Imagine...

. . . that you were born in a very poor district of Kenya where people in your community scrape a meagre living by moving from place to place to find pasture on the infertile soil for the few goats they own

. . . that your family along with others often depend on relief food from the government to escape starvation

. . . that you become a Christian after hearing the Gospel preached for the first time in your town and are welcomed and nurtured in your local church where you have the opportunity to grow in your faith

. . . that you have a burning desire to tell others in your area about Jesus and teach them the truths from the Bible but there is very little mature teaching available and the majority of people from your area are from another faith

. . . that because of the desert conditions, few pastors and missionaries settle in your area

. . . that you desire to be trained and properly equipped to teach and be a pastor to others, but have no money to train at Bible College

. . . that you have the opportunity to be awarded a bursary through the best Study Partner Programme to enable this training to take place

No need to imagine. This is what it is like for ‘John’ *, a young evangelist from Marsabit in Kenya. .  

John’s bursary will help him to train for three years at Carlile College in Nairobi. In his own words to a church that is sponsoring him through best: “I am very happy and so grateful that you have sponsored me to go to this theological college, because I was longing for this course for many years but I was unable to go because of financial problems. But now I have nothing to say just thanks to you all and to God…”

So many young men and women come from these situations and have the same hopes and dreams. Lives for whom Christ died and through whom he wants to reach and disciple others. By launching out one such student to be equipped to teach others will be like throwing a pebble into the pond causing ripples to have a far reaching effect. Will your church play a part in enabling ‘a pebble to be thrown’?  

Click here to visit the best pages on this web site

For a best sponsorship pack and details of how to make donations large or small to help sponsor best students like John, please call Janet Ricketts on 020 8691 6111 or email jricketts@crosslinks.org  

* Name changed for security

Crosslinks magazine January 2005 index