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Africa Missions

Kenya Conference

In April of 2019, Braman Foundation of Charities, represented by Jacques Masiko and his team, held a conference at the Village Resort in Ndhiwa, Kenya, Africa.

The Braman Foundation of Charities has started using CEF Training and completed a 2 Timothy bible study during our Pastoral Conference in February 2019.

The Braman Foundation of Charities, in partnership with the Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF), conducted an introductory Sunday school teachers' training in the Nairobi Metropolitan Area of Ngong. This was the first training within Ngong District and is projected to be the area of implementation for various BFC programs, including Blessing Bag.

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    In April of 2019, Braman Foundation of Charities, represented by Jacques Masiko and his team, held a conference at the Village Resort in Ndhiwa, Kenya, Africa.

    BFC has started using CEF Training and completed a 2 Timothy bible study during our Pastoral Conference in February. Jacques Masiko is leading us during these conferences and training seminars. We are continuing our Bible training and seminars and are working with the PEFA church to set up Sunday Schools and assisting in Sunday School training. We will begin to hold VBS in the future.

    BFC continues to support the PEFA Church of the Lake Region. Peter Midodo presides over the region and is committed to Bible Training and designing various pieces of literature.

    PEFA (Pentecostal Evangelistic Fellowship of Africa) is represented by BFC in its Region #18 called, The Lake Region. In this region, there are 184 PEFA churches. BFC is committed to continued bible training for the bishops and pastors of the region, help with church planting, design and printing of literature. PEFA is an African Church with over 4,400 churches on the African continent. Its mission is to exist to build and expand the Kingdom of God, by preaching and teaching the holistic gospel of Jesus Christ for the transformation of lives.

    The Braman Foundation of Charities is honored and considers this opportunity to represent PEFA as an outstanding privilege.

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    Braman Foundation of Charities
    2020 CEF Sunday School Teachers Super Seminar
    Venue: Deliverance Church, Embul Bul, Ngong
    Prepared by Mark Owuor Otieno

    CEF 2020 Super Seminar Overview

    Braman Foundation of Charities (BFC) in partnership with the Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) conducted an introductory Sunday school teachers training in the Nairobi Metropolitan Area of Ngong. This was the first training within Ngong District and is projected to be the area of implementation for various BFC programs including Blessing Bag.

    Planning

    During planning, I identified a consortium of 40 grassroots churches that serve the entire Ngong’ District of Kajiado County. Ngong District is lies within the expansive Nairobi Metropolitan Area. The churches are spread across several wards namely Embul Bul, Vet, Olepolos, Kerarapon, Kibiko, and Matasia. Over several months, I visited these churches to introduce them to BFC, assess their capacities, interests in the partnership, and Sunday school structure among other observations. Out of the interactions, training requirements, and prevailing COVID -19 requirements, I settled on 15 churches who I felt had an interest and deserved such a training. In the weeks leading to the training, I added 2 more churches who appreciated the need to be trained and requested to send participants.

    Once I had confirmed the number of churches, I started communications with Child Evangelical Fellowship (CEF) national director and their Nyanza Region director (Edwin Ogolla). Edwin, the churches, and I settled agreed that the Seminar takes place from September 23, 2020, to September 25, 2020. During the planning, I communicated with individual Sunday school teachers and communicated the importance of keeping time, dedicating to the program, and implementing what will be taught.

    I picked Deliverance Church Embul Bul to host the Seminar because of its centrality to the churches and the hotel in which the facilitators lived. The church also offered a dedicated conference hall, washrooms, electricity, and kitchen for the catering team.

    All the facilitators arrived on September 22, 2020, and left on September 26, 2020.

    Budgeting

    The budgeting process involved looking at two types of facilities. The facilities were a church venue and a hotel conference facility. We settled on a church venue to save on budget. The church venue was also centrally placed and within a walking distance from most attending churches. I also had to outsource for outside catering to provide food for the participants.

    Seminar

    The seminar started on time on the first day. I introduced the participants and led a devotion session then introduced BFC, our programs, and plans. The first day had 16 participants and the next two days had 15 participants. The theme of the Seminar was “Evangelizing Children Effectively.”

