SELF-MOTIVATED CONCERTED ACTIONS BY CHURCH AND COMMUNITY MEMBERS FOR POVERTY ALLEVIATION
“My name is Rev. Benjamin Mutia, Pastor, Authentic Reconciliation Church (ARC) in Mbui Nzau. I and my team were part of the first cohort trained on Community and Church Transformation (CCT) by Fadhili Trust. Before the training, many people never understood the relationship between them and God, Man and Environment, Man and Others and Man and himself. The teachings have been significant to Christians of ARC and the community at large as I have cascaded the teachings acquired to the entire congregation and most of us are now putting the lessons into practice including new methods on Conservation Agriculture (CA),” says the euphoric Pastor.
Through the church leadership, the Authentic Reconciliation Church has been able to put into practice lessons acquired from the training, which pretty much have acted as positive triggers for execution of their plans. The leadership had previously identified a widow who was in dire need of shelter but actualisation of the construction had taken a little longer. This was after the church saw the deplorable condition of the house that Loice and her six grand-children were living in, a mud house that was at the brink of collapsing. Immediately after completion of the training, Pastor Benjamin mobilised church members, who volunteered to do construction of the house, some materials like bricks were locally made while others like cement, sand, roofing sheets, roofing nails, window panes, door and paints amongst others were bought from church’s contributions. Eventually, a three roomed house was put up for Ms. Loice, a 70-year-old, a widow, who at the time, wasn’t an active church member. Upon completion, a dedication service of the house was held, attended by both church and community members, subsequently handed over to Ms. Loice.
Such acts of kindness, that promote the four key relationships, are activities that ARC church wants to fully implement to meet the needs of not just their church members but also needy community members who do not fellowship at ARC. This act of love and service has seen more souls being won to Christ and the church has since received new additional members, making the church’s population grow from 80 to 101 church members. Equally, the church leadership has encouraged community members to keep growing trees in their homesteads to contribute in efforts to curb effects of climate change. Members are also embracing Climate Smart Agriculture farming methods which are promoting their farm produce thereby leading to dietary diversification, increased food security and some sell the extra food to earn an income to support other activities like education.
“My name is Loice; I live with six of my relatives’ grandchildren, who all solely depend on me so I have to do menial jobs, get an income and sustain ourselves. One day, my church Pastor paid me a visit and shared some good news that the church had plans to put up a house for me, something that took me by surprise. In my old ramshackle house, I once fell down and broke my arm during one of the rainy seasons. I could squeeze in this mud house with my grandchildren that had no privacy, snakes would sneak in, we dreaded the rainy season as it thoroughly leaked and we fell ill due to excess cold. I missed attending church service for close to four Sundays and a few church members came by to find out why an avid church goer had been missing out from church. I told them what had barred me from attending church services. I never knew that a standard brick-modern house with a bathroom inside was in the offing for me, thanks to the paid visit. This was amongst the least of things I was hoping would ever happen in my life, God really loves me” says Loice, as tears well up her eyes and spill over her cheeks.
Loice says most of the population of Kya Aka village are poor widows who do not own land yet some pastors do not have the revelation that they should spread the gospel through expressed devotion by also putting up shelters or supporting their church members materially according to their capability. She remembers once challenging a certain pastor to support a needy member of his church by putting up a house for a widow but he was quick to say he is not her husband. Ms. Loice is challenged by the tangible love received as evidenced in James 2:26; Faith without works is dead. She believes her dedication in serving God has earned her a home and a reward from God through men. Ms. Loice is calling on other pastors to emulate what ARC has done for her, as it draws more people to God and to serving God.
The Church and Community Transformation (CCT) programme implemented by Fadhili Trust in partnership with Tear Fund Cananda, mobilizes the church, empowers it through capacity building trainings and triggers it to move into the community and deliver holistic ministries to its community by actively practicing their beliefs in tangible ways, engaging and empowering their communities to utilize local and God given resources to solve their own problems and alleviate poverty. The programme motivates and assists local churches to address the needs of their communities through practical and sustainable actions by using locally available resources, a concept that has been positively embraced by churches and communities and is transforming lives in Makueni County.