Chicks for new Kenyan pastors are proving a real lifeline during Coronavirus pandemic

Late last year Pastor Eric Ngala Mutumbi, Logos Ministries International (LMI) Coordinator for Kenya and Eastern Africa, visited churches and organisations throughout Northern Ireland to tell of the importance of his special farming project, in which he uses the vast knowledge acquired from his time working for the department of agriculture in Kenya.

Pastor Eric leads Africa Inland Church (AIC) Bumala in Western Kenya, and is the founder of Reformed Theological Seminary in Bumala. In addition, he leads a programme which helps groups of pastors to learn simple methods of producing crops and livestock to support their families.

A major part of that project was raising money to provide chicks for pastors once they had qualified from the Reformed Theological Seminary in Bumala. This meant that they could provide food and finance for their families, thus lessoning their dependence on their congregation for income and also killing off any temptation to adopt a false “prosperity gospel” message, which is common across much of Africa.

The COVID-19 pandemic has reached Kenya and is causing severe economic difficulties, much like here in the UK. Happily, however, thanks to the provision of the chicks, the pastors are able to still provide pastoral care for their congregations and deliver food for their families, without having to burden their flock for support. This has caused at least one former prosperity gospel preacher to turn from his false ways, as their dishonest message is becoming clear for all to see at a time when no one has any money to give them.

As of April 20th Kenya had 281 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 14 deaths. Pastor Eric explained that there is restricted movement in the whole country with lockdown looming, however, for now it begins from 7pm to 5am during which no movement is expected except for essential services and police patrols.

He added: “Anybody found outside is punished accordingly including taking them for mandatory quarantine at their own cost!

“Pastors are facing hard times and so are the members of our churches, many people have lost their ways of earning income. The pastors cannot get any tithes and offerings from their members and those who stay in rented premises are being evacuated by some land lords, food is becoming difficult for an average household of eight people which is common here, children are at home and the Government is advocating for online learning through smart phones, radio and television. The Minister for Education insists that children will do exams before the end of the year, we are left wondering. We are not sure how but he may have a big faith or he would like it done online!”

As part of Pastor Eric’s farming project 100 three weeks old Kenbro chicks are given to pastors as a way of empowering them to preach the gospel without deviating to prosperity gospel.

He explained: “This is the second time we are training and giving pastors chickens for this purpose. As the Corona Pandemic began to bite one pastor from a neighbouring church known to preach prosperity gospel came to me and said ‘Pastor Eric, how did you know that such times were coming’? And I answered him that I did not know but God knows all things.

“He confessed to me that he and his team were suffering because they are used to preaching in a way targeting the pockets of their members who are now not there, church meetings were stopped by the Government! He went ahead to say that the pastors who benefited from the first round of birds are able to meet their basic needs even when the church does not meet, he added that it is good that another group again got the chicken. I took the opportunity to tell him that I did not know anything but one thing I know is that if we preach the true gospel, the Lord gets glory and also meets with our needs as He may decide.

“This pastor has promised to join our training in the next intake. He wouldn’t like to preach prosperity gospel anymore!” said Pastor Eric.

“Reports from my contact person in Uganda are giving a lot of hope in the region. They had 55 cases out of which 28 have been discharged having fully recovered. There has been no death there. The reason of success being that the authorities are on the ground so there was a complete curfew announced by the President and so no entry even for Ugandan citizens who are staying out and no leaving the country. Of course the Ugandan pastors are suffering with prosperity gospel preachers hard hit because they have been coercing money from their faithful in churches and they no longer meet. The normal preachers of the gospel are used to suffering because of preaching the truth and let the Lord do the rest. Compared to the prosperity preachers, they are better off!

“The report from my Democratic Republic of Congo contact person has given me is that so far as at 14th April, there were 254 confirmed cases of COVID 19 and 21 cases of death since 10th March, most of which are found in Kinshasa the capital city. Reports reaching us from the Eastern part say that three other cases of Ebola were confirmed over the weekend after 50 days without a single case according to our source. There is lockdown and the economy is down and crime has gone up.

“The pastors are demoralized because of poor communication and also lack resources for air time to enable them remain in touch with their members. Those who adopted the Applied Agriculture for God’s glory teaching and especially of raising local chicken and pigs can at least afford one meal a day from the sale of eggs and even chicken.

“My contact from Nigeria has just confirmed that by 19th April, the total number of confirmed cases so far is 627 out of which 170 have been discharged and 21 deaths have been registered.

“Life is not easy with lockdown in the country and curfew; some people have lost their sources of earning which include small scale farmers and those employed by organizations that depend upon them for revenue generation. Pastors are equally hard hit because the regular members are not able to bring tithes and this are abnormal.

“In Tanzania, the number has jumped to 254. At the beginning they were slow and also resources to make things work faster is an issue. The markets are not working normally and so food is becoming scarce also,” added Pastor Eric.

LMI would like to provide additional support for needy pastors in the Bumala area, including food parcels for church members who are struggling to survive as a result of COVID-19.

To support these and similar efforts in other nations, which are part of LMI’s new COVID-19 International Relief campaign, please visit https://www.lmi-org.net/support-lmi-covid-19-international-relief Alternatively, if you wish to send a cheque (marked “COVID-19 International Relief”), the mission’s address is LMI, 7-8 Bellsbridge Office Park, 100 Ladas Drive, Belfast, BT6 9FH