Each year, Grace Church has the opportunity to send at least four short-term teams to Kenya that are focused on pastoral teaching, church leadership training, children’s ministry, and medical care. These teams serve alongside members of local churches and pastors with the goal of training pastors and leaders by equipping the Church of Kenya to address the needs of its people.

On June 28, we sent a group from Grace Church to Kenya with the specific purpose of pastoral training and children’s ministry partnership. This summer trip is unique in the fact that it’s an opportunity for some of our students to be a part of one of our teams.

For a typical day, those serving on this trip woke up for morning worship, several teaching sessions, and break-out discussion groups. Students were responsible for vacation Bible school as they picked the topic, curriculum, and related activities and songs. This year, the students chose the story of Jonah for the children in Kenya.

Chuck Arnold, a Grace Church member who has been a part of many of our medical teams over the years, was a part of this summer team. Chuck remarked that the most impactful experience for his first teaching trip to Kenya was “having God come through and guide [him] in the teaching process … something [he’s] not accustomed to.” Although he was hesitant about a non-medical trip as opposed to his trips in the past, he realized that being less physically tired enabled him to really fellowship and build relationships with the local community.

Experiencing this trip with his son CJ for the first time was another reason it was so impactful for Chuck. He was able to watch CJ take responsibility and step up to own the purpose of the trip that had come to mean so much to him. “Getting to experience Kenya again through my son’s eyes for the first time was very gratifying,” he said. “I saw him appreciate the value of human beings independent of socioeconomic status . . . he told me it was the greatest experience he’d ever had.”