My dad just got back from his trip to Nairobi with Christian Missionary Fellowship, and writes one last blog post about his journey and the insights he’s still processing. Click here and here to read more about his trip.


Maybe Dick Alexander will ask Mary Kamau the question I posed to her in Nairobi about a week ago.

They’ll share the platform at this summer’s North American Christian Convention when the evening’s theme will be “Beyond Words: Global Impact.”

Dick preaches at LifeSpring Christian Church in Cincinnati, a congregation sponsoring work in one village in the sprawling Mathare Valley slum in Nairobi.

Mary is executive director of Missions of Hope International, an agency working to share Christ’s love among ten such communities jamming 800,000 shanty-dwellers in a 1.5 square mile labyrinth of oppression. Under her leadership an army of schoolteachers, social workers, and community development workers has been unleashed to share the gospel and combat the forces of darkness among people thirsty for hope.

Christian Missionary Fellowship has joined with the multifaceted mission Mary began to create a collaboration called Hope Partnership. This is one of CMF’s works I’ve just returned from visiting in Kenya.

Mary is a native Kenyan who came to the United States for her college education, which led me to my question.

“Many from the Majority World who study in the U.S. end up staying there,” I said to her. “Why did you return to Africa?”

She looked away and seemed to sigh before answering. “I believe I can be more useful here in Nairobi than there in America,” she said.


And even though I’ve flown away from the squalor and the sickness in the slum where she serves, I can’t get away from her answer.

It is something of a cliché, when comfortable Americans encounter abject poverty on the other side of the world, to speak of being overwhelmed by it.

It is also common, however, (perhaps subconsciously) for such mission-trippers to celebrate the “sacrifice” in their visit and then soon settle back, unchanged, into the luxuries of their middle class routines.


Mary’s testimony suggests a better response. Her answer to my question begs the question I must ask myself: “Where can I be used best?”

<> Am I convinced God is getting the greatest good from the opportunities he’s given me?

<> Am I working where I can have the greatest influence for him?

<> Am I spending my money where it will bring the greatest return for his kingdom?

<> How do my hobbies, my leisure time, or my entertainment contribute to my usability by him for others?


Considering such questions need not make us feel guilty. Not everyone can or should serve in Africa—or Haiti, or India, or Eastern Europe. There are many battles for God to be fought in the cities and suburbs—and yes, the slums—of America.

But after seeing some Christians doggedly bringing hope in a place like Kenya I’m convicted to listen for his answer to the question Mary Kamau dealt with many years ago.


“Where can I be used best?”

Filed under: family, giving & giving back, people, resources, RM Tagged: Africa, Christian Missionary Fellowship, cmf, Dick Alexander, Hope Partnership, LifeSpring Christian Church, Mary Kamau, mission trip, Missions of Hope, nacc, Nairobi, short-term missions

Oh, Jesus, what a wonder you are!
Oh, Jesus, what a wonder you are!
I love, love, love you . . .
Oh, Jesus, what a wonder you are!


About 30 young grade schoolers sang the words with gusto and hand motions as we stood in their crowded, hot classroom and took it in.

I had never expected that such a place would offer me such a moment of profound worship.

I had been forewarned that visiting Nairobi slums would be difficult and emotional. But no one had predicted I’d be so struck with what our Lord is doing in one of the world’s unlikeliest of places.

Oh, Jesus, what a wonder you are to inspire dozens of educated, competent leaders to work in a place like this.

Oh, Jesus, what a wonder you are to fill hearts with enough love to share with whole communities trapped in squalor and oppression.

Oh, Jesus, what a wonder you are to inspire creative entrepreneurship that not only helps these people, but empowers them to help themselves.

Oh, Jesus, what a wonder you are that you can redeem life on earth as well as save souls for eternity—and use the church to do both.

The church has made possible Hope Partnership, Christian Missionary Fellowship’s enterprise in the Nairobi slums of the Mathare Valley. The work serves Jesus with a three-pronged approach, each of which needs at least a 1,200-word essay to fully explain. But maybe my little summary will help you worship too.

Schools educate orphans and other children of families in desperate situations.

Community Health Evangelism (CHE) trains volunteers to offer a future to those diagnosed with HIV/AIDS and recruit neighbors to address all kinds of basic health and sanitation issues.

Business Development Services provides small loans and skills training to those who will improve their situation by creating a business that can give them an income. (Read more about CMF’s microloan program here.)

As a result, children are being educated; in 10 years the school program has grown from 50 preschoolers in one rented two-bedroom home to an enrollment of 3,750 in 10 schools.

Meanwhile, 350 CHE volunteers have improved health and offered hope in ways too numerous to mention. Six support groups for those testing HIV-positive meet regularly.

And 457 clients are operating their own businesses in the slum, financed by microenterprise loans that now total about $100,000.

This holistic approach is demonstrating the love of Christ, not just talking about it. But preaching and teaching the gospel is also central to the strategy.

School children learn Bible stories and memorize Bible verses.

Adults seek a relationship with God when they are helped by relationships with his servants.

“Sharing Christ is the bottom line,” said Paul, a Business Development Services director.

And today there are five new churches in this slum, where there were none before the work began. And four of them started in the last two years alone!

Oh, Jesus, what a wonder you are!

(This is the second post from my dad during a “vision trip” to Nairobi with Christian Missionary Fellowship. Scroll down a bit to read part one.)

Filed under: family, giving & giving back, people, resources, RM Tagged: CHE, Christian Missionary Fellowship, cmf, Community Health Evangelism, Hope Partnership, Mark Taylor, microloan