MakING a DIFFERENCEA M Y L . S H E R M A N

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media; education and the family; church /mission; health and the environment; and business.

Deeply frustrated with the individ-ualistic, information-oriented, and often compartmentalized discipleship he wit-nessed, Wanjau sought a radically new approach. Against teaching that brought “outward conformity to a bunch of ‘don’ts,’” he developed an interactive, praxis-oriented, small-group course called “Mizizi” (Roots). It combines biblical learning with real-life action, emphasizing a kingdom-oriented the-ology that calls believers to join the missio Dei. Wanjau’s coleaders then devel-oped follow-on courses of similar ilk, one focused on prayer and the other on social justice.

Today, hundreds of congregants have completed Mizizi and are at various stages of the Mavuno Marathon, which now also includes a season of leadership development, behind-the-scenes service at church, and exposure trips through-out Nairobi. The first group of Marathon graduates have now started frontline ini-tiatives, according to their passion and vocational gifts.

Mukuria Mwangi, for example, has launched REFUGE, an initiative that promotes beekeeping by Mau Forest residents and has established 13 nurser-ies to aid in reforestation. Simon Mbevi created Transform Kenya, Mavuno’s first foray into the political/governance sector. The new nonprofit is promoting a nationwide prayer movement and operates a 12-month Christian leader-ship-training course for believers who plan to run in the country’s next elec-tions for Parliament. “It’s not enough to just pray for good leadership, and then we sit back and all the wrong guys run for political office,” Mbevi says.

Two female graduates of the Mavuno Marathon, Daisy Waimiri and Anne Nzilani, are deploying their business skills in efforts to empower impoverished women from the slums. Waimiri has

developed a matched savings program with over 450 members; Nzilani is using her import/export experience to mar-ket abroad handicrafts made by poor women. Photographer Ken Oolo has started a videography business with teens from Kibera slum. And musician Kanjii Mbugwa, who serves as Mavuno’s direc-tor of worship arts, leads Kijiji Records. The media company has successfully infiltrated the secular airways with gos-pel music and produced a reality TV show starring socially conscious singers that will air weekly on a leading nation-al station.

Adolwa explains that these initia-tives result from congregants who grasp what is meant by “social transformation.” “It is a very big jump for people to move from saying, ‘Praise God,’ to ‘God has a heart for justice,’ to ‘God wants us to do something about the society,’” she explains.

Thus, in addition to the Marathon, Mavuno hosts church-wide educational campaigns. The most recent example was its course on proposed Kenyan land reforms in the new constitution. A few years earlier, Mavuno urged its members with maids to enroll those young women in Kenya’s national health insurance pro-gram and pay the premium. Pastor Linda preached a series of messages about the realities faced by poor women in Nairobi and showed a disturbing video of a maid giving birth at home in the slum with-out any medical help. “We wanted the congregation to understand that this is not God’s will,” she says. Few middle-class Kenyans provide health insurance for their house help, but Pastor Linda told them, “Righteousness means you do things differently.”

Pastor Muriithi says the Mavuno Marathon is about raising an army that will bring reformation in our generation. He wants to form Christians who will have confidence, assurance, and such a heart for the society that they begin to

“Fearless Influencers”

Post-election violence in Kenya in late 2007 left over 1,000 people dead and 250,000 displaced. In one gruesome inci-dent, nearly 50 unarmed civilians were slaughtered with machetes as they tried hiding in a church in Eldoret.

According to Nairobi-based evangeli-cal pastor Muriithi Wanjau, the church suffered a huge loss of credibility during the crisis. “They acted like everyone else,” he explained. “They took sides. Church leaders fronted political candidates. They played a part in destroying the society. And the people noticed that.”

On August 5, 2010, two-thirds of the Kenyan people voted to support a new constitution in a clean, peaceful election — one the New York Times called “a much-needed boost of self-confi-dence.” In the months leading up to the vote, Wanjau’s church, Mavuno (“Harvest”), played a role in educating hundreds of evangelicals about the new constitution. This included tackling the hot-button issue of land policy — a complicated problem, overlaid with ethnic tensions, that most pastors seek to avoid. For Mavuno’s leaders, though, the issue involved justice, and that meant it mustn’t be ignored.

This remarkable church — which draws nearly 3,000 people weekly, only five years after being founded — is on a mission to penetrate Kenya with the values of God’s kingdom. Its entire dis-cipleship emphasis aims at “turning ordinary people into fearless influencers of society.” It has created a multi-year “Mavuno Marathon” with the goal of producing passionate, prayerful Christian social entrepreneurs who will launch new initiatives in society’s six strategic sectors: politics/governance; the arts and Continued bottom of page 38.