Hatfield Christian Church

The church in has played a significant role in fighting poverty in South Africa. A visit to Hatfield Christian church would give any visitor a feeling of home coming. The love poured out by this Christian community can overwhelm even the most cynical of beings.  With several ongoing ministries including the youth ministry, the women ministry, the hope ministry and the children ministry, the Hatfield Christian church tries to cater for all in need spiritually and materially. The most striking of this works, is the two children ministries under the Hatfield children’s homes for abandoned children, the little Angels’ heaven and the Naledi Children home. These initiatives were started to assist abused and neglected children have an opportunity to grow in a home setting and get the basics of life that would empower them become economically independent adults in future.

Naledi Children home

The Naledi children home was started in the year 2007 under the belief that if any child is given an opportunity despite their background, they can do great things in the society. What is needed for the children to achieve this is being put in the right environment and being provided with life’s necessities and they will really live out their potential. Naledi has a capacity of 10 children who are offered the basic needs of food clothes shelter, health care, and education. The home is managed in conjunction with the Apostolic Faith Mission Executive Welfare Council, as part of their uMephi program. The day to day running of the home is overseen by a committee of volunteers from the church. The committee consists of the Project manager, Operations leader, Prayer Coordinator, Treasurer, the House Parents and Marketing Coordinator. The children housed in Naledi children home were neglected, rescued from abusive families or abandoned by their families. At Naledi there are children of different cultural background brought together by a common fate of poverty, neglect and abuse. The children have now found a home, love and have a hope for making their lives better. This ministry has been instrumental in reducing poverty in south Africa by giving opportunity to the less fortunate children without social support for empowerment.

Little Angels Haven

The little angels’ Haven was founded under the Hatfield children homes in the years 2008 to cater for abandoned orphans and other neglected infants. Currently the foster home houses six children aged below eight years old. Audrey Atherton, with her husband Ron dedicated their time nurturing these little children since their infancy. They are committed to making their lives happier and more fulfilling by offering them a place in their hearts and lives.

Both this homes are supported by volunteers who assist in the care of the children, preparation of meals, and giving them a sense of belonging. More volunteers are however required to provide care for these children. Apart from support in terms of hours, there is also need to support this initiative by providing materials for learning, beddings, furniture, clothing and food.

Hatfield Christian church is a good example of how the church is dealing with poverty in Africa, one person at a time.

We’d love to hear the story of how your church is working to end poverty in your community – Make a comment below or email us your thoughts.

More information or to contact the church – CLICK HERE

Dear brethren/ministry,

The vision we have are not for  individual interest but peoples of God, for this reason my ministry welcome any hearted ministry or individual with same vision to affiliate us or partnership with us to fulfills Gods vision to his people two are better than walking single.

Dear Bishop:

Am very grateful for this wonderful moment in my life to thank the almighty God for his love and grace even to salute you in the precious name of our lord Jesus Christ, am Sylvester barasa ojiambo, Kenyan citizen, 35 age, married and blessed with five children, attended diploma in theology at grace Presbyterian church-Kenya, am founder of oasis mission prophetic church -Nairobi-Kenya.Church was registered 2010 in Kenya.

God deserves honor and glory in all ways and situation his wonderful deeds and plans are beyond our explanation as humans; above all for the gift of salvation to mankind through Jesus Christ our lord and Savoir.

I have never known you or your ministry in any way before. I have been in prayer of fasting requesting God to fulfills my dreams of partnership/affiliation with international ministries, pastors, reverend,bishop,doctor and brothers and sisters in the body of Christ, its from the same note that I opted to bring it to your knowledge through writing requesting humble you to partner/ affiliate with me.

My plans at table:

1.  buy land to build church – (we currently operate at rental hall.)
2.  buy good instrument- (what we are using are not in good condition.)
3.  build orphanage school- (we only accommodated 10 children as per our capability.)
4.  build bible college- (not started)
5.  buy church/school bus-(we don’t have any at now,either Pastors car / Bus)

To establish this plan it will cost as about US $300,000. something we are in prayer that God will open away out; he is the alpha and omega, we don’t know how it will come to as but God knows since we trust in him.am sure of this that he who began will accomplish it amen. through your prayers and guidance moral spiritual physical and financial are most welcomed in Jesus name.

