A WRITE UP OF CCMP

1.0 Introduction to NCCK

The National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) is an umbrella organization of 28 member churches and 10 church related organizations which are spread across all the regions in Kenya. In 2013 NCCK attained 100 years! The Council has been engaged in socio-political and economic arena since its inception in 1913. The Council’s strength is thrived from the strength of each member, hence the deliberate effort to enhance capacities of church personnel to respond to their challenges from an informed perspective.

The vision of NCCK is: One Church united in faith and mission witnessing to Jesus Christ and transforming lives.

NCCK is committed to:-

  • Promoting fellowship and ecumenism;
  • Nurturing a common understanding of the Christian faith and mission;
  • Building the capacities of the membership
  • Enhancing the creation of a just and sustainable society

The governance structure of NCCK comprises of the Executive Committee & the Regional Committee which reports to the General Assembly and the Regional Conference respectively.NCCK has 9 Regions with each Region having 5 to 6 Counties.

2.0: Embracing the Church & Community Mobilization Process in NCCK

In partnership with Tear Fund, NCCK organized a learning visit of top NCCK church leaders to Anglican Development Services Mt. Kenya region (ADSMKE) in mid-2012. The exposure visits stirred the leadership of the ten different churches to reflect on their situations and desire to transform it. The leaders then nominated 20 key decision makers per church to be envisioned and initiate mechanisms that will help the churches address their needs in a holistic manner. The top church leadership agreed to select the 35 facilitators and sites to be engaged in the pilot phase of CCMP, as shown below:

Denomination / Number of Facilitators / Counties
Pentecostal Evangelical Fellowship of Africa (PEFA) / 7 / Migori, Nakuru, Malindi, Mombasa, Nairobi, Kirinyaga, Kakamega
Friends Church of Kenya (FCK) / 6 / Vihiga, Kakamega, Migori, Bungoma, Mombasa
Africa Brotherhood Church (ABC) / 5 / Machakos, Kilifi,
Africa Christian Churches & Schools (ACC&S) / 3 / Nairobi, Murang’a
National Independent Church of Africa (NICA) / 3 / Kirinyaga, Embu, TharakaNithi
Lyahuka Church of East Africa / 2 / Vihiga
Reformed Church of East Africa / 5 / Nairobi, UasinGishu, ElgeyoMarakwet, West Pokot*, Turkana*
Africa Interior Church (AIC) / 3 / Vihiga
Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) / 1 / Nairobi

Other member churches will be accompanied in this process within the next five years in line with NCCK’s corporate plan 2014 – 2018.The goal of CCMP in the 2014 – 2018 NCCK’s plan is to enhance the capacities of institutions within the NCCK membership to deliver services through understanding and application of the Biblical mandate for holistic ministry.

3.0: Overview of CCMP

Purpose/Objective

Empowering people to holistically transform their situation using God-given local resources

-People deeply analyze their situation and desire to transform it

-Take full responsibility to transform their situation

-People join hands and actually transform their situation

Pillars of CCMP

Holistic Human Transformation

  • Total change of the person – physical and spiritual.
  • Transformation of the human being – not just superficial change.
  • Change in perspective – who are we in God’s perspective, in relationship with each other, etc

Relationships - Relationships as critical to true human transformation

  • Relationship with God.
  • Relationship with each other.
  • Relationship with the environment.

Sustainability

  • Long-term change.
  • People-owned, people driven development.
  • Taking all success-factors into consideration and applying them.

Empowerment of people

  • People discovering for themselves (self discovery).
  • People taking charge of their situation.
  • People having a voice – expressing themselves freely.
  • People ultimately determining their destiny.
  • Not relief, BUT RELEASE !!!

Process rather than Product

  • People rather than things.
  • Walking with the people rather than “driving” (dragging) them (though this may take long).
  • Moving at the pace of the people.
  • Step-by-step “walk” into discovery.
  • Not things, but internal change in people first.

Reaching God-given potential

  • Discovering what they can become.
  • Taking action to transform their situation.
  • Celebrating achievement (glorifying God).

