Farming

Martin is an exuberant, over the top excited disciple of Jesus Christ. Whatever this guy does, he does it wholeheartedly. A husband and father of five, he has become a very successful farmer not only bringing an income to his family but helping to train other disciples how to do the same. When we visited his home last year, we trekked from one garden to another where he showed us his local house church community’s rich and growing rows of kale, maize and small vegetables. Martin farms vegetables just like he does disciples. It’s his life – every day – working with plants and with people.

Gladys, who is a disciple-maker and part of Martin’s house church community, was in the nearby village marketplace selling vegetables when she met Charles, an unbeliever. They talked about business, farming, and Jesus. Knowing the need, not long after that she took Martin to the place where Charles lived so they could meet.

Charles’ wife told Martin about the challenges they were facing: paying rent, lack of adequate food, paying school fees, and the need for medicines. As Martin shared with her and the family, he told them about the Jesus spoken about in John 1. He told them about his life and how because of the help of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit his life is now much better than it was before. Not only did Charles and his family receive this Good News, but that very day four of them were baptized. Now Charles and his wife are being discipled by Martin. They meet regularly in their home with eight others.

Showing God’s love in a very practical way, Martin began training and working alongside the couple in a small plot nearby. At first the project was small, but Martin introduced farming project trainer George and his team to the family. They helped them rent a larger plot and arrived with hoes, seeds, seedlings, fertilizer, and irrigation supplies. They taught them how to prepare, plant and care for a crop to find the success Charles had not been able to achieve in previous attempts.

Before finding this success, Charles described his life when he worked in a tree nursery but was paid very little. He couldn’t provide nearly enough for his family which caused them to constantly quarrel, the husband accusing the wife of hiding money and the wife accusing the husband of not providing enough for the family. They ate twice a day, a breakfast of thin porridge and dinners of a small portion of ugali. The children could not go to school because if they went, they were sent home for lack of shoes and school fees.

Now, because of this farming project, the family’s life has completely changed – spiritually and physically. Excitedly, Charles and his wife told us, “Now we have tea with milk and sugar for breakfast. We even have three meals per day and sometimes there is even enough for a snack.”

Today there is an established house church there, the first one is a group of 10. This group has started several other groups. Charles and his wife work together in the fields, growing crops, and growing disciples. They have four Discovery Bible Study Groups and three established house churches.

Saying our good-bye’s, we turned to Mama Charles and asked how her life is today. Shyly she responded, “For me, I am so grateful. I never imagined that my children would be able to go to secondary school. We thank God for what you people have done.”