God reconciled man unto himself through Christ Jesus, become what were , so that we could become what he was – the righteousness of God ,its for the reason request your prayer that servant of God pray with me , I may look strange to you today but i9n the eyes of lord we are not stranger to each other. its my prayer that you will accept my proposal and hold my hands so that we can walk together, much can be done by walking in partnership/affiliation than walking single.

It is my prayer that is the plan /plan of the almighty God , he bless you abundantly as i wait for your response anxiously. any single donation /support as from US $ 1000, to us its most welcomed we shall not take it for granted ; we understand 1000miles starts with single step.

In Christ love
Apostle-Sylvester Barasa Ojiambo
Founder of Oasis Mission Prophetic Church [OMPC}.

OMPC HEADQUATERS NAIROBI-KENYA LOCATED KAYOLE SPINE ROAD KAYOLE HOSPITAL STAGE BESIDE MUGENDI STREET 300 METRES FROM THE ROAD DOWN AT RIVERSIDE PLOTS, CONTACTS +254 722 678 060/ + 254 733 376 081, POSTAL ADDRESS 1332-00518, KAYOLE, NAIROBI-KENYA.

Email:sylvesterbarasaojiambo@yahoo.co.uk

These are the services we offer.

BRONZE PACKAGE – Free

• Free one page listing on African Christian.info
• For Schools – Listing are available for your country
• This includes 5000 words of content and 3 pictures of your ministry.

SILVER PACKAGE – Free

Here is that this includes:

• Website Hosting
• A free custom site built on wordpress.
• A personal domain name. The address would be as follows: your-church-name.africanchristian.info.
• For School websites – other good alternative are available
• Personal Africanchristian.info email address
• Training and access so you can update content regularly.
• Choice of Theme – Visit this link – http://www.organizedthemes.com/category/themes. Choose which theme you like the best

Next Step

1. Choose your theme (Our choice is Epic)
2. Send content for the site, including:
   - about you
   - about your ministry
   - contact info (address, email
   - welcome page
   - ministry specifics pages
3. Send 8-10 original large size jpeg pictures of you and your ministry.

Sample

• Here is a site we have just completed for a church in Kenya
• http://www.aicnyahururu.com/

GOLD PACKAGE – $25usd/year

•  Everything in Silver Package
• Your own domain name.
• The cost associated just covers my cost to purchase the domain each year.

Post Highlights:

• free grants for churches for africa

The Anzisha Prize is the premier award for African leaders aged 15-20 who have developed and implemented innovative solutions to challenges facing their communities.

The Anzisha Prize is a celebration of innovation and entrepreneurship in Africa. The Prize recognizes the transformative role of youth-lead change on the African continent.

Africa’s future will be determined by entrepreneurial leaders across all sectors.

Africa’s ability to pull itself out of poverty will be dependent on indigenous entrepreneurs building enterprises that address real pain points and create employment opportunities for millions. The Anzisha Prize fosters an entrepreneurial spirit so that it may be celebrated in African communities. These entrepreneurial leaders will overcome constraints to change the paradigm and create value on the continent.

All around us, young people are addressing pressing issues in creative ways, resulting in a brighter future for their communities. The Anzisha Prize celebrates their initiative and seeks to encourage others to follow in their footsteps – creating a movement of young entrepreneurs who will shape the 21st century.

What is the Anzisha Prize?

The Anzisha Prize seeks to award young innovators who have developed and implemented innovative solutions to challenges facing their communities. The Prize is funded by a generous grant from the MasterCard Foundation.

What is awarded?

Twelve to fifteen finalists from across Africa will win an all-expense paid trip to South Africa to participate in a week long entrepreneurship workshop and conference at the African Leadership Academy on the outskirts of Johannesburg. The grand prize winners, selected from these finalists, will share prizes worth $75,000 USD, which they may use to take their projects to new heights.

