DISCIPLE STARTS DYNAMIC MINISTRY AT HIS COLLEGE
When Charles Muiruri left Nairobi for the town of Machakos to pursue his long-awaited dream of becoming a teacher, he also held passionately to his desire to help people around him to become disciples and live out kingdom dreams of their own. And as he prepares to graduate now, both of those dreams are being fulfilled. Charles had been a disciple for seven years when he decided to enroll at Machakos Teachers Training College. Given its distance from Nairobi, 67 kilometres, and his own academic schedule, Charles is only able to come to the campus ministry church services on Sundays.
Far from being daunted by all this, once he got to college, Charles got down to serious academic work and to being the disciple that he had been in Nairobi. He reached out to Andrew Kuria, who got baptized, and as the two of them kept sharing their faith, rumours and name-calling followed them around their campus.
"As a young Christian," Andrew shares, " the rumours and name-calling caused me to begin to doubt things a bit, but the love in the church convinced me that I was in the right place."
People would mockingly ask, "Do you go all the way to Nairobi to worship because there is no God here?" Some have even claimed that there is hidden evil mysticism in the frisbee games that the disciples play. A few months ago, the largest protestant/charismatic religious group on the campus, uncomfortable about Charles' well-attended Saturday Bible talks and his evangelistic activities in general, got the administration to ban a service that Charles was organizing to take place on campus.
It was in this climate of suspicion and hostility that Joseph Mwaniki, Roslyn Ingosi and Stephen Magara each studied the Bible and made the decision to make Jesus the Lord of their lives! It would have been so easy for them to give in to intimidation especially as the disciples are such a tiny minority at the college. But instead, says Joseph, "When I studied the Bible it was clear to me that some things I had been taught in my religious upbringing were wrong." Rose says, "I knew because they were using the Bible to teach me that it was the right thing." Stephen's friends tried hard to convince him to stop studying with Charles and the others, but, he shares, "I was encouraged by the Bible studies. The accuracy of what I was taught convicted me."
The opposition and the name-calling have not stopped, but neither have the disciples stopped serving God. Joseph admits that the opposition from those around him gets him down sometimes, "but after I study my Bible and reflect on how and why I made my decision to become a disciple I am refreshed." Andrew says that it was tough initially, but now he has learned to ignore the mockery. "What matters," he says ,"is being right with God, not what people say. As long as I am serving God, nothing can stop me."
Indeed, Charles, Andrew, Joseph, Roslyn and Stephen have all decided that nothing will stop them. And one morning, during the Bible devotionals that the college organizes daily, one student spoke up, addressed the crowd and commended the example of the five disciples, encouraging them not to let the senseless opposition distract or discourage them.
"When I came out here," says Charles, "I had mixed feelings. I was not too sure of what lay ahead of me and I certainly did not expect that months after my getting here God would bring all these four great disciples into the kingdom. I am very encouraged and I praise God for what has happened."
Since all of these disciples are classmates, they will soon all be graduating at the same time. They disappointedly faced the possibility of leaving their college with no Christian left on campus, but God turned all that around as they lead to Christ Evans Otieno, who still has one more academic year ahead of him.
The faith of these six Christians is truly commendable. They continue to defy the obstacles of distance and opposition as they remain focused on their academic course work, patiently persevere through ceaseless opposition and make the two-hour round trip every Sunday to be at the campus ministry service.Let us appreciate their faith, imitate their faith, and always keep on praying for disciples everywhere who are being opposed because of their faith.