Early Growth of AIM
When the first AIM missionaries arrived in Kenya in October of 1901, Christian Africans made up less than .2% of the population in British East Africa. In 1905 there were only fifteen AIM missionaries. The year that Rift Valley Academy was started that number grew to over thirty and the year after that there were fifty-six. By 1915 sixty-six AIM missionaries were ministering to over 2,000 African students in thirty-seven schools around British East Africa.
That trend has continued over the years as there are now over 1,000 AIM missionaries working all over Africa. More significantly, RVA has made it possible for hundreds of other missionaries from many different mission organizations to stay on the field and fulfill the role God has called them to. In a future post I’ll explore RVA’s role as a missionary greenhouse – God using the school to raise up and multiply young men and women willing to serve the cause of Christ in Africa.
Today, according to Operation World, Christians make up 82% of the Kenyan population with 49% identifying as Evangelicals. However, out of 115 identified people groups, 31% of them remain unreached with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Challenge For Prayer
Islam is an increasing challenge. The coast and the NW have been Muslim for centuries. Islam is still a relatively small minority, but it is growing in size and ambition. Muslims seek to Islamize the regions where they are prevalent, to implement shari’a law, to increase their presence in civil services and the government and to convert non-Muslims through financial inducements. Christian-Muslim tension is at an unprecedented level, and violent outbreaks are increasingly common. Although there are many converts from Islam to Christianity, they are subject to harassment, persecution and violence. Pray for peace between the communities, for those ministering to Muslims and for truth-seekers to find the Messiah. (from Patrick Johnstone’s Operation World)