www.teamworkministries.com

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Displaced Persons

Packages of Blankets
for Distribution to Homeless

Bag of Maize for the Homeless

Displaced persons
saying "Thank You"

Dear friends and partners,

Greetings from Kenya!

I'm writing this from Nairobi, Kenya on my way to the City of Hope in Tanzania; from there I'll go to Dar Es Salaam for a convention. It is wonderful to see some of our pastor friends and other friends of our ministry. This is both a happy and a sad moment. Today I have been listening to sad and devastating stories. It has been like listening to a story from a horror movie, which keeps one awake all night. Everybody had stories of people who have lost family members and many who have lost their children. Some even had to watch as their children were put in a fire and burned to death. Parents have been killed in front of their children just because they were from the wrong tribe in a location dominated by another tribe. When a nation goes bad and the hearts of her people are darkened, there is no safety among her people. They take lives of others without any consideration.

There are many children who cannot find their parents. Over 300,000 displaced people cannot return to their homes because of insecurity or because they have no home to return to. Some are trying to relocate to their homelands but this is proving very difficult as well. This is worse than the Hurricane Katrina devastation! Katrina was nature out of control, but when hate, revenge and animosity take control of peoples' hearts the results are unimaginable.If what has happened to Kenya was a movie, it would be one of the worst horror movies you have ever seen where countless people have been slaughtered with machetes, parents who have been killed in front of their children just because they were from a different tribe, businesses that have been burned down, people who have had their limbs amputated. It shows how inhumane human beings can be when their sensibility has been taken away from them.

Many churches have suffered enormously. There are churches of several thousand members that have dwindled to almost nothing overnight. Some have had their buildings burned down and others were totally burnt down to the ground with people inside looking for refuge. There is one story of a child inside a burning church who was thrown outside to save his/her life, but someone outside threw the child back in to face death.

Many Kenyan pastors have been traumatized and others betrayed by their members from warring tribes. Many of them need spiritual healing before they can help their members to be healed. The pastors who were hurt the most are those who were pastoring in areas outside of their tribal areas, like Kikuyu pastors who were pastoring in Luo or Kalenjin areas. These pastors were devastated as some of their members turned against them.

Things are slowly turning back to normal in some areas. People are now traveling from overseas to give a helping hand. Mission teams are flying in to help their brothers and sisters.

Political Loyalty.

It is amazing how loyalty to a political system or party can hurt relationships and break apart even those who are supposed to be brothers and sisters in Christ. We need to continually remind ourselves that our kingdom is not of this world but it is a heavenly kingdom. If Jesus is truly Lord of our life, our first loyalty will be to Him and that is a loyalty far above any political, tribal or racial loyalty.

Though I believe it is right and proper to use our privileges to vote and participate in the political process, we must always realize the limits of our government and our political leaders. The real answers for our nation will come when people turn to God.

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. II Chronicles 7:14 NIV

Power of the gospel

As important as humanitarian efforts are, we never want to move away from the recognition that it takes the power of the gospel to change lives. The church's ability to change society and relieve suffering is rooted in its commitment to the gospel of Jesus Christ. The message of that gospel says that man is sinful and it is only through changing that sinful nature that true healing and restoration can happen. It is sad that so many in Kenya, even those calling themselves Christians, have fallen into a greater loyalty to tribal and party politics. It is not the first time or place where this has happened and I'm sure it won't be the last. Up until the Civil War and even afterwards, we had many who called themselves Christian who supported slavery. Many supposed Christians followed Hitler and participated in his policies of genocide. Those whose lives have truly been transformed by Christ, who are willing to take a stand for truth, justice and righteousness no matter what is happening around them, are always a minority.

No matter how moral or wise our leaders are, they all have their weaknesses. No matter how hard a government tries, it is a bureaucracy and as a bureaucracy, it will always be inefficient and limited. The AIDS and orphan crises, as well as issues of poverty, education, and morality can never be fully solved by government. In studying history, Christians have been the leaders in education, health care, and humanitarian efforts. As the Body of Christ, we have a responsibility in each of these areas but our overall responsibility is to share the transforming power of the Gospel. As the Body of Christ rises up, stands for truth and shares the love of Christ, we will see transformation in our nations.

You Can Still Give

I want to thank those of you that gave money that is now helping some of these victims in Kenya, especially displaced families. We hope you will continue to give more to help a nation in crisis. We will be keeping an active fund for Kenya relief for at least six more months.

Please stand with us as we continue to build The City of Hope. This is a Big Vision and requires a lot of help. I will be giving updates in the upcoming newsletters. As we are building the City of Hope, we are not just doing it for humanitarian purposes but we are creating a base from which we can reach a community with the Power of the Gospel in action. We are preaching Christ without shame or compromise and will be training those who can go out to plant churches and share the love of Christ in other communities. It is important that in the name of doing good, we should never bend the truth of the gospel to accommodate those who don't agree with us. We should always preach the truth in love but never, at any point, give into the spirit of compromise just because we want to be "politically correct". As you are helping us and supporting us to build the City of Hope, we are displaying the power of the gospel to the nation of Tanzania.


God Bless You.

Dr. John N. Chacha

To give online: www.teamworkministries.com/teamwork/donations

To Give On-line:

www.citiesofhope.com