Pray with Kenya, June 1, 2025
Lectionary Selection: John 17:20-26
Prayers for Kenya
Dear God,
As a community of believers at St. Paul’s University, we give thanks for the context in which you have placed our university in Kenya. Being salt and light in this space, we pray for issues in our country that hinder Christian ministry and undermine our witness.
As you have commanded us through your servant Paul (1 Tim 2:1-2), we pray for those in authority that they shall be committed to good governance. Grant them wisdom to repel the idol of negative ethnicity so that various ethnic groups and nationalities in Kenya shall be governed in peace and unity.
We pray for women who live in Kenya under the shadows of death-dealing patriarchy; that the spirit of elimination will cease and femicide will be a thing of the past in our nation.
Oh God, bless our country with abundance so that we may know you as the great provider and not bow to modern-day idols of provision.
We ask you, God, to bless the church; that her prophetic voice shall never be muted by trappings of power in its ministry of condemning sin.
Empower St. Paul’s University in its mission to produce your servants, that we shall always do so with love, fear, and trembling.
Amen!
Mission Moment from Kenya
St. Paul’s University traces its history way back to 1885 when Church Missionary Society (CMS) missionaries settled in the coastal town of Kenya at a place called Frere and founded a settlement for freed slaves. The repatriated slaves became the first students who became pastors and who, together with the missionaries, aided in evangelism, pastoral care, and Bible translations. The heavy presence of Christianity in Kenya (a country of 94% Christians) owes it to CMS, and St. Paul’s University, among other Christian missions. The university has developed many servants who, for decades, have become heads of many protestant churches and institutions, maintaining the legacy that is the root of Kenyan contemporary Christianity.
Recently, the university has embarked on developing a school of health sciences to complement spiritual healing with physical healing. Being a private university, unfunded by the government, the journey towards equipping the school has not been easy. There are still areas that require additional support, and some of our equipment may not yet fully reflect our aspirations. We pray for more partners who would want to journey with us on this road. We are also committed to strengthening the constituency of women clergy. Most churches in Kenya boast a sizeable number of male clergy, while some churches don’t ordain women. Even those that ordain women still have very low numbers as compared to their male counterparts. Moreover, research has shown that women-headed parishes are increasingly outperforming male-headed parishes. We pray for resources to facilitate an equitable distribution of theological education to women clergy.
Mission Partners in Kenya