Pederson June 2024

“How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:9-11).

Why keep such a good thing to ourselves?

When Crossway Publisher agreed to send 40,000 Bibles to Kenya, we had no idea how it would impact our Outreach Program. The Outreach Program has taken on a life of its own. The Presbyterian Men’s Fellowship ordered 350 copies of the Romans Bible Study for groups. In addition to the study, leaders received Concise Study Bibles. The director recently told me the groups are doing well and we needed to talk about their next study.

Rev. Nyamai is the Regional Chairman over 40 AIC churches in Konza region two hours outside Nairobi. We organized a distribution of 3,000 Crossway Bibles to his district on June 8. “What happened today, I have not seen before. The giving away of Bibles. This is going to help all of us start walking before God in a way that pleases Him” (citing Acts 3:6).

The Africa Inland Church (AIC) is one of our partner denominations in Kenya. They have 7,000 churches across the country with a membership of 12 million.

Of the 40,000 Bibles Crossway sent us to distribute, about 28,000 of them went to the AIC. The Bibles were accompanied by copies of the Matthew Sunday school lessons and training for the teachers. We are hopeful that Crossway will be able to send us more in 2025. It is evident that we have only scratched the surface with AIC and we work with three other large denominations! Pray with us for more Bibles and other theological support materials.

Church Schools

Many church schools are sponsored by the church, but have government appointed teachers. The only access the churches have to the schools is through a one-hour time slot on Friday afternoons. The curriculum they have is a shallow look at Bible stories. The AIC, Lutherans, and Presbyterians are looking at the Rafiki Sunday School materials as a useful tool for teachers to use as an outreach in these schools. Pray for this to happen.

A “resurrected” RICE Program

We are back to 30 students studying at the Rafiki Institute of Classical Education. Twenty of them are studying our two-year Diploma course. Ten of them are certified teachers who spend one year as morning assistants in the school and study pedagogy courses in the afternoon. This preparation gives them a jump start on learning what it means to be a classical teacher. Two of them were recently hired to replace teacher vacancies at the Rafiki School. This is not only a great help for our school, but encouragement for all RICE students to know that RICE produces well-trained teachers not only for the Rafiki School but also for the increasing number of Outreach schools. We thank God for reviving this as we have been waiting for the government to reorganize the education system for the last few years.

Outreach Schools

God has opened the door to many partner church schools.

The Secretary General of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Kenya (ELCK) recently stated, “You know I am mad about CCE!” Meaning he is determined that the ELCK will start new schools using the Rafiki curriculum in 2025. In fact, he told the Archbishop that his village school needs to be the first one so that he leads by example! He plans to send five teacher “ambassadors” to RICE to learn about CCE. Pray they come and help bring his dream to reality. Pray for the leadership of three local academies of the Anglican Church in Kenya to make good on their promise to come and see the Rafiki School and the Rafiki curriculum and move forward with training and preparation for implementation in 2025. Pray the Lord will give us wisdom, strength, and joy in receiving visitors, planning and implementing training sessions, and making visits to encourage existing schools .

Short-Term Missionaries

We are grateful to once again have short-term missionaries coming our way. They bring much energy and provide help for things such as admin tasks we don’t find time for, expertise such as First Aid training, gardening, classroom assistance, and enriching fellowship. The twelve short-termers who will be with us this summer range in age from 24 to 78! Karibu Kenya!

Here at Rafiki Kenya, the school of 400+ continues to thrive with teachers noticing students challenging and encouraging other students to better quality workmanship and standards of behavior. They see the daily Bible study, first subject every day, as a key player in this development.

We are grateful for those of you who hosted us to share this past March-April. It was a blessing to see many old and new friends. We pray some of you will come to see us . This is now made easier by joining an online training session. The next one is September 21. Visit online for more information at https://www.RafikiFoundation.org/opportunities-detail/short-term.

It continues to be a joy to serve with the Rafiki Foundation. The Spring 2024 letter had many encouraging updates and opportunities to get involved or increase your involvement. The work is bearing fruit and there is potential for so much more! Stay tuned. To read the Spring Letter and download a copy for yourself, visit online at https://RafikiFoundation.org/2024SpringLetter%20Blank.pdf

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