(Isaiah 35:3-4; Hebrews 12:12-13)

Brethren and servants of the Living God. Greetings to you all, and to the assemblies where you serve, in the name of God whose Love and Faithfulness never cease. It is my prayer that the Love and God’s faithfulness will keep us together in order to be productive in God’s kingdom.

Our God is able to turn things around. He is able to turn wilderness into productive land. He can command rivers to spring forth in the wilderness as we hold one another’s hands in unity, which is possible. This will help our organization to march forward and we will not be stagnant.

Pandemic experience

We understand that for the last two years nearly everything apart from the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ came to a standstill. Even the aircraft of the superpower countries were grounded. Everything in the whole world changed and fear filled the hearts of all and humanity’s existence was threatened. People in the world were sleeping with a lot of fear and waking up the same. Many were not sure of seeing the morning nor the evening. During that time rich and poor became victims of fear. Rich could no longer have hope in their wealth. Thank God because the love of Jesus has been giving hope and many people found new hope in Christ and not in wealth.

As a church, we have also lost great followers of God due to the pandemic. Not only in FPFK but the global church of Jesus Christ. That has not stopped the church of Jesus Christ from marching on, though it grieved us.

During the time of lockdown, we were able to communicate the good news of the kingdom through our WhatsApp network. We were able to encourage each other and lift up each other’s hands. The pandemic has given us some knowledge about communication that we did not have before. Through WhatsApp, we could raise funds to assist brethren who were in need. Through that network, our Bishops and Pastors could be accessed from the Head office and Head office secretariat could send messages to them. During lockdown home churches grew and people that we could not have imagined became preachers. Some churches had numerical growth. We could as well minister to our members by sending them short messages to encourage them. In short, the pandemic has not stopped the church growth although we went through some psychological pains of losing some of our dear leaders and also close family members. However, God of all comforts has comforted us.

Condolences

The whole organization of FPFK was deeply grieved by the deaths of our brave soldiers of the cross among them our able Bishop Daniel Osoi of Emali church, in Emali region under Bishop John Kilole. Bishop Calist Sarumbe of Kimana church under Bishop Christopher Sipaya in the southern region and then we were most hit when we received the news of our FPFK Deputy Presiding Bishop Gabriel Ouma who was also the senior Pastor of Nyambare Local Church. There were others who were hospitalized and discharged. In short, God’s grace has kept us that far.

Hotel Construction

The elephant in the room in our organization is our Three-Star Hotel construction at the Head office. The construction has been, and continued to be, a pain in the National Board. My Board has continued to trust and depend on God who knows no impossibilities. There are some individuals from our sister church who, by God’s guidance, were very much willing to save us from shame. We were really received with respect and the report of how you received us was very encouraging. But the pandemic struck and the plans scoped for a while. The contractors threatened to sue us for the debt we owed them of over 50 million. Since we had nowhere to run to, National Board members had to come to where we were. Now we are still waiting on the promises you made to be fulfilled. Keswick Bookshop has done a tremendous work as far as the construction is concerned. I thank God for the few who have been calling to enquire about the construction and their willingness to assist.

Ministries

Due to financial strain and the pandemic some ministries have not been doing well. All of us have been going through the same, especially during the time of lockdown due to the pandemic, so nobody can be blamed. Now, since the government has removed the restrictions, let us wake up. Women leaders have been doing well. They have kept unity among women and even during the lockdown they kept ministry alive by even visiting the regional leaders, as per the rules of lockdown. They also came up with ways of bringing income in their ministry. I request other ministries to emulate wamama(women) without fear. Don’t be afraid to borrow other people’s ideas if they are not leading to sin.

The scripture is encouraging every one of us in Isaiah 35:3-4 and Hebrew 12:12.

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Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that will give way, say to those with fearful heart, be strong do not fear, your God will come, he will come with vengeance, with divine retribution he will come to save you.

–  Isaiah 35:3-4

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As I had said earlier and as I conclude, it is not time to blame each other but time to strengthen ourselves and encourage each other in the Lord. Also let us give each other hope by telling them not to be fearful, our God is coming. The journey may look hard and tough but we are not alone. We have “Emmanuel” God with us, that will continue to be with us. Our God knows no barrier, He does not know any impossibility.

THE LORD BLESS YOU ALL. THE LORD BLESS FPFK!