    The objective of the seminar was to give teachers introductory skills and tools to enable them to evangelize children effectively. The topics covered include:

    1. Introduction to Child Evangelism Fellowship
    2. The Final Authority (Why Evangelize Children)
    3. Foundations for Life (Memory Verses)
    4. Use of Visual Aids in Teaching
    5. 1-2-3 Jesus Loves Me (Presenting the Message Of Salvation to Children)
    6. Memory Verse preparation and presentation
    7. Classroom Management
    8. Drawing in the Net (Salvation Invitation)
    9. Message of salvation preparation and presentation
    10. Guiding the Child to the Savior (Counseling for Salvation)
    11. Bible Lesson Preparation and Presentation
    12. Life Changing Evangelistic Bible Lesson Preparation & Presentation
    13. Good News Club / S/s / PPI Program Demonstration

    The facilitators were:

    • Rev. Edwin Juma Wanyang – CEF National Director of Trainings
    • Rev Edwin Ogolla Otieno – CEF Nyanza Region Director

    Immediate Outcomes

    1. 15 participants effectively trained and equipped to evangelize Sunday school children effectively.
    2. 15 participants effectively facilitated to evangelize children effectively by receiving training manuals and several teaching aids.
    3. Teacher’s training assignments show positive learning outcomes.
    4. Partnership created with 22 churches. We will work with these churches for the upcoming seminars and programs like Blessing Bags.
    5. More churches that I had not contacted expressed the desire to be part of the partnership in the future.
    6. Participants pledged to be present during the next seminar (How to Disciple Children Effectively) for continuity purposes.
    7. This was the most engaging seminar so far with participants showing interest to learn (Observation from facilitators and myself). I believe this was because of carefully picking the participants and communicating the importance of the seminar in advance.

    NB long-term outcomes to be assessed 3 months and 6 months after training.

    Challenges

    1. Coordinating churches required more patience and God’s grace than I initially thought. Working with pastors, you have to keep constantly follow-up and remind them of the next process.
    2. COVID-19 restrictions in Kenya made coordination and purchasing expensive and tiresome than usual. For example, Public Service taxis charged twice the normal rates because of reduced carrying capacity for social distancing purposes.
    3. COVID-19 related socioeconomic restructuring affected part of the participants. A number of participants could not attend because of the loss of employment and had to relocate back to their rural areas. This is the reason I allowed some churches to send two participants.
    4. Having started planning a few months back, I faced several challenges including; moving around the churches and introducing myself. Coordination became simpler once Peter sent money for the conference.

    Recommendations

    1. Print few business cards to help me introduce myself better. I relied on the About the Foundation landing page of the BFC website for confirmation. Introducing BFC and myself without any proof of being associated with BFC was not easy.
    2. The next seminar (How to Disciple Children Effectively) in the series to happen by December with the same participants for them to fully appreciate the process and be equipped to disciple children. After this, the teacher can undergo 2 full-course trainings before moving to the next group of teachers.
    3. Organize a joint Vacation Bible Study (VBS) by mid-2021 conducted by the 15-trained teachers.
    4. Trained teachers to form Good News Clubs in their churches, homes, or schools. BFC will conduct a follow-up starting in November 2020.
    5. BFC to brainstorm on different ways through which we can fundraise to expand the program in order to include activities like frequent monitoring and other child-related Christian events.
    6. BFC to buy a projector that can be used in the entire East African programme.

    Conclusion

    Generally, the training was a success as the trainees expressed enthusiasm for the work of Christ in children ministry. It is our hope and prayer that they effectively implement the knowledge and tools to the benefit of children.

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    We thank God for the successful Discipleship Conference on December 8 - 10, 2021. PEFA continues to be a blessing to BFC as we work with the leaders of PEFA. PEFA continues to be instrumental in the ministry of BFC. We have four conferences scheduled for 2022. We will begin working with the pastors of PEFA on our mission curriculum.

