On Saturday July 16, 2011, the registrar Mr. Tom Opondo accompanied me to a meeting with the leaders of 24 churches of Christ in South Nyanza. A total of 27 leaders attended the meeting which also brought in 10 alumni of NGCS in the area. The meeting was held at the Homa Bay's Farmers Training Center. The delegates at the meeting contributed 100 shillings each which provided lunch, drinks and also paid for the conference hall. That is how these leaders are responsible.
The theme of the meeting was, "Leadership Training for Sustainable Church Growth." Prior to our meeting the leaders took time to give reports on their congregations and this preliminary sessions informed the two us most effectively and even served to validate our meeting. In their reports the following concerns were explicitly experessed:
1. Need for grounding of churches and leaders in Biblical Doctrine2. It was observed that there is general gross ignorance on Restoration Heritage thus a need for training in the tenets of our heritage (non denominational Christianity, top down leadership structures, congregational autonomy, priesthood of all believers, dispensation theory, Simple Christianity etc).
3. Desire for a biblical and yet culturally relevant redefinition of congregational autonomy was expressed.
4. Lack of all phases of church growth among certain congregations was also registered as a concern. Etc
I called for this meeting because of the above challenges which they themselves tabled even before we took to the floor.
Leadership Training in South Nyanza, has been wanting. The training is conducted at the Winyo Mission Center every April, August and December. Training takes 7 to 10 days at each session. However, enrolment has been below average. There has been sessions where only 4 students have turned up for training. The students have not been paying the small amount of money that they need to pay for their upkeep while in session. The coordinator is mostly stressed when the dates for training draws near.
It was also observed that the management of the training was not representative as our policy requires. All members of the board hail from the Winyo Church of Christ. Our policy demands that members of the board be drawn from different congregations in the region. A prompt intervention was necessary.
The Church of Christ in South is growing very fast and it is observable, as confirmed by the leaders reports, that scriptural edification is lacking, there is general spiritual famine. I believe that NGCS alone has the answers to these needs. And so a need to revive strong, authentic and credible leadership training program became indispensable.
After a long deliberation we agreed:
1. That there is serious need for revamped formal and informal leadership training program in South Nyanza.
2. That we will reconstitute the board to oversee South Nyanza Training Program to include leaders from other congregations in South Nyanza.3. That we will meet in the course of the year with the alumni of NGCS in the area and other leaders to draw a workable strategic plan for leadership training in South Nyanza.
4. That beginning January 2011, the training here will kick off with strength.
Also at the meeting, we encouraged the leaders to send students to NGCS main campus in Nairobi in the next intake. That it is such people who will in turn come back and help train other leaders in the region. 20 applications forms were issued.
We then presented the resolutions reached to God in a corporate prayer as we held hands in solidarity.
South Nyanza has not had a well structured training program since the missionaries phased out. Mariwa extension center diminished into extinction due to lack of students and managerial challenges. The one at Winyo has not been any better unless this grand radical surgery is administered in its management and structure.
God bless Nairobi Great Commission School
Charles Ngoje
Program director
