Kenya Church Planter

Kenya Church Planter

My name is Simon Ndungu and I am called to be a Kenya church planter. I am a Kenyan and living in Mombasa, Kenya. I am married to my God-given wife Margaret, and we are blessed with three children aged between 6-14-years. Mombasa is the second largest city in Kenya located on Kenya’s Eastern Coastline bordering the Indian Ocean. It is a cosmopolitan City with a large population of Muslim Arabs, Black Kenyan Coastal tribes and Indians. Mombasa is dotted with mosques and Indian temples. With the populace held in the yoke of Islam and witchcraft, the church is making significant impact lighting up the hearts of the people with the gospel of Christ. The wind of transformation is blowing.

How I came to know the Lord:
I was reading a book titled “Power For Living” by Arthur S. DeMoss Foundation, on July 17, 2009. It was a Friday afternoon. On page 46 of that book, there is an explanation of how to receive Jesus. The author says that you can receive Christ by faith through prayer. He adds that prayer is talking with God. So I read through the prayer of repentance in the book and meant it in my heart. I kept quiet about it for a month without telling my wife or anyone. But the fire within me became unbearable and finally after one month, I asked my wife to give me a Bible. Then I left the house to look for a church. The first church I entered is the same church I answered the altar-call to on that same day. I have been growing in the Lord there ever since. The membership of my church is slightly over 1,000 people and I thank God for giving me such a wonderful church family where I have served as a deacon.

My Ministry Dream:
I felt the call of God to a Kenya church planter ministry in 2012. So, I enrolled in a donor-funded diploma course in Transnational Church Leadership at Pan African Christian University. I graduated in 2017, and I have been serving the Lord in my area of gifting which is teaching God’s word and evangelism. For five years, I remained too shy to witness for Christ and I would feel inadequate whenever I had brethren share about how they led someone to Christ. I embarked on prayers asking the Lord to give me the courage to witness for Him. We serve a faithful God. Three years ago, I led three people to Christ while out on a door-to-door evangelism. That incident opened a new level of service to the Lord for me. Ever since I carry the burden for the lost in my heart and usually I forget the world around me when it comes to personal evangelism. My dream is to evangelize wherever the Lord leads me, even to the uttermost parts of the world.

Benefits from Christian Leaders Institute:
I desired more training and knowledge in ministry. So I searched and found CLI online. This first class at Christian Leaders Institute has greatly strengthened my Bible connection walk with God. I have experienced among many things the dark side of leadership. As I was going through it, the word of God came alive in me more. Romans 8:6 and Galatians 5:25 came alive within me and my soul has really prospered in God’s word.

The word I most identify with for ministry is  Kenya Church Planter. This is because church planting is the focus of my ministry vision. In my local church, I have served as a small group leader, a lay pastor, and an evangelist. Whenever church planting is mentioned, it pricks a certain part in me and reminds me of my ministry vision.

The key experience in life that prompted me to pursue a Kenya church planter ministry is when I led three men to Christ at one go. It placed a burden for the lost in me. Ever since I seize every opportunity the Lord presents me to witness and lead someone to the Lord. The most joyous moment in my life is to see souls come to Christ. Given that we have been commanded to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19-20), our ministry work is clearly cut out. But I bless the Lord for the weapons of our warfare that are mighty through God for pulling down strongholds like witchcraft and false religions (2 Corinthians 10:4).

My local church has supported me in my Kenya church planter ministry calling by creating a stage for me to grow and gain experience. It began with my bishop’s wife walking up to me and telling me that she can see a teacher of God’s word in me. She went ahead to assign me a role to teach the 101 discipleship class, and she sat in the class for one session to assess me. Then later my bishop assigned me the role of a lay pastor and instructed me to occasionally go visiting either of our two mission branch churches to preach. This is where I have been growing my ministry skills.

My wife and my children are supportive of my Kenya church planter ministry calling. I usually go out with them to preach in our mission churches. My 14-year old son has tapped into my ministry and one day he told me that he was evangelizing a Muslim classmate. He wanted me to support him in prayer as he planned to lead the classmate to Christ the following day. We held hands and prayed, and the following day he led his classmate to Christ. Praise the Lord!

A scholarship at CLI is the best thing that the Lord prepared for me after salvation. I thank God every day for leading me by His Spirit to CLI when I was blindly searching the web for free ministry training. In His foreknowledge, the Lord put the idea of starting free ministry training in the heart of our President, Prof. Rev. Henry Reyenga Jr. May the Lord richly bless you, Mr. President, and the entire CLI family.

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