Joshua and Ruth Barron

Surely He rescues me

Joshua & Ruth — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 08:20:55 +0000

from all trouble,

and I triumph over my enemies.

(Psalm 54.7, NET)

Happy Epiphany

Joshua & Ruth — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 12:55:44 +0000

Today is January 6, the day which the Church traditionally observes as “Epiphany,” the “Revealing” of Christ to the Gentiles. So yesterday was the 12th day of Christmas and this is the day we should sing “We Three Kings” and the day when the ancient church liturgies would read the verses about the baptism of Jesus.

Today is also the day when we finally have a new update ready: click here to download a PDF of our January 2012 newsletter.

May you be blessed in the new year

Joshua & Ruth — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 19:09:10 +0000

We had Kenyan friends over for New Year’s Eve: Kimunya & Harriet and their three children, Tinashe (girl), Tatenda (boy), Tumelo (girl). Our little princesses were glad to have two visiting princesses to play dress-up with them. (Tumelo, just 2 1/2, had gone back inside before we got out the camera.)

Eliana (4), Tinashe (6), Hannah Gail (6), Alitzah (8)

Thanksgiving

Joshua & Ruth — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 07:57:59 +0000

In our house, we’ve started listening to our Christ-mas music today. At the moment, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” is playing. Are we getting ahead of ourselves in the holiday schedule? No, we are focused on holy days rather than commercial rush. The old word for the Lord’s Supper or Communion is Eucharist which simply means “Thanksgiving.”

And so as “Black Friday” looms around the corner, we are thinking about Good Friday. And on Thanksgiving Day, we are thinking about Christmas. Without Jesus, we would have no reason for giving thanks.

Turkana

Joshua & Ruth — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 13:30:45 +0000

In October, I (Joshua) spent about two weeks with our teammates in Turkana land. I taught two courses at Turkana Bible Training Institute (TBTI) in Lodwar and was able to get out in the bush a few times. I’ve finally been able to post some new albums to our photo album page: my TBTI classes, the irrigated garden plots with which our teammates are empowering the Turkana believers, and my time worshiping with Turkana believers.

Over on our video page, I’ve embedded a clip our teammates put together about “Farming God’s Way” in the Turkana deserts.

ministry summary

Joshua & Ruth — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 14:01:12 +0000

equipping churches, teachers, and church leaders … our strategy … what’s going well?

If you’re interested, Read our November 2011 “ministry summary” (pdf file)

Discipling Teachers (update)

Joshua & Ruth — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 19:29:24 +0000

some encouragement:

One of our co-workers is Ellen Ombati, a missionary with NMSI. She and Ruth are collaborating on a new story-based children’s curriculum and have previously worked together with sunday school teacher’s training. Ellen also works with some of the mamas at Nasha’s Creations. Here’s an excerpt from an email Ellen sent us recently:

The mamas told me each of the three stories that were told in Sunday School the past three weeks. These were taught by the Sunday School teachers there! They told me what the kids did, the songs they learned and even that the kids were coming home preaching to their dad … . There are still some who are not very sure how to teach, but have the right heart for God and for the kids.

Earlier, Ellen had told us that some of the men who teach have been practicing reading scripture aloud so they can read fluently instead of haltingly. We spent a lot of time talking about the importance of that at the seminar at the Narok congregation on October 11.

It sounds like some of the seeds we’ve been sowing have been sprouting and are starting to bear fruit!

Christianity is NOT a “western religion”

Joshua & Ruth — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 20:24:22 +0000

A highlight from teaching Church History to Turkana church leaders in Northwest Kenya: at the end of the course two of the students told me, “now I can see that the Church is not a wazungu (foreign white people) religion. It has been in Africa since its beginning and has deep roots in African soil.” A third told me, “The Church is not an exotic plant here. It is indigenous.”

Swahili revision of “Eating the Word of God”

Joshua & Ruth — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 14:27:01 +0000

It looks like the team for the translation/adaptation of the “Enkinosta Ororei Le Nkai” lessons into kiSwahili is coming into place! This will allow these lessons to be used in our town and mixed-tribal congregations. (See our Ministries page for more information about this curriculum.)

Discipling Teachers

Joshua & Ruth — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 14:22:04 +0000

The sunday school teacher’s training on October 1st went well. Go to our photo albums page for the link to some pictures.

Yesterday I was able to lead a teachers’ training session for the teachers of the Narok Community Christian Church. They want to implement the “Eating the Word of God” lessons. The time went really well, after a typical Kenyan late start. I have hopes that the lessons will be taught in this congregation, which will serve to strengthen that whole cluster of churches. We should include more about both of these trainings in our next update (for those of you on our list). For now, here’s a picture:

Back row, L-R: John Saitet, Joshua, Isak, Jim Kipees, Moses. Front row, L-R: Veronica (with child), Josephine, Rael, Purity, Walter