Kenya (MNN) — Kenya, near the border of Somalia, has become an increasingly dangerous place for Christians. Unrest and violence tend to spill over from Somalia, and Kenya does not monitor the border closely.
Vincent Michael says FMI hopes to connect with ministry work in the area. “In our recent history, FMI has had a focus on Muslim majority nations because the Gospel is so needy there. And Western missionaries often lack access to those areas. So sending indigenous missionaries makes a lot of sense. Kenya is a bit different for us because it is a Christian majority nation. But the eastern border with Somalia is pretty porous, and Somalia is a very needy region. So we’ve wanted to help the Christians in Kenya and we’ve also had a secondary goal of an eye towards Somalia.”
“[Somalia holds] 16 million Muslims, who are very, very impoverished. And the culture is very violent. We’d love to see the Gospel make inroads.”
FMI recently sent a team to the area to gather information and create friendships. They found an astounding level of persecution. The terrorist group al-Shabaab freely crosses from Somalia into Kenya, harassing and even murdering Christians. Michael says, “It’s a very scary place right now. And so we’re praying for boldness for those workers, that we will find them and that they will be boldly reaching.”
Michael asks readers to pray for FMI’s future ministry in Somalia itself. “We’ve learned this in a lot of areas where we serve that look hostile to the outside: sometimes the most hostile people are actually the most open to the Gospel.”
The header photo shows a tree in Somalia. (Photo courtesy of Yasin Yusuf on Unsplash.
