For this month, our international missions focus is on the ministry of Robert Mulumbi, who serves in Kenya. His ministry is divided into three parts: a) Nancy George Academy, b) Soy International Bible Institute (SIBI), and c) Hosanna Community Fellowship.

A) NANCY GEORGE ACADEMY

Started in January 2009, the school has undergone a lot of changes since its inception. In 2016, they had their highest number of learners. Robert says, “We did hit 612 children. Right now, we are down to about 450. This is due to the changes in the national educational curriculum of CBC (Competency Based Curriculum) where they have abolished competitive national examinations like before. Both Secondary and Primary sections have been fused together to be domiciled in one compound, unlike before when Primary and Secondary were separated.”

Robert says, “We have been asked to build a computer and science lab, which we have not done to date. That is impacting us negatively. Learners are moving to schools which are better equipped. The general cost of living has skyrocketed and specifically, the cost of food for the children in the boarding section is gobbling up all the finances. We are known to be a Christian school of high repute in terms of Christian ethics, discipline and high academic standards. We cannot afford to bring this down. Our school is generally the school of choice in this part of the country.”

B) SOY INTERNATIONAL BIBLE INSTITUTE (SIBI)

This Bible school currently has seven small campuses distributed all over Kenya. Robert says that in 2021, they decided to take the Bible school to the people. “Wherever we could get 20 students who were interested in learning, mostly lay people, we would establish a school by hiring small buildings and/or church premises to hold our classes. This has enabled us to graduate over 450 students since 2021, mostly pastors. We made this decision because we realized that for many years, most African pastors didn’t have any Bible school training. Our training takes one year, two years and three years for certificate, diploma and a BA degree, respectively.”

C) HOSANNA COMMUNITY FELLOWSHIP

This is the main church community where Robert serves. “So far, we have seven churches and two of them are in the most difficult part of the city of Nairobi. They are in the slums of Athi River and Mlolongo, where drug abuse and crime are commonplace. The other five are in western part of the country.”

The most recent church was planted in January of this year, and Robert hopes to plant three more before he retires from his ministry.