Kenya (E3P/MNN) — Uhuru Kenyatta is Kenya's president-elect, winning with 50.07% of the vote.
However, the vote count was plagued with days of delays and hundreds of thousands of spoiled ballots. Coupled with such a thin margin of victory, Kenyatta's main rival, Prime Minister Raila Odinga, vows to fight the outcome in court.
The stark contrast of 2013's outcome and that of 2007: the process has remained more or less peaceful. Challenges to the vote are being made in court rather than on the streets; with the pen, rather than with the machete.
However, the concerns about what led up to the violence of 2007 remain. They're tied into tribalism that pervades the ideology of the poor in Kenya.
It's not limited to the political realm, either. Tribalism also infects many churches, impeding unity in the body of Christ. Kenyan Christians of all tribal origins need training in the area of healing and reconciliation.
The country is a regional and continental hub for Christian missions, theological education, and church ministry in Africa. According to e3 Partners, there has been a recent explosion of independent churches in Kenya. These churches are able to grow and multiply rapidly, but many are single congregations with minimal or no accountability.
Statistically, Kenya is already 80% "Christian." In practice, most are Christians in name only, with less than 12% of the population attending church. There are many who say they're Christians who have little understanding of basic Christian theology and all too often have misunderstood the foundations of the Gospel. This is why the e3 model of personal evangelism and discipleship is especially effective in Kenya. The outreach notes that new churches are needed in areas where there are no churches within walking distance.
Pray for the grassroots training programs that aim to ground church leaders in the Word and help them to lead and plant truly biblical, truly African churches.
Each day, e3 Partners staff stop to pray at 10:02AM (local time) for Gospel workers, and specifically for the needs of the Church in each of the 29 countries where e3 Partners is active abroad. This global community prayer initiative is modeled after Luke 10:2, which is why the e3 Partners team prays together at that time. Will you join them?
