Upcoming Events

2000 - 2004

Shant Manuel ('01)

I left pastoral ministry after exactly twenty years (April 1983 - March 2003) and was appointed as Eastern Canada representative for Partners International (Brampton, Ontario) from March 2003 to August 2007. During this term, I travelled to various churches in the three provinces of NS, NB and PEI presenting the mission, I averaged about 30 -35 churches a year. As well I travelled on mission trips to Cuba, Indonesia, India and Nepal. Our mission was to partner with indigenous missionaries and church workers to reach the parts of the world Western missionaries cannot go long term, the experiences were invaluable. In October 2007, I had a leading to establish a mission organization with three objectives: a. Help train pastors and church workers through short term mission trips. The way I do this is by requesting reputable pastors who enjoy teaching to accompany me to train the national church leaders in church related subjects.

In February 2008 we trained fifty in Gangtok, Sikkim, India and we just returned three weeks ago from India having trained a hundred pastors and church workers. On February 23, 2009 (seven months to the day) we received formal endorsement as a charitable organization from Canadian Revenue Agency. Tentative plans are in the works to go and train pastors and youth leaders in Siliguri, West Bengal, India sometime this coming fall.
 

Aaron Kenny ('02)

Erica and I have been serving with Canadian Baptist Ministries since the spring of 2006. We share our days among the displaced Somali people living within Eastleigh, an urban ghetto of Nairobi, Kenya. Together with local community based partners, we are working to help this vulnerable Muslim refugee community to overcome extreme poverty, injustice, and to enjoy the visible signs of God’s kingdom.

It is at once both a thrilling and heart breaking ministry. We spend most of our time with women and children who have escaped a terrible and evil civil war in Somalia only to confront new terrors and fears living in exile without any official status or support. Sadly, many of these women and children endure exploitation and abuse in silence. A combination of culture and circumstance has made them isolated and afraid. In such a place as this, perhaps the greatest poverty of all is a loss of hope.

This past year, we began a new initiative with the Eastleigh Community Centre, a Christian outreach centre on the boarder of Eastleigh and the slum of Mathare Valley. Amidst the turmoil of Kenya’s 2008 post election violence, raging fires swept through the slums started during riots and tribal/political clashes. Thousands of people were left without food or shelter. It was a frightening time, but an opportunity for the church to be the Church. While rioting continued throughout the country, Christian communities lead the way in responding to the crisis. At the community centre, the pre-school buildings were transformed into a camp for displaced children. In the months that followed, hundreds of children, who had found a home and a healing community at the centre, were rejoined with their families to rebuild their lives.

During this time, we began to form a group of young Somali women and mothers who have come to call themselves “Iftin”. These courageous women have come together to find a new way forward for their community. Crossing tribal, religious, and gender divides, the women of Iftin are building a future. Women who have never gone to school, nor imagined they could, are embracing literacy for not only themselves but for their daughters and granddaughters. Together they are addressing issues of health and poverty. They are beginning to dream. Against great obstacles, their faith and perseverance is restoring lost hope. “Iftin” means “light” in Somali, and I can not imagine a more wonderful or appropriate name for this group. It has been our joy to see the Spirit of Christ at work covering each of us, and all of us, in peace and grace. Despite the circumstance, God’s grace and peace abounds. That is where we are.   (posted January, 2009)

Links