Advancing Energy in Africa

Thanks to the  Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF) and it’s Donor Circle for Africa (DCfA) there is a special award of $10,000 to enhance growth of promising entrepreneurs in Africa who are working on renewable energy projects. The Donor Circle for Africa works with non-profit groups and entrepreneurs in Africa who are working on affordable and sustainable power generation projects. All projects need energy. Therefore, their intent is to catalyze development of small scale, locally maintainable sources of reliable power for a wide variety of community needs such as healthcare, education, and water supply.

What are the criteria?

Each applicant will be judged on the following:

• Impact: efforts have a demonstrated, measurable and positive outcome.
• Ingenuity: applicant takes a new and better approach to a pressing problem in his or her community.
• Scalability: solution has the potential to be replicated in communities facing similar challenges.

Important dates to keep in mind?

• March – April: Anzisha Prize information sessions will take place in multiple cities. Check Prize Tour page for tour dates
• 1 May 2012: Application deadline. We strongly encourage you to submit your application as soon as possible. We cannot evaluate applications that arrive after the deadline.
• July 2012: Finalists will be notified.
• August 2012: Anzisha entrepreneurship workshop and conference – winners will be announced.

How do I apply?

1. Fill out the online application.

2. Download the application form in either Word or PDF format.

Questions?

We are happy to answer any questions you have about the Prize, your eligibility, or the application process. Please feel free to contact us in any of the following ways:

Email: prize@anzishaprize.org

For More Information – CLICK HERE

Post Highlights:

• anzisha prize
• Anzisha Prize Session Uganda

Texts:

• Mathew 21:12-22

Introduction

According to Mathew, the events recorded in Mathew 21:12-17, appears to had taken place on Palm Sunday after Christ’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem, while the events of Mathew 21:18-22 according to Mathew, took place on Monday. Jerusalem, being both the religious and political headquarters, became the centre of focus for Christ’s final personal ministry on earth. It is for this purpose therefore, that Christ started with the reformation of the Temple worship. There are three crucial aspects of Christ’s ministry in Jerusalem on this day:

1. The Spiritual Restoration

When Christ entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, His first stop was the Temple. The Temple worship was very crucial in the religious life of the Jews. The Temple:

1. Signified the presence of God among His people: dating back to wilderness day, the presence of God was represented by the ark of the covenant, then the Tent of Meeting and finally after the conquest and the monarchical period, the Temple.
2. The Temple was the place of sacrificial worship
3. The Temple was the meeting point between God and His people
4. The Temple was the symbol of identity for God’s people
5. The Temple was the symbol of spirituality

In the OT, when Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian king, destroyed the Temple during his conquest of Jerusalem, it was as if God himself had left His people. The lamentation of the Psalmist in Psalm 137 clearly captures the desperate spiritual state of the Jews after the destruction of the Temple:

Psalm 137 “¹ By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. ² There on the poplars we hung our harps, ³ for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” ⁴ How can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a foreign land? ⁵ If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. ⁶ May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy. ⁷ Remember, O LORD, what the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell. “Tear it down,” they cried, “tear it down to its foundations!” ⁸ O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is he who repays you for what you have done to us— ⁹ he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.”

When almost, after 70 years the foundations for the rebuilding of the Temple was laid, the people greatly rejoiced:

Ezra 3:10-13 “¹⁰ When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, the priests in their vestments and with trumpets, and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with cymbals, took their places to praise the LORD, as prescribed by David king of Israel. ¹¹ With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the LORD: “He is good; his love to Israel endures forever.” And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid.  ¹² But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy.  ¹³ No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away.”

The rebuilt Temple, therefore, stood until the time of Christ (only that just before Christ, Herod carried out repairs in order to please the Jews who opposed him. The repair work looked like rebuilding the Temple all over again). It is sad that the Temple had lost the purpose for which it was originally built. The people now focused on business or economic benefits rather than on worship. Christ reminds them, quoting Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11, the purpose for which it was built to be:

Mathew 21:13 “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it a ‘den of robbers.’”

