Kenya Hope’s Steve Holman says, “One major part of our ministry model is partnering with local congregations across the United States. This church is Grace Community Church in Hudsonville, where we are, and this team includes Alexa and Forrest Mueller. Forrest is the middle son of Dave and Joy Mueller.”

Forrest and Alexa Mueller at Kibera Hope Center. (Photo courtesy of Alexa Mueller with Kenya Hope)

Dave and Joy Mueller were the former executive directors of Kenya Hope who were tragically killed in a car accident while on the Kenya mission field one year ago. Steve’s daughter, Julie Holman, also died in the crash.

On October 25th, the missions team started the morning in Kenya with a devotional, prayer, and remembrance on the anniversary of the loss of Dave, Joy, and Julie.

Steve says, “One purpose was to help our Kenyan coworkers and widows groups and people in the Hope Centers grieve with Alexa and Forrest over the death of Dave and Joy and to remember them properly.

“Another purpose was, now that we have so much infrastructure and locations, how are we managing all of this stuff? [They are] seeing how well the wells were drilled and the water systems installed.”

(Photo courtesy of Alexa Mueller with Kenya Hope)

The team is visiting all the ministry’s Hope Centers in Narok County. They started with the Kibera Hope Center for a memorial service. The team also distributed food relief bags to Kenyan families and Dignity Kits to teen girls.

Please be praying for the Kenya Hope missions team as they continue ministry this week.

“First and foremost,” Steve asks, “[pray] for safety as they travel around. Second, for sensitivity to the leading of the Spirit as opportunities arise.”

Learn more about how you or your church can partner with Kenya Hope at their website!

Header photo courtesy of Alexa Mueller with Kenya Hope.

But what is it in the first place? According to Todd Nettleton of Voice of the Martyrs USA, “it’s a day to honor the example and honor the sacrifice of those who gave their lives for Christ, as well as, hopefully, sort of spend some time in self-reflection.”

Nettleton hopes the day will drive people to engage in deep reflection and prayer. He wants Christians to ask questions like “What would I give up? What would I sacrifice to see God’s kingdom advanced, to see the gospel preached?”

Since the birth of the Church, Christians have undergone persecution, and this new day hopes to shed light on their plight by recognizing both ancient and modern martyrs. After all, June 29 is the anniversary of the apostle Paul’s execution, while the day was used to recognize a more recent tragedy.

Remembering the Groenewalds

“One of the things we did was add some names to the Martyrs Memorial at our headquarters,” Nettleton explains. “We added the names of the Groenewald family that was martyred in Afghanistan in 2014, and it was really a good day of honoring their memory.”

Photo courtesy of Voice of the Martyrs USA

The Groenewalds were serving in Afghanistan when Taliban insurgents launched an assault on their compound. Werner Groenewald and his children, Jean-Pierre (17) and Rode (15), were shot and killed by the insurgents. Only mother and wife Dr. Hannelie Groenewald, who was working at a nearby medical clinic at the time of the attack, survived.

“They knew it was dangerous, they knew they could be killed, and yet when God called they said, ‘Ok, we’ll go,’ and they went, they served there for more than 10 years, had really an amazing ministry there to the Afghan people, and ultimately, three members of the family did give their lives,” Nettleton says. “We think that’s worth having a day on the calendar to think about that, to reflect on that, and to honor their sacrifice.

Stories like theirs are what drove Nettleton and others to institute this day of recognition in the first place.

“We hope it will become a day that is on the church calendar and doesn’t get buried. We hope it will rise to the top as people really understand the power of the example of the martyrs.”

Day of the Christian Martyr might only be celebrated one day every year, but the gravity of giving everything for ministry is painfully and daily on the minds of some survivors.

“In the case of the Groenewald family, Hannelie, the wife and the mom of the husband and two teenage children that were killed, she’s still alive, she’s still going on in ministry, she’s still serving the Lord, but I’m certain that she still misses her family, so we can pray for those left behind as the martyrs made that ultimate sacrifice that God will sustain them and comfort them and open doors for ministry for them.”

You can watch the ceremonies of the first Day of the Christian Martyrs right here.

Header photo courtesy of Voice of the Martyrs USA

It's fitting that the birth be in India–one of the world's fastest-growing countries and home to more people than live in all of the Western hemisphere.

But how is the nation caring for these millions? And how does India account for its 200 million "untouchable" Dalits?

Dave Stravers of Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Mission India says the nation is at least making noise about compassion for this marginalized group of society, which has historically been treated like animals.

"A politician by the name of Mayawati, who is the Chief Minister of the most populous state of India (Uttar Pradesh), has constructed a huge memorial to the Dalits," says Stravers.

The memorial contains "towering statues of heroes of those on the bottom rung of India's ancient Hindu caste hierarchy," according to AFP news network.

Many have criticized Mayawati for spending large sums of money on the marble, granite, and sandstone statue parks within poverty-stricken Uttar Pradesh, lamenting that the money could have gone to improve areas from education to healthcare.

"This big memorial is really a political ploy on the part of Mayawati to gain the votes of Dalits and to secure her place as possibly the next prime minister of India," notes Stravers. "But it does point to really an important social problem."

It's a social problem that Mission India has tended to for years. The ministry serves hundreds of thousands of Dalits, people who have previously been made to feel as though they are something less than human. Mission India provides Bible clubs for Dalit kids and literacy classes for the adults, since most have never been taught to read.

Stravers says "untouchable" children still flock him when he touches one of them. They have seldom, if ever, been touched by an adult who is not a member of their caste. Even in this day of supposed change, adult Dalits feel as though they are the rest of the world's trash.

Mission India teaches  literacy to empower Dalits, but more than that, they invest in relationships and teach the Gospel.

Stravers tells the story of one woman transformed by literacy classes. "She said to me, ‘When I entered this class three months ago, I did not know I was a human being. My mother told me we are not human. People around me treated us as if we were animals. And now for the first time, I've discovered from the Word of God that I'm a human being.'"

Whatever this new memorial may represent, it's the Word of God that is doing the transforming, says Stravers, not statues. "This sense of self-esteem and importance as a human being is really important. The politician Mayawati is trying to give this to people through big statues of elephants, and big statues of herself and other Dalit politicians. But we're trying to give this to people in a real sense of empowering them with literacy and also with the Good News about Jesus."

It only costs $1 to send a child to a Mission India Bible club, and only $30 to send an adult to a year-long literacy course. Partner with Mission India as they touch former "untouchables" with the compassion of Christ.