Pray with Kenya, Sunday, July 12, 2020
Lectionary Selection: Matt. 13:1-9, 18-23
Prayers for Kenya:
Almighty God, who shows love to all creation, we come before you in this very difficult time to ask for your mercy upon us. Matthew’s message to early believers was to comfort them in their faith and to give them boldness, knowing that a faithful life is always rewarded.
As we read the gospel of Matthew, we understand that soil represents those who hear the word and our hearts are the centers that embrace the good news. We fight against the devil who tries to distract us from listening and keeping your word in our hearts. We endure difficulties and persecution, but you always stand by our side.
Just as a planted seed starts to grow, your word does the same by taking root within our lives. Most of the time, our lives are not pleasing to you because we sometimes focus on things that distract us from following your ways. We humbly come before you to ask for forgiveness. The uncertain future due to the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a life of despair and worry. We ask for your comfort as we seek ways to live with the pandemic since no solution has been found yet.
We come before you asking for intervention as the number of infected people is still growing in Kenya. We pray that your healing hand be upon those who are infected. We pray that an effective medicine to combat the sickness be speedily found. We pray for the relevant governments and health authorities, that they take appropriate steps for the good of the people. Look upon us in your mercy and forgive us our sins.
We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Mission Stewardship Moment from Kenya:
OAIC leadership met with church leaders and the residents of Kibera slum in Nairobi to exchange ideas on how to fight the propagation of COVID-19. Some residents of the slum doubt the existence of the pandemic. They think that the government is lying about the existence of the pandemic in order to get international funding.
The need to raise awareness among residents of the Kibera slum is becoming more and more urgent given their ignorance of the existence of COVID-19, on one hand, and on the other hand, given the worrying rise in the number of cases tested positive in this decentralized territorial entity. This is what justified the meeting that took place Thursday, June 18, 2020, as part of the activities planned in the project entitled “Support to communities for their involvement in monitoring local governance in the slum.”
Churches and other faith-based entities play a prophetic role in the increasingly changing context of their societies. Today, OAIC cannot sit back with the increasingly evident statistics of deaths, hunger, and social-economic challenges in its area of intervention without acting accordingly.
The livelihoods of the people of Kenya are not at the level where the country officials, stakeholders, and population want it to be. Focusing on poverty and hunger as our sustainable development goals, we would like to bring together the whole community so that we can build on the understanding of justice at the grassroots to enable member churches and community organizations to develop community-level responses to this calamity, food security, care, and support of vulnerable, including mothers and children under 5, pregnant women, lactating women, elderly people, and others.
Prayer and Mission Moment by Brigitte Eale
Mission Partners in Kenya:
More information on Kenya: https://www.globalministries.org/kenya
Global Ministries Mission Co-worker in Kenya:
Brigitte Eale serves with the Organization of African Instituted Churches (OAIC) in Kenya. Her appointment is made possible by gifts to Disciples Mission Fund, Our Church’s Wider Mission, and your special gifts.
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