YES, IT IS KAIROS!!!!
I am happy to inform you that the two new programs that were launched in March, Diploma in Chaplaincy and Bachelors of Chaplaincy, are already in session. Students have enrolled, and we are expecting more to come.
Our modular students who began their March–April module completed their session on 22 April 2022, and are expected to be back for their next module on 25 July. Meanwhile, our residential students who were on mid-term break resumed their classes on 25 April, and are expected to complete their January semester on 27 May, 2022.
In the month of April, we were blessed with a surprise visit from Jim and Donna Hoeksema. They visited us for an extended time in 2016, when Donna spent most of here energy and expertise modifying our library system, while Jim was the brain behind FTC’s solar energy system that has provided twenty-four-hours-a-day energy to out Kaimosi campus since June of 2016. During their April visit, the Hoeksemas had the opportunity to visit the solar house and inspect the plant. Jim and Donna, thanks for your visit and support.
The first week of May has been yet another busy time on campus. FTC hosted a training program known as KAIROS, a global voluntary team of trained ministers who train trainers on evangelism with the goal of reaching unreached people groups. The message of KAIROS is predicated on Jesus’ Great Commission (Matt. 28:16-20).
This program was organized by Friends United Meeting and jointly sponsored by Wabash Friends (Indiana) Missions Committee, which was represented by Eric Dale. There were four KAIROS trainers and twenty leaders in different capacities drawn from different Yearly Meetings. FUM’s missionaries to Tanzania, Dorcas and Nicholas Otieno, also participated.
One of the KAIROS team leaders mentioned to me that there are over 300 volunteer KAIROS trainers in Kenya. The word kairos comes from a Greek New Testament term translated as the “right time” or “opportune moment” to do or say something. Scholars distinguish this term from chronos, which is translated in Greek to mean, “clock time.”
KAIROS is comprised of nine sessions, each lasting approximately two-and-a-half hours. The courses covered include God, God’s Mission, and God’s World; Israel, the Covenant people; the Messiah, the Message, and the Messengers; Expansion of the World Christian Movement; Mission Strategy; Cross-Cultural Challenges of doing missions. Participants were asked to answer and complete an average of eight questions per lesson. The training culminated on the fifth day when each participant received a certificate of completion. Sessions were punctuated by a slogan from participants. The leader would say, “IT IS KAIROS…” and the participants would shout in a chorus, “YES, IT IS KAIROS!!!!”
To me, the most interesting session of the KAIROS training was an activity called “contextualized worship.” Participants were dressed in improvised Islamic attire and performed a Christian worship in the Islamic style, with Jesus Christ as the center focus. This style of worship can be practiced among the Muslim communities in order to bring Muslims to Christ while traveling on familiar pathways.
Finally, I would like to invite you, Friends, to connect with us on our website https://friendstheologicalcollege.org. And also, please remember to check out our social media pages on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. You can also physically visit our institution at Kaimosi in Vihiga County, Kenya. Thank you again, friends, for your support and prayers. May God bless you.
Dr. Robert J. WafulaPrincipal
- We give thanks to God for enabling the intensive sessions of the April module program to run smoothly to the end, and for the arrival of the students in the residential program.
- We give thanks to God that the long-awaited rains are back and now soaking the Kaimosi grounds. The FTC lawn is green again and beautiful.
- Please pray for my mom (now eighty-four) to gain strength after spending five days in hospital over stomach pain.
- Please pray for our residential students as they prepare for their end-of-term exams in readiness for a long August break.