October 2024
I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
John 15:5
Dear friends of the Rendille Outreach,
It has been four months since the home-going of missionary Judith Collins. Many have written concerning the Baalah Primary School, the Rendille Outreach, and the churches over the past months. I will attempt to bring everyone up-to-date on these and other matters.
The loss of Judith, for so many of the Rendille, was difficult to understand and accept, as she was their voice, advocate, encourager, director, and much more. So without her, the lessons for Rendille Christians to rely on the Lord (and not Judith or the mission) have made a real impact. What I am able to share with you today, I trust, will give you a glimpse of this reality.
Judith approached the Board of Trustees some 23 years ago concerning a ministry with the Rendille. Always optimistic and believing that the Lord will honor His Word, she was able to witness a Christian school’s founding and growth, adult literacy classes, and the establishment of three churches. Judith believed that these ministries were never to be permanently tied to the IBPFM, but that one day they would be self-governing, self-sustaining, and self-propagating. To that end, the Lord was, and is, accomplishing His purpose in this part of the world.
When it seemed that Judith was not going to recover, I communicated with Peter Lkayo concerning the relationship of the mission with the Outreach, and especially the Primary School. After much prayer and consultation with various entities, it was decided that the IBPFM would turn the property over to the Baalah BP Church. A new agreement was worked out with the Kenyan Department of Education, that they would take over almost all of that which was previously assigned to the mission (such as paying for the shipment of school supplies and school food, class trips, cleaning of school latrines, any new construction, insurances, etc.). The Baalah Church is now responsible for the spiritual oversight of the students (only Christianity may be taught), the protection of the students, choosing the teachers, etc.
In reality, the actions taken by the IBPFM was necessary. Without Judith, the financial strain on the IBPFM would have made it impossible to handle. However, in an effort to embolden and “walk alongside” this fledging group, we are encouraging those who are interested in the Outreach, and have been great supporters of it, to continue to do so by praying and giving to one of the following:
1. Peter Lkayo’s support, which is a salary and rent; also school fees for his children
2. Support for Baalah pastors and evangelists (includes their needed national healthcare)
3. “Judith Collins Student Fund” – designed to help secondary and university students of Baalah
4. The Rendille Outreach – which is in the red
5. Baalah church building expansion
6. The widow mamas
By the grace of God, so much has been accomplished since the days of the Thorn-bush School. Some of these early students have moved on to secondary and even university levels. Judith’s prayer was that they would, in time, invest themselves in the lives of those back in Baalah. A few have fallen away, ensnared by Islam, or the old way of life. But the Lord knows His own. Which brings me back to John 15:5, I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. Some are finding out that with Jesus, they can do all things. Praise His name.
Now, let me share some items from Peter Lkayo, concerning the ongoing ministry of the churches through the end of the year. Peter writes:
“As it has been our tradition for many years we usually have a youth camp every year. This is not like April and August youth camps. This is very in depth, and with our youth we usually have classes on doctrine and the beliefs of the BPC; we also have teaching on Bible. Also we have football and netball (soccer and volleyball) competition amongst our youth. But this time it is going to be bigger than usual. The protestant churches in larger Korr area has asked us to accommodate them into this program. Many times one or two people attend our youth camp and they have taken a lot of good news about our teachings to their own churches. We have been approached by protestant churches to admit their youth in our program. It is hard to feed all these youth of seven churches and four denominations. We will have close to 500 youth. Our church mamas have agreed to cook for them. The youth will have week-long game tournaments in the afternoons. I will ask Faith College of the Bible to provide us with teachers on these. Ken Malenge said he will also prepare a class on Sovereignty of God and I have prepared one from the book of Daniel. Pray for us on this. It will also show the unity of the body of Christ in these areas as we have survived the onslaught of the Islamization of the youth of all denominations. I can report that even the mosque built in Balaah just died a natural death from lack of people and has been closed. To God be the glory for He has done this for us. This camp will start the second week of December.
“Our women’s evangelism has taken off very well. We have trained some mamas to be evangelists in goobs. These mamas are always together, they know each other’s lives, and they can see what change has been brought to the saved ones. They need to lean on each other as we don’t expect a Christian mama to live. At the same time these mamas, who become Christians, are disowned by their families. Most of them are poor and need some help. We have over 400 widows and poor mamas in our churches with real needs. We are planning to officially commission a Women’s League of Evangelism on the 27th.
“Sometimes I am very afraid of the rate at which our churches are growing. I have to ask myself if this is true. There is this saying which says, “When a deal is good, think twice”. We do evangelism to places and goobs and towns every weekend. Farakore is one example. Every month we concentrate on one place, and then we leave a pastor or evangelist there to keep on preaching to that place. We thank God for the provision of the bikes for evangelism.
“Another evangelistic outpost is by the Hafare BPC church, some 40 km away westward. The evangelist in Hafare have been visiting this place… Most of the inhabitants were our members and when they moved … they kept asking for a church. We started with evangelism. This is a place outside Balaah BPC where we have six baptized people. Many times we used to wonder what we should do with all these pastors Judith had taken to Bible College, graduated, and we had only one church. Now, we are seeing we don’t even have enough. Pray for two more youths who are thinking of joining the Bible College, in 2026. We usually give anyone thinking of Bible College one whole year to think and work in a church to see if they can handle the work, and to see if they are really called to work of the ministry.”
– In His service, Peter.
Dear friends of the Rendille, let me close with two pictures. I trust the things we have been able to share with you are encouraging. Our God continues to work in regions where the dryness of the land is being watered by the soul-quenching Gospel. Thank you for all you have done on their behalf.
Your servant, in Christ,
Rev. Keith H. Coleman