May this Holy week help to remind us the purpose for which the church exists in the community:

1. The church is the conscience of the society. It keeps the society alert as far as sin and morals are concerned. A church which no longer informs the society needs to be restored this week by the Lord Jesus Christ.
2. The church is a mark and a symbol of holiness or the sacred. The church must remain the church in order to reflect the glory and the holiness of God. What business goes on in our church or in our parish?
3. The church is the salt and the light to the community. The church must influence the community positively and spiritually. The church must offer and dictate the agenda for the community. A church which follows and copies the community systems and behaviours must be restored by Christ this week.

The church which has made the society comfortable in her and at the same she is comfortable in the society should be ready to face Christ’s cleansing wrath. The church must convict the society of God’s righteousness and reflect that righteousness. When the church has lost her influence power, it can as well as be equated with any secular organisation.

2. The Beneficiaries of the Church’s Poor Spiritual State

It is interesting that when Christ had restored the spiritual state of the Temple and God was performing miracles again, the beneficiaries of the former state of the Temple were not happy. Mathew records that,

Mathew 21:14-16 “¹⁴ The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. ¹⁵ But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple area, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant. ¹⁶ “Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him.”

What is our picture or understanding of the church today? Is it still a spiritual organism, where the only vision and only vision is heaven – people getting saved and growing spiritually; the evidence of the working of the Holy Spirit, etc? Or is it just an institution where jobs are created; a business venture – where all rules and principles of competition in business are employed?

When Christ looks at the church today, is He seeing the beneficiaries of the poor state of the church today who are only after material gains and are no longer bothered about the things of God? The beneficiaries who no longer preach salvation or lead people to Christ; there is no longer healing? The beneficiaries who oppose praise and worship in the church today? The blind and the lame went to Christ in the Temple and He healed them, while the children praised God – ‘Hosanna to the Son of David’ BUT the beneficiaries, chief priests and the teachers of the law… were indignant.

3. Spiritual Productivity

• Mathew 21:18-22 – the fig tree withers

At that time in Jerusalem, people from far and near had crowded into Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover; the great feast commemorating the nation’s liberation from Egypt. Due to the large number of people, not all could find lodgings in Jerusalem. Therefore, Jesus and His disciples stayed at the nearby town of Bethany. Each day they walked the two miles trip into Jerusalem.

Mathew, informs us that, “Early in the morning, as he was on his way back to the city, he was hungry” (V.18) but he doesn’t tell us why Jesus did not find any fruit on the fig tree. Was it time for fruits? Of course Jesus would not have gone to the tree. The tree was green with leaves but not a single fruit – green but not productive. Israel was green but not bearing fruits.

For me, this is a big challenge. The tree may bear fruits in seasons however; believers / Christians must bear fruits at all times. Every time, we must bear spiritual fruits. A Christian’s life should not be seasonal – it is not a matter of being spiritual only at particular times of the year! A Christian must be a Christian all times, in all places and in every circumstance.

The only requirement for spiritual productivity is faith. Spiritual productivity leads to an exercise of faith.

Conclusion

“The house of prayer reformed” is crucial in the restoration of the spiritually, not only of the church but of an individual. This Holy Week, when God looks at our church; at my life would He begin a cleansing service? We thank God that at the ACK St. Hellen’s Parish in the Diocese of Nairobi, we are seeing God at work. Some of the things, God is doing in our midst, among others includes; especially yesterday during the Palm Sunday:

1. The Lord is raising up powerful praise and worship team in the church. Yesterday, it was awesome being in the presence of God in praise and worship.
2. We had healing services in the 1^st and 2^nd services (English & Kiswahili). People just came forward to be prayed for.
3. During the 3^rd (Kikuyu) service, we had admission and readmission of new believers, dedication of babies, water baptism of 43 children and 1 adult. The adult, after being explained to why we baptise, knelt at the altar to accept Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord before baptism.

God is working in our lives and I can confess that there are no “beneficiaries” who are standing in the way of people to hinder us from experiencing God. We are still thirsting for God this Holy Week that we may exercise the faith.

Monday in Holy Week, 2^nd April 2012

Rev. Simon J. Oriedo; (BSc, BD (Hons.), PGD (Ecumm.), MABS, MED.)

P.O. Box 14814 – 00100, Nairobi – Kenya

Tel: +254 722 838 023 / 735 621 172 / 772 838 023