By Carren Adhiambo
Single brothers & sisters started trickling into the Arboretum grounds as early as 8.30am looking elegant and with expectancy and excitement written all over their faces. Their entry was followed by fellowship. This was not going to be like any other Sunday.
The praise and worship was awesome and the song leaders did a great job as they led the singles through a powerful praise and worship time and there after Albert Simiyu offered the opening prayer.
Levi Morgan and Rose Kisini took to the stage to present a giving class as we all settled down to receive encouragement on our giving. The class was drawn from the book of Romans 8:32, John 3:16 and Malachi 3:10. We were reminded of the fact that our God is a giving God & He gives His best (His Son) and Jesus gave everything because He entrusted Himself to His Father. The singles were challenged to win the resistance to give by trusting God with all our hearts (Proverbs 3:5-6). The singles were also encouraged to understand our position before God and play our role in giving. They urged the singles to embrace giving and challenged them to test God and see the joy of giving. This was followed by hymns to prepare our hearts for the Holy Communion message.
Duncan Ndura from Kangemi
Duncan Ndura from Kangemi led our hearts and minds in focusing on the life, suffering, death and resurrection of our Lord. He inspired us by the heart of Christ to be poor for us to enjoy eternal richness as Paul in 2 Corinthians 8:8-9 says. We were called higher to meditate upon the love of God through giving instead of grumbling.
The Ahenda’s took charge in teaching us on Growing to be our Personal Best. Richard started off by asking three questions:
Do we believe in change?
Do we believe others can change?
Do we believe we can personally change?
He noted that there are sins that hinder our story. Who we are can break or make others, give to others or suck life from them, strengthen or weaken those around us and went ahead to identify the three sins as Pride, Bitterness and Unbelief
Pride in reference to Obadiah 1:3 and Romans 12:3 is an identity crisis where we think we know yet we do not. The Word commands us not think of ourselves too highly or think we know what’s best since its only God who is All-knowing.
Bitterness in reference to Hebrews 12:15 is the poison we drink thinking that someone else will die. It is a sin that doesn’t stand alone and it defiles many. It troubles and corrupts our faith, thus we were convicted to make every effort to fight it
Unbelief / Lack of Faith in Mark 6:5-6 where we see how Jesus was amazed by both faith and lack of faith. The questions that lingered our minds is whether our faith is in the power of God and also whether we trust God enough. The challenge was to take personal responsibility of where we were at (in terms of faith) and to avoid blame games and excuses.
The Ahenda’s
Richard continued by giving us the key to overcome the three hindrances of pride, bitterness and unbelief. Referring to Genesis 15:1-6, he highlighted God’s promise to Abram. He went ahead to state that we need to admit our personal fear and deal with it. Secondly, we should be flexible with God and avoid ultimatums or/and unnecessary targets. He told the singles to reflect on the areas where we have been stiff with God and work on our patience in regard to allowing His will in our lives. Thirdly, he stated that we should focus on our faith (Romans 4:18-24). Taking matters in our own hands will end up in a crisis. He discouraged the singles from forcing their way with God and trying to make things happen as if God is sleeping on His job.
The afternoon session offered a platform to identify some of the issues and concerns affecting the Shining Stars Ministry which were writeen down and handed to the leaders. The leaders; Richard and Florence Ahenda, John and Jane Maleya together with William and Victoria Auki were inspired by the Holy Spirit to address the issues brought forward. They tirelessly gave their best to ensure that the singles were well taken care of. They majorly touched on the area of dating and fellowship challenges.
Janet Nzisa points out that ”the session was great….my major points of learning was being real with where I am at as well as dealing with my fears which have held me back from allowing God to powerfully use me in the Kingdom.”
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- Ev Auki answering questions during QnA
Ken Awiti aptly puts it that it was a reunion of sorts and the message was great.
Mitch Iryn from the Kampala Church of Christ states, “I was touched by the things that stop God from rewriting our stories. Pride makes me believe that am always right yet this is not true. I learnt about bitterness and especially the need for me to urgently deal with issues in my heart. My great inspiration was my Faith- to believe in the scriptures about my life and just let God lead me. So I really have to work on my faith because it will either make me or break me.”
This forum was an eye opener to the singles.
