Miki Hardy (left) on the stage at the conference together with a translator.
Major teaching conference held in Nairobi
by Bosibori Osusu • 24 August 2023
Last week, a big conference of Kenyan and East African church leaders took place in Nairobi, called “The East Africa Leaders Conference”. It was held at a prominent location, in a big tent that had been set up on the grounds of St. George’s Girls Secondary School, right next to the State House in Nairobi Kenya. Over the course of three days, from 16th to 18th of August 2023, the conference addressed centrally important themes such as encouragement for staying true to the gospel and avoiding false doctrine, and avoiding to put law on God's people and themselves.
The main speaker was Pastor Miki Hardy from the Island of Mauritius. As part of his message, he talked about how pastors and ministers of the gospel go through discouraging times, giving his experience as an example. He went through a lot at the start of his ministry, how he was deeply discouraged and even considered quitting after 10 years. He had cried, his marriage was crumbling and even his church was struggling. But by God’s grace and intervention, his faith, ministry, church and marriage was restored. “I greatly desire to share with pastors and leaders, because I am convinced in my heart that there are many pastors and leaders of churches who are going through the same experience as I did. I am also sure that many pastors have gone through discouraging times,” he said.
The event was attended by several hundred people, the vast majority of whom were leaders from different churches all over, both small and big churches, such as worship leaders, ushers, praise and worship teams, translators, bible teachers and so on. Among them were pastors and other church leaders not only from Kenya, but from all over East Africa and beyond including Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi among others. Perhaps 10% of the attendees were ordinary members with no leadership positions in church, who were simply hungry for the word of God, and also to learn about leadership in church.
The conference was organized by BUILD, which is under Church Team Ministries International (CTMI). CTMI is a Christian organization established in 2001 by a team of leaders from various countries who are united through the message of the cross and subsequent work of God in their lives. Its vision is to equip and strengthen leaders and churches in Africa and beyond through the apostolic message of the cross. The main language used at the conference was English, but everything was translated to Kiswahili. Every speaker has a translator alongside him/her.
Next: Organizing, by Eric Bosire.
Notes:
About the author:
Bosibori Osusu is a Kenyan Journalist. She lives and works in Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya.
About the image:
Photograph taken by Bosibori Osusu.
Suggested citation:
Bosibori Osusu: Major teaching conference held in Nairobi, MissionField News (ISSN 2813-2270)
https://missionfield.news/2023/15_Conference
2023-08-24.