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    Nairobi Conference: 2021

    Greetings and God bless you! We thank God for His protection, His provision and His Grace throughout this recent trip to Kenya. Additionally, we especially thank Mark Otieno and Jomo Otieno for all their dedication to serve the Nairobi BFC Conference of Churches and The Elderly Care Program. Below are the highlights of the work for the Lord in service to others.
    However I sensed throughout this trip that we are to emphasis and smash home the Lord’s words in Luke 12:48b "And from everyone who has been given much shall be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more." The Lord’s work through BFC Kenya is the single greatest work throughout the BFC Ministry. There is so much fruit and because of this we will pour more resources of Time and Money. Words can not sufficiently describe the joy of being used to serve God’s people in Kenya.
    • Luncheon Meeting with the BFC Worship Team Members
      A few months ago we formed a worship team, yet I was not sure only felt we should and so we had our first meeting on Saturday October 2nd. Mark, Nelle, Sharon, Eunice, Aiden ( Sharon’s son ) and Allison. We discussed moving forward with a BFC Office to organize the BFC Ministry in Nairobi. We discussed launching an all-day Convocation to introduce the services of BFC in the Nairobi Churches. All agreed to start praying to together weekly and that perhaps Monica may join the team.
    • Pastoral Conference on Discipleship II at Deliverance Church
      We are very grateful to Deliverance church for allowing the space to cover Discipleship II with the conference churches. It was decided that 2 days was not enough time to cover all the contents of this program. Moving forward Mark decided that at least 3 to 4 days should be given. The pastors felt strongly that more time must be given to this body of work. That the Discipleship I program is great for new Christians but most of the content in Discipleship II is for the more mature Christian. In the end all turned in prayer requests and are very grateful for the workshop and want more.
    • Discussion to form the Nairobi Churches into a BFC Conference
      During the two day conference there was general consensus that we should organize the churches in Nairobi and allow all of the BFC Curriculum and programs to be used by the body of Christ. Two Pastors are called to prison Ministry and want to be trained up in Behind the Walls, all pastors believe there is a greater addiction problem and feel the need for Healing and Restoration from Addiction, many felt that Operation Blessing Bag will be very useful in Evangelism. There were other related topics of discussion . The idea would be to launch a one day convocation with the Deliverance Church possibly hosting the event, with Nelle’s team heading up worship and introducing all the BFC’s materials in a series of workshops throughout the day. After the event, if the Lord opens the door for a more permanent BFC Nairobi office then we would do that. All agreed to pray.
    • Meeting with Mary Ojodeh of The Village Resort
      A few years ago BFC had decided to launch its Kenyan Retreat. In fact, there were several folks who wanted to participate. Most of the retreat centered around the Village Resort in Ndiwtha Kenya. Then COVID19 hit. We wanted to be sure Mary Ojodeh was back on board with the retreat. Mary is the owner of the Village Resort. We are planning the retreat for March of 2022. Look for upcoming announcements in the BFC Publications: Revive and Discipleship Devotional magazine. And yes, Mary says it’s a go so we are planning and hoping for 8 to 12 souls to retreat at the beautiful Village Resort in Ndithwa, Kenya.
    • Meeting with Bishop Peter Midodo of the PEFA Church (Pentecostal, Evangelistic, Fellowship of Africa)
      Some of you may remember that we have been working with Pastors of the PEFA Church Lake Region. In that region Bishop Midodo presides over 88 churches. Since 2017 BFC has done 4 conferences with 20 of his churches, including the book of Jonah, Discipleship I and 2 CEF Sunday School Trainings. The Bishop has been one of our earliest friends we had met when we launched the Lord’s work in 2017. He has participated with the BFC Retreat at Holy Cross Monastery in West park NY and is very interested in our inner city work with the COGIC Church. In any event, Mark, the Bishop, and I discussed the 2022 schedule and all agreed to proceed with Training of the PEFA Lake Region Pastors. So Mark will be coordinating the 2022 schedule with Pastoral Training. Which also will be taking place at our favorite spot: The Village Resort.
    • Meeting with the Elders of the Elderly Care Program in Migori
      This is one of BFC’s newest ministries. Headed by Jomo Otieno and his wife Mama Sarah. The Elder Care Program was started in June of 2020 primarily by the Otieno Family. By now, you should be coming into an understanding of how blessed BFC is to have, through God’s Grace, the Otieno family. What a celebration of the love of Christ. I am really privileged to serve beside them all. Jomo heads The Elder Care program. He feeds several Elders throughout the week, 6 days a week in fact. He brings them to hospital, he brings to them special needs: Bedding, Mattresses. Mama Sarah handles all the cooking. And Jomo had 2 of his pastors there Thursday. We toured around the area, visiting each Elder, taking pics with them and giving them more gifts. And finally we were able to pray with them all. Mark and I decided to add this tour to the Kenyan Retreat. So if you are coming to the retreat expect to meet the Elders. Once meeting each, Jomo and Mark, brought them back to Jomo’s home to have an Elder Care Dinner and Meeting!! Wow!!! It was a great day in the Lord!! In addition we have decided to add an orphan named Lorin and her son Derrick to the Elder Care program. Money has already been sent to Jomo. God yearns for us to especially watch over the widows and the orphans. So let us thank God!
    • Concluding Comments
      I am so sorry for the lengthy report. But there was so much content. Again, let us thank God for the Otieno Family for their services and especially our brother Mark Otieno. Mark is the East African Liaison and he is so good in what he does. Mark is calm, cool and collected. We thank Jomo and his wife Sarah. And so it seems that the Lord is strengthening the body of Christ. At least the churches and people we serve. This unification will bring power of the Holy Spirit. If true repentance occurs we could see a true revival. For without repentance there can be no revival. So we continue to press into the work the Lord has set in front of us knowing it is His Kingdom in which we tarry. It is His people that we serve. And let us always remember that he reigns on the just and the unjust and we are all made in His Divine Nature and therefore, we are called to Love. Love God, Love of Neighbor and to love ourselves. Your prayers were so needed and so appreciated. I look forward to what the Lord is doing!
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    Introduction

