HUYSER PRAYER LETTER
Identifying, encouraging, connecting, and equipping local Christian
leaders for the transformation of lives, communities and culture
February 2016
CAN CITIES BE FAMOUS FOR GOD? (Part II)
Praying on site with insight. . . We came here for only one
purpose and that is to pray. . . God was already present with
his power, but Elijah had to pray and we also need to pray. . .
This is the real GPS that connects all points in the cosmos.
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble
themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their
wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive
their sin, and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 2:14
If you believe and I believe and we together pray, the Holy
Spirit will come down and Africa will be saved. (African
chorus)
Those were some of the words, Scriptural verses and songs
with which Dr. Mwaya Wa Kitavi, East and South Africa
director for CRWM, welcomed us to GPS, acronym for the
Global Prayer Safari.
Jeannie and I had come to Nairobi, Kenya, to explore with
Dr. Kitavi a transformational network strategy for Nairobi.
We also came to participate in GPS. The GPS had been
organized by local Kenyan pastors working alongside of Dr.
Kitavi. Also participating in the GPS experience were folks
from Uganda, South Africa, Ethiopia, Cambodia, Romania,
Canada and the United States.
GPS: An experience like no other
And so began ten intensive days of prayer and fasting. We
prayed in public markets, the office of the President of
Kenya, the office of the deputy governor of Nairobi, the
enormous Kenyatta National Hospital, both Christian and
public schools, police stations, public parks, ministries in
a Nairobi slum, Habitat for Humanity of Kenya, and the
village where Dr. Kitavi was born. Our days began as early
as 6:00 am. Our days ended as late as 8:00 p.m.
Everywhere we found people who were receptive to prayer.
We prayed for healing. We prayed for justice. We prayed
with people for salvation. We prayed about the issues of
climate change, corruption and security that are affecting
Kenya. We prayed for the social and spiritual renewal of
Joel preaching at church in Machakos Kenya
Nairobi. On both Sundays we preached in the churches of
the Kenyan pastors who organized and led the GPS.
We also found adventure! Jeannie and I were trapped with
eleven others for over thirty minutes in a malfunctioning
elevator in the Presidential offices. We descended from a
mountain village in a car that lost its brakes. Jeannie even
got locked into an outhouse. All part of what made the
experience memorable!
United prayer needs to undergird a transformational network
strategy
GPS did not just happen. It was preceded by Timothy
Leadership training for pastors and Educational Care for
teachers. Both Timothy and Educational Care use inductive
and participatory learning methods rather than relying on
lectures. Both are deeply infused with a holistic Biblical
worldview. As a result pastors from different denominations
and teachers from different schools have grown in a shared
Biblical worldview. They have also grown in trust for each
other.
In many ways GPS was an opportunity for these local
Kenyan pastors and educators to put into practice what they
had learned. If God claims “every square inch,” then they
needed to pray in market places and public squares as well as
in church buildings. And if God had called them to be the
one body of Christ, then they needed to that together.
This is what I have been learning. Cities become “famous
for God” as leaders from all walks of life begin to develop
a shared vision for the spiritual and social renewal of their
city, nurture relationships of trust that cross the barriers that
divide us, and initiate joint projects together. But united
prayer for their city is at the basis of everything
Please pray with me that God blesses a transformational
network strategy in Nairobi and that Nairobi becomes a city
famous for God.
Praying with medical students at Kenyatta University
Praise and Prayer
Praise:
•
Praise that Joel was sufficiently recovered from chikungunya to participate in the GPS.
Prayer:
•
That Joel is sufficiently recovered from chikungunya for the next challenge: a March country evaluation in
Bangladesh. This will be even more rigorous than the GPS as it will involve visits (maybe on the back of a
motorcycle?) to remote villages.
•
The continued work of the organizational design team for the joining of Home Missions and World Missions. We
now face another substantial challenge in terms of the work that must be completed by the April board meetings.
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