In May, we opened our new training center in Meru, Kenya and had men attending our class on Covenant Theology from Tanzania, Kenya, Democratic Republic of Congo, and two from Ethiopia. Nearly forty in attendance. I celebrated my 70th birthday during that visit.

In September, we met for a class in Hermeneutics in Meru, and then a class on the Confessions in Sodo, Ethiopia. During the time in Meru, pastors from Kenya, Tanzania, DRC, and Uganda signed the Constitution of the Emmaus Reformed Church of Africa and formed into their various synods and classes. There are over 50 congregations so far, the majority being in Kenya and the DRC with 28 and 18 respectively. 

We spent a week in Ethiopia hosted by Sodo Baptist Church (the pastor there has been going through the Heidelcasts on baptism and covenant theology and may not be a Baptist for much longer). Over 40 folks attended there, with some traveling over 900 kilometers to be with us. Two came from a very dangerous place, where they face being killed for meeting at a Protestant Church. 

During the classes, we found that after an hour of lecture in English, some of the men would do a summary in the local languages. Afterward, they would separate into discussion groups to further absorb the material. 

It may be that we will see another 4 to 7 congregations form in Ethiopia. 

I have not seen anything like this since the Jesus movement of the late 60s and early 70s—except this is better because these folks are excited about the theology of the Reformation. 

©Jim Faucett. All Rights Reserved.

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Post authored by:

• Jim Faucett

  

  Jim Faucett is the US director of Shadow Servants, a ministry that seeks to assist African pastors in their understanding and discipleship in the Reformed faith and in the planting and growing of Reformed churches. He was converted in 1972 after serving in the US Navy. His theological and ecclesiastical journey took a few decades but he in 2018, he was ordained a teaching elder in Emmaus Church, Nashibenyo, Kenya.

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