As we sat down in our living room in 2020, to meet for church as a family, with Samy, a young man who stays on our property, little did we know that this tiny fellowship in Kenya would continue after Covid-19 days, growing to a congregation of 80 and a Sunday school of up to 180 children from the nearby slums.

Ephraim, our children’s and youth minister, and Peter, who is working with us as he prepares to church plant, had just finished their ministry apprenticeships at iServe-Africa. They came to help us and began the outreach to children in the slum.

Week by week, we were amazed and somewhat overwhelmed by the numbers of children who started to come. We began mid-week Bible studies, fellowships and holiday Bible clubs. We recruited Isabella, to help us reach out to the Swahili-speaking ladies in the slum. Elisha joined as an apprentice and we quickly discovered his brilliance in helping organise and preach at events such as the Sunday school carol service, when we host 300-400 people. To date, 45 people have been baptised at Christ Church, Loresho.

… pastoring people who have come from broken and often chaotic home situations has its challenges.

But discipleship is not easy, and pastoring people who have come from broken and often chaotic home situations has its challenges. We are comforted as we remember that it is God who builds his church, and shepherds his people.

After years of looking for a suitable church venue that is within walking distance from the slum, we were delighted to find a dilapidated property with a large garden at the entrance to our estate, and to agree with the owners a 2-year payment plan to purchase it. It has been amazing to see the Lord provide the finances for the first and second of three payments and we trust he will continue to supply what is needed.

Opposition to gospel ministry should not surprise us …

Opposition to gospel ministry should not surprise us and, indeed, we have experienced strong opposition from some middle-class neighbours. In July, we received a threatening message from the chairman of our residents’ association asking us to stop all religious activity and specifically asking us to move the holiday club that we were hosting at that time. We pleaded for God’s help and rejoiced as we saw God answer our prayers for the ministry to continue and for some middleclass residents from the estate to join the church. We are currently waiting for “change of use” so that we can start using the new church property.

Please pray that God would continue to establish his Church so that, for years to come, there might be a gospel witness in this burgeoning neighbourhood that so desperately needs the light of Christ.

Kip and Rachel Chelashaw serve in Kenya, in Bible teaching, training leaders, pastoral work and children’s ministry.