The mission team  in 2023, attended church at the Ngunyumu Church plant. Tom preaching and Ruth translating, 30 locals in attendance, 12 converts.  11 of the converts were teenagers. The bricks were made by TM Ministry to construct a permanent church building.

In the Ngunyumu, the nearest church is several miles away. As a result, people in this area do not attend church. TM Ministry tried to get a church plant started but there was resistance. This is a very dry area and water is scarce. People walk long distances, up to six miles, to retrieve water from ponds for drinking and every day use.  It is not unusual for planted crops to not yield a harvest because of insufficient rainfall. Ruth had compassion for these people and wanted to help them with their most critical need. TM Ministry was able to drill a borehole/well so clean water would be readily available. Once the community started using the water, attitudes changed. At that point they welcomed a new church. Ruth and Julius purchased 3/4 of an acre of land to establish a church.  Sunday services and gatherings during the week are held in a tent. A rest room was installed and a two room building was built to house  the pastor and an office. Children are coming for activities and to learn about Jesus. Men also meet for worship time and fellowship. 

The new church building is almost completed. Doors and windows are all that is left to install. 

The Pastors Equip Program is an integral part of expanding the Gospel in the rural community. 

Brief on rural Pastors Workshop held in Tala Town - Matungulu District on July 28, 2011

Rural pastors face numerous challenges. Majority work under difficult conditions, and lead congregations that are predominantly poor. They lead congregations that 

Before the meeting, pastors were served tea and mandazi.

Rural pastors face numerous challenges. Majority work under difficult conditions, and lead congregations that are predominantly poor. They lead congredepend largely on agriculture, and subject income fluctuations that are in turn driven by weather risks. Members of such congregations therefore look up to their pastors for both spiritual and physical nourishment. However, these are just of a few of the problems rural pastors who serve God encounter in their daily lives. In order to understand the real issues that these pastors face from their own perspective, TM Org. convened a workshop that specifically aimed at understanding the spiritual, physical, emotional, social and economic problems rural pastor encounter in the process of serving God in their local Churches and in their daily lives. The meeting was held on July 28, 2011. Two hundred (200) Pastors where invited for the meeting, 140 Pastors registered to attend the meeting (from 33 denominations). However not all who registered could attend the meeting because some had last minute comittement, while one denomination church called its member pastors for a meeting the same day we had the meeting. As a result the Pastor who attended the meeting, from the beginning to the end were 71 pastors. This was a blessing because the room could not have accommodated all the 140 pastors. The meeting employed two methods to collect information from participants in order to understand the challenges rural pastors face. First, it used pre-designed tool (questionnaire) that each pastors was required to fill out individually without consultation with others. The respondent was asked not to state their names and the names of their Church affiliation in order to make the responses anonymous. This strategy was used because it would encourage truthful and honest responses. Secondly, focus group discussion session was conducted after participants completed filling out the questionnaires. This second method has the advantage that it allows participants to debate issues and reach consensus especially where ranking of priority issues/challenges is needed. So what did the workshop reveal?

First the workshop revealed that pastors indeed face many challenges. The list of general problems enumerated by participating pastor included.

1. Denominational barriers
2. Community resistance to new Churches
3. Syncretism (defined as mixing the Bible with traditions)
4. Lack of Christian reference materials and literature
5. Competition among Churches for members
6. Poor stewardship of Church resources
7. Financial (i.e., low incomes making it difficult to meet basic needs)
8. Unrealistic expectations by members.
9. Lack of spiritual authority


We also asked the participants to list some of the spiritual challenges they face while serving God. Some of challenges listed included
1. False teachings by cults and "prosperity gospel preachers". Others referred to this simply as "different interpretations of the Bible"
2. Lack of commitment among Church leaders
3. Lack of integrity among Church leaders
4. Lack of Christian Maturity among leaders
5. Pride/Ego
6. Idolatry
7. Inadequate/lack of pastoral training
8. Lack of Christian/spiritual mentorship


After the listing of all these problems and challenges, we asked the participants to state and rank the 3 most important challenges in order of importance (from the most to least pressing). After discussions, the following challenges were identified

1. Financial constraints (defined as inability to meet basic needs). Many pastors while contributing to the discussions indicated that they are often unable to pay school fees, afford medical care when family members become sick, buy adequate food of proper nutrition. Some contributors added that the unrealistic expectations and demands of members of their congregations exacerbated this problem
2. Inadequate or lack pastoral training/Christian reference materials - participants identified lack of funds to access such training as the major factor in addition to lack of Christian reference literatures
3. Lack of Christian mentorship/loneliness - This was identified as a major reason for lack of Christian maturity witnessed among some pastors

Overall, the participants praised God and thanked TM Org, for convening the workshop, for example one Senior Reverend said (and I quote) "For 30 years and more we have faced challenges as servants of God, but we hardly ever meet with the sole purpose of discussing how to resolve them. This meeting is opportune. The challenges of today are tough. Some young pastors are even thinking of quitting! This forum presents us with the opportunity to discuss how we can confront the challenges we face". While contributing to the discussions a participant challenged the pastors that "fight" each other and compete to realize that they have a higher calling and that before God, there are generals sent to wage war against the kingdom of the devil. He said: "There are wars generals don't fight. One of them is the war against a fellow pastor" The meeting ended with a challenge to TM Org. to organize more of such forums and to ensure that pastors have a facility where they can spend quiet time with God and "refuel" as they prepare for Sunday sermons. 

All Pastor agreed to work together to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. End of the meeting This meeting could not have been successful without your support and I would like to thank all those who took time to pray for the meeting and/or gave financial support. In particular I would like to thank Ann Cody for her prayer, taking time to talk to me on the phone, encouragement and material support (all the verses read in the meeting were suggested by Ann Cody). It is my prayer that God will bless all of you mightily. Please continue to pray for this ministry. Jesus commissioned us to go to the whole world and spread His Kingdom. You may not be able to go to Kenya but your prayers and resources can. If these pastors are equipped they will be able to reach more people for Christ than we are able in our individual capacities. I will be sending a list of the pastors' names and prayer items so that you can pick one or two to pray for. Together we can reach many lost souls for Jesus Christ and expand His Kingdom.

Thank you for your support! Julius and Ruth Okello

Pastors Equip Program workshops. 

Pastor Marvin Williams from Trinity Church in Lansing, Michigan, held multiple workshops for pastors of the Pastors Equip Program. Pastors received comletion certificates for attending the workshops. 

In the picture to the right Sheila Lance from New Hope Church in East Lansing  conducts an annual

pastors workshop in the Tala area. These vital workshops are well attended every year.

Church plant in Ngunyumu