Thursday evening and flew out of Heathrow very early on Friday morning {I was at the airport for 3am}.

I already have my three messages all but ready for the three day revival at Christ Believers church. It is going to be a good three days. Getting my visa at the airport was incredibly easy and quick. I sensed God wanted me to make him welcome and invite him into the situation and everything went so unusually well. Praise God.

I will complete my messages tonight. It is going to be a good three days. Pray also for Deus as he is arriving on the overnight coach from Uganda. He should be here in time for the service at Gospel Fire church. Pray for his travels and his ministry.

Mungu akubariki {God bless you}

Update: I have hit my financial target with less than 24 hours to go. Praise God.

Last night was a very fruitful and blessed evening in prayer and intercession for the mission and for the prayer partners. I am praying for a prophetic prayer for every one that they would be supernaturally equipped for the task ahead. I am looking forward to teaming up with Deus after meeting and working with him in Uganda two years ago.
The opening Sunday will see Deus preach at the Sunday service {and presumably pre service bible study} at the Gospel Fire church with Simon Arunga. I will be at Christ Believers Church with Dan Owiti as the first in three days at the church. I'm not sure whether Deus will join me on Sunday or the next day.
May God empower your prayers as we seek to advance the kingdom of God.

Mungu akubariki {God bless you}

Almost there: Prayer day one.

Today {Wednesday} is the first day of intercession for everyone who has signed up to support the mission daily in prayer.

Between today and Friday please pray especially for two things. Firstly for travelling mercies and safety for myself and Deus. Secondly that Deus would have every financial need met before he leaves his home in Uganda to travel to Nairobi.

God has been good. He is our provider. I now have almost all my costs covered. God answered specific prayers in specific ways and he led me very accurately to the right places {without my even knowing at the time}

I fly out at 6am Friday morning from Heathrow airport. I will be travelling to London on Thursday afternoon so I will get some decent rest before I fly out.

I have already started to pray through the list of intercessors for this mission {which is now over 70 names long! Hallelujah}. I am believing God to use you in specific and strategic ways as you contend for the kingdom of God to advance. As the scripture says "The fervent, effectual prayer of a righteous man avails much". Let's believe a great God for great things.

May God bless you and keep you. May the Lord cause his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon you and give you peace.

Steve Johnson

Can Any Good Thing Come Out of Nazareth?

With Just six days now until I fly out to Nairobi I wanted to share a few thoughts about our upcoming conference.

The theme of our three day Nairobi conference is 'Can Any Good Thing Come Out of Nazareth?' and is taken from John's gospel chapter one and verse 46.

Nathaniel was a man of sincerity. He was also a man who knew the town of Nazareth didn't have a great reputation. Where he was told the Messiah had been found in such a place, Nathaniel was skeptical. Here a just a few points as a taster for the conference.

Come and See
Philip's answer was so simple. It was come and see. It wasn't to wrestle in a theological debate with Nathaniel {Although there is clearly a time and place for theological discussion}. Neither did Philip play the race card and give Nathaniel a lecture about prejudice. Philip's answer was straight to the point, simple and effective. It was 'Come and see'

2000 years later with regard to Jesus we invite people to 'Come and see'. In England, in one major denomination it has been said by one of it's leaders "There is a crisis of confidence in our churches in the gospel". In England many think they have to intellectually persuade people. Many Christians feel they are on the back foot, even embarrassed for fear modern man will hold him to account for such seemingly uneducated and unscientific, primative beliefs. To those, we say 'come and see'.
I don't believe there is any insecurity in the heart of God for a moment with regard to whether people believe in him of not. I do believe that there is great sadness that many are far from him {and some of them even in the churches} and a desire to draw close to them. God tends not to respond to our arrogant intellectual grandstanding or demands. Instead he looks at the heart. He is looking for those who would genuinely seek after him. Nathaniel was such a man. Our job is to trust that God would lead us to such people and give us the courage to introduce them to the Jesus. Where there are questions {and there are inevitably will be} thr best answer is to 'come and see'. Jesus is the best defender of himself.

Jesus knows you
God may appear to come as a distant and uncaring deity but He knows every one of us and he cares so much he came to this earth as a man to die for every wrong we have done. We totally underestimate the seriousness of sin. We call them foibles, indiscretions or something else. God calls it sin. It grieves him and it is the cause of man's separation from God. God's answer to this problem was to come to earth and take the penalty upon himself. That's why Jesus died 2000 years ago. It was so all our sins could be forgiven and we could enter into a relationship with God once again. Jesus makes a holy God accessible.

In short God is not distant. We are. God cares far, far more than we think but do we care enough to reach out to him?

Spiritual gifts. Inside or outside the church?
When Nathaniel encountered Jesus, the first thing he heard was what we call 'a word of knowledge'. That is a knowledge of something we could not naturally know. Jesus began to operate in the gifts of the Spirit. Spiritual gifts are so important to the church and it's mission to make Jesus known. They are so important that Jesus told his disciples it is 'expedient for you that I go for if I do not go I cannot send the Spirit to you'.
It begs the question, how can Jesus going from then be advantagious to them? The answer is simple. Everything that Jesus did was under the power and inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Every Miracle, every healing, every word of knowledge and wisdom. All by the Holy Spirit working through him. The great news for us is that Jesus promised to send the same Spirit to us so that we would continue the work {or rather that the Holy Spirit would continue the work through us}.

So often when Christian experience the miraculous power of the Holy Spirit their experience is mainly kept within the confined of the church or to a prayer language during private devotions. I want to say to you that the Holy Spirit wants to break out. He is desperate to break out. He was send by Jesus to speak to the world. He works in us and through us. Let's change that old mindset. The things we call spiritual gifts can indeed be used in the congregation but in the life of Jesus they were almost always used in public. He sends us into the world so that the Spirit, through us may touch the world. Nathaniel's skepticism was turned around when he encountered the power and working of the Holy Spirit.

There is so much more to share here. This is just the start. There is so much of prophetic significance. Suffice to say that the encounter between Nathaniel and Jesus was one he {and the gospel writer, John} never forgot. Let's believe God and step out for life changing encounters.

shalom...Steve Johnson    

9 Days and counting.

A little over a week remains until the big day.

After a break of over two years it will be time to return to Africa, preach the gospel, teach and train the saints and reach the lost.

Please do pray for the team of intercessors {now numbering over 40!}. Pray that God would use them mightily to the pulling down of strongholds and to the release and furtherance of the kingdom of God.

Please also pray for God's financial provision. I am still waiting on the last few hundred pounds to pay for everything connected to the mission.

Mungu akubariki {God bless you}

Hello again.

It is now just 12 days until I fly out to Nairobi, Kenya. The preparations are still being made for my arrival and the anticipation of what God is going to do is rising.

We have a theme for the three day conference, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth." taken from John 1/46. We are looking forward to seeing the saints equipped to share the gospel and deepen their relationship with Christ at this event.

There are a couple of needs I want to share with you. Firstly I am inviting people to support this mission in prayer on a daily basis over the course of the work {which will be over a two week period}. Please contact me on makariosblessing@gmail.com and I will send you details.

I am also still raising funds to cover the costs of this mission. If you would like to make a contribution then once again get in touch and I will furnish you with details of how you can do that. If you prefer to contact me privately rather than message me on a public forum then please feel free to email me on makariosblessing@gmail.com

May God bless you and keep you...Steve Johnson