Empowering religious leaders to become change agents
Tags：
Over 300 religious
leaders have been empowered to become agents of change, so they can transform
the lives of children and families in their communities. The trained faith
leaders were drawn from the following nine counties in Kenya: Lamu, Kilifi,
Isiolo, Turkana, Narok, Bomet, Migori, Nyeri and Taita-Taveta.
The faith leaders
underwent a two-year course in Christian Ministry offered by a Christian university
in Kenya, which was sponsored by World Vision through its Every Last One-Transformed Churches for Transformed
Community (ELO-TCT) project in Kenya. The course offers theological training,
as well as insightful lessons on effective community development approaches
among the learners. This empowers church leaders to be able to offer spiritual nourishment
to their congregants, while at the same time coming up with effective
strategies to help tackle development challenges that affect the well-being of
their communities.
"I must say
that this is a prayer answered. We prayed for many years, asking God for help
and he came to us through World Vision," says Pastor Lawrence, one of the
beneficiaries of the training from Turkana County.
He
notes that having the 'call' to serve God is not enough. "As a pastor, you
also need to have the knowledge on how to undertake the task and enable people
to experience God's love in their lives. This training helped me to achieve
that. Now I know how to prepare messages and put them into context," he states.
Pastor Masela, who
also benefitted from the project, states that she learnt about the importance
of having alternative sources of income instead of relying solely on church
offering from congregants.
"If you have an economic activity, it enables you as a faith leader to be self-sufficient and to be able to focus on God's work. The training also helped me to become eloquent and more organised in my preaching and ministry," says Pastor Masela.
"The church is
an indispensable partner of World Vision. As a child-focused Christian
organisation, we work closely with faith leaders to address the various
spiritual, social and economic challenges that prevent children from living
life in all its fullness," says Dennis, the ELO-TCTC project co-ordinator
for World Vision in Kenya.
Dennis notes that
due to the influence that the church has in most Kenyan communities, religious
leaders can play a key role in helping people to abandon harmful cultural
practices like female genital mutilation (FGM) and child marriage that impede
development in societies. They can also use their influence to empower
communities to get involved in development initiatives that can transform their
lives and improve the well-being of children.
"Partnering
with the church also helps in the sustainability of projects. World Vision
operates in an area for a definite period of time. But the churches are there
to stay. They will still exist in an area, long after we have left," he says.
Read "How a trained faith leader changed a community" to learn more
Gift Catalogue
