Kenya/Turkey (MNN) — In October, FMI’s board of directors voted to expand partnerships into two more countries: Kenya and Turkey. For over 30 years, FMI has used an empowerment model to equip and support Christians in hard-to-access nations.
Expanding to Kenya and Turkey
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FMI is in the process of establishing national leadership teams in both countries. These teams oversee local partnerships, mentor new church planters, and assist in ministry progress evaluations. FMI plans to start supporting church planters and pastors in Kenya as early as 2020. However, partnerships in Turkey are still in the development stage.
FMI’s charter restricts the ministry to partnerships in countries where Christians are a minority population or are severely impoverished and struggle to support local ministry work.
“It’s in these hard places where we come alongside the church planters. People that God has already been raising up, people who are trained and say ‘hey, we want to come alongside you in those early years of church planting so that you don’t get discouraged, you don’t lose heart or quit ministry’,” says Bruce Allen, executive international director for FMI.
Choosing Partnerships
FMI also considers each country’s need and the opportunities for local partnerships when evaluating a country as a potential ministry match. For example, Allen has had a personal ministry in Kenya for years, providing ample contacts for FMI’s partnership.
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“We’re ecstatic that, okay, here are two areas: Turkey is considered the world’s largest unreached nation with the Gospel and Kenya is, while it’s considered a Christian majority nation, nominalism is rampant,” Allen explains.
“We want to help fortify the work of church planters in that country so that their congregations can become the beacons of truth and hope for their own countrymen and the regions beyond.”
Kenya also has pockets of people groups with minimal access to the Gospel message. Furthermore, Allen says Islam is on the upswing in the country. Focusing on these pioneering areas also keeps FMI from overlapping with other Christian work in the region.
Next Steps
Beyond financial support, FMI partnerships also provide local leaders with training conferences, prayer support from FMI’s network, and mentorship. FMI stands for “facilitate, mobilize, and inspire,” and that’s exactly what Allen wants to do for these new partners.
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If you would, pray God connects FMI with those leaders He has anointed. Ask God to make His Word known in these nations. Pray for swift and efficient work in creating and connecting with national teams and financial partners for local church leaders.
Also, pray for the congregations, the fruits of the church planters’ work, to be Gospel witnesses in their countries. You can also pray for the perseverance of local church workers.
Support FMI’s work today by providing a financial gift to its Expansion to New Fields account. These funds provide for the costs of creating and resourcing the national leadership teams, not to mention evaluating local partners in the field.
To give, CLICK HERE.
Header photo by Matheus Ferrero on Unsplash.
