Our First Weekend Challenge

Mid February 2007 CML organized and coordinated its first 'weekend challenge' at St. George’s Girls’ High School in Nairobi. The weekend began Friday afternoon and ran through Sunday afternoon, and was designed to challenge the girls to be prepared for the 1st Term of the year by reminding them of what God was going to do in and through their lives.

"Prepare for Change” was the theme of the weekend program, based on the Scripture portion from Romans 12:2: “... And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God”(NKJV).

In this photo you see the St. George's Christian Union Leaders with Brother William Ochieng

Each day began with a word of prayer, praise & worship, and presentations by the students which gave the students a chance to exercise their creativity as they presented various songs, poems and skits with remarkable underlying Christian messages. The weekend was officially opened on Friday evening by Mrs. Wario, the Christian Union patron.

The opening teaching session was conducted by Brother William Ochieng, who challenged the students to develop Godly attitudes, perceptions and mindset, in preparation for the new academic year and the changes God was planning to effect in and through their lives in 2007. The highlight of his teaching outlined 11 guiding principles for them to apply to their daily lives. He stressed that the following factors are essential for proper mind renewal in preparedness for change: Your perception of God, your perception of yourself, your attitude towards your parents, your attitude towards your teachers, your attitude towards your course subjects, your expectation of the future, your attitude about your past, your attitude towards sin, how you manage your time, your personal goals, and your attitude towards your body.

Pictured here is part of the mission team posing with some of the students. The mission team included students from the University of Nairobi Medical School.

Saturday was a full day beginning with a moving testimony by Mrs. Gikonyo who emphasized the fact that God is able grant them breakthrough and success in all areas of life, including academic performance. She stressed that this requires trust in Him, hard work and discipline on the part of the students. Following a session of praise and worship Brother Daniel Khisa preached a moving message motivating the students with the assurance that God who created them fearfully and wonderfully, has good plans for them this year.

On Sunday, the final day of the program, the students' praise and worship team joined the mission's team to lead the congregation through a blessed session of praise and worship, followed by a number of student presentations containing brilliant Christian morals. The powerful sermon preached by Brother Nicholas Juma emphasized the need for transformation through the renewal of the mind in preparation for change. He stressed the fact that true transformation begins with spiritual transformation. He challenged those who had not taken the first step to believe and accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. To those who had received the Lord Jesus Christ, he challenged to remain steadfast in the faith.

Several students received Christ as Lord and Saviour. The CML Team had a brief time of one-on-one counseling with the new believers. For spiritual nurturing and growth, we advised that the new believers be adopted into the various Students’ Bible Study groups already in existence. We later learned that our advice was, indeed, followed.

After a lunch break, which provided an opportunity for fellowship and one-on-one counseling, the afternoon session afforded a second opportunity for the students to hear the encouraging life testimony of Mrs. Gikonyo.

One aspect of CML's unique approach to students' ministry is the Open Forum session. The students are encouraged to openly present their questions, problems, challenges and dilemmas in a safe and non-threatening environment. Some students took advantage of the option to anonymously write their questions on paper without signing their names. The CML team then responded to these issues from a biblical perspective.

We were pleased with the enthusiastic response by the students as we received questions in the areas of relationships, academic performance, sexuality and peer pressure among other topics. In fact we did not have enough time to answer them all. We did, however, schedule time for one-on-one counseling sessions.

The closing session included a talk by Pastor Harriet who ministered to the girls in the area of moral purity, sexuality and healthy choices.