    The Braman Foundation of Charities (BFC) successfully conducted Discipleship 1 (What is Discipleship) seminar in Mogoon in Nakuru County, Kenya. The seminar took place at Mogoon Praise Centre church and brought together 14 pastors from different denominations and church branches. (See attached attendance sheet). Mogoon, in general, is a rural set-up at the periphery of Nakuru city. The Nakuru pastors are the newest partners in the ministry to promote deeper discipleship teachings and challenge the church to undertake effective discipleship programs within their churches and communities.

    Seminar

    Day one of the seminar saw the participants introduced to BFC’s history, programs, objectives of the seminar, and future seminars. Participants were also encouraged to go through the BFC website to better understand the organization. The pastors shared their current discipleship practices and were challenged to reflect on their current practices to what is expected at the end of the training. Indeed, a good number confessed to not undertaking discipleship classes and other said they only talked to new converts as they did not have a discipleship curriculum.
    All topics, apart from end times, were covered. We dwelt more on the following topics:
    • What is discipleship – The discussion included the never-ending process of discipleship towards spiritual maturity and intimacy with Christ.
    • The holy spirit – One of the most misunderstood topics.
    • Sanctification – Some agreed to lag behind on progressive sanctification.
    • Forgiveness and Reconciliation – This was a heavy topic as some confessed to harboring unforgiveness. We had a prayer session and agreed to seek and communicate forgiveness to those we had wronged or those who had wronged us.
    • Trials and tribulations – Most shared their trials and tribulations with ministry work.
    • Spiritual Warfare – Always a hot topic within the diverse Kenyan setup.
    The seminar ended at 2:00 pm on Wednesday, June 1, 2022. Participants committed to adopting the BFC booklet in their discipleship classes and always update BFC on the progress. All participants promised to conduct discipleship classes every Sunday afternoon.
    During this seminar, BFC provided the participants with booklets, ten o’clock tea, lunch, and four o’clock tea.

    Challenges

    • Kenya is currently experiencing harsh economic conditions that have significantly increased operating costs due to an increase in fuel and commodity prices.
    • There is an increase in demand for Discipleship booklets from our partners in Nairobi, Ndhiwa, and now Nakuru. A good number of churches in Nairobi have already graduated their first discipleship classes after training, therefore, the subsequent classes have no booklets.
    • Most churches continue to follow up on Sunday school teachers’ training to boost their capacities. This is a challenging area for most churches.

    Recommendations

    Let us find a way of addressing the challenge with access to booklets. A consistent supply will sustain the curriculum. BFC has already put in place measures to ensure that every booklet is utilized as intended in Nairobi.

Your generosity makes the Braman Foundation of Charities possible. Thank you.