Resources

  • As given by God, therefore, people appreciate Him and worship because of this.
  • Available, if we look hard enough.
  • Used properly, resources will bring well being to the people (reducing poverty).

Local Church transforming people

  • Local church as God’s instrument for human transformation.
  • Stirring its immediate community to change.
  • Each believer playing a key role in personal and community change.

Changed Change Agents

  • Training quality facilitators passionate for holistic change.
  • Facilitators that are themselves changed and passionate to change others holistically.
  • Facilitators that multiply themselves (2 Tim 2:2).

Key Phases of CCMP

  1. Awakening the Church

Envisioning the Church Leadership

  • Leaders committing to Integral Mission
  • Leaders selecting target sites
  • Leaders selecting facilitating teams

Training the team on church awakening

  • Understanding Integral Mission
  • Skills to conduct bible studies
  • Facilitation skills

Conducting bible studies with the church

  • Facilitating the church to take action (critical one being to go out to build relationships with community)
  1. Church and Community Description

NB People are the best experts of their situation

  • Facilitating the church to describe its situation
  • Facilitating the community to describe its situation
  • Facilitating the church and community to understand the general situation they are in (may decide to work together to address it)
  1. Information gathering
  • Facilitate church and community to determine the need for additional information
  • Facilitate church and community to select teams of information gatherers
  • Facilitate teams to gather and compile the information gathered
  • Facilitate church and community to validate the information
  1. Analysis
  • Facilitate church and community to analyze all the information compiled – Get them to become “angry” about their situation so they will want to change it!!
  • Facilitate the church to make conclusions from the analysis – this will include identifying the most feasible solutions to the emerging issues
  • Facilitate church and community to write the baseline from analysis
  1. Decision
  • Facilitate church and community to reach informed decisions to transform their situation

-Desire to change

-Vision for the desired future (What change?)

-Priorities (Where to begin?)

-Goals (What targets?)

-Action plans (What to do?)

-Indicators and monitoring systems (Tracking change)

  • Church and community take action to change their situation

Some Expected Outcomes

At the Church Level

  • Understands and is applying its biblical mandate
  • Builds a vision for holistic ministry
  • Commits to engage in holistic ministry
  • Improves internal relationships
  • Builds relationships with community
  • Understands it has resources - Begins small projects using the resources
  • Influences the life of the community to change positively
  • Demonstrates love to community continuously and holistically
  • Stirs up the community to change
  • Becomes relevant to the immediate community

At the community level

  • Identifies and uses its resources sustainably
  • Smooth internal relationships
  • Smooth relations with church; CommunityPerceives church as relevant;
  • Meets needs holistically;
  • Improves quality of life
  • Fully understands its situation and takes steps to transform it
  • Improves the environment
  • Becomes more accountable about use of resources
  • Becomes example to the neighboring communities
  • Addresses cross-cutting issues holistically
  • Worships God more consciously

4.0: Progress of CCMP in NCCK to date

NCCK in partnership with Tearfund- UK has so far envisioned and trained the 35 facilitators and 14 staff members on Church awakening, church and community description, and information gathering, and data analysis. The 35 facilitators are undertaking CCMP activities at the Church and Community level, with support from the Regional staff.

As at December 2015, 32 facilitators had all envisioned and awakened their leaders, local churches and communities.Over 25 sitesare building relationships with their immediate communities; out of which 15 are through with community description, while 5 have completed information gathering at the community level.A total of 3,520 men and 6,503 women have been directly reached in the member churches; and 19,829 (8,209 men and 11,620 women) reached indirectly.

In an assessment done by the 32 active facilitators in the year 2015 on the change has been observed in their congregations as a result of undertaking CCMP activities, the following was reported:

Indicators of change / %
Church attendance has increased / 78%
Giving in the church has increased / 100%
People have come to Jesus / 217
Church reading the bible more / 100%
People are praying more / 91%
People are sharing resources much more / 94%
The church is helping the needy / 94%
The church is helping its community needy / 34%
The church has executed projects e.g buildings / 84%
Conflicting goups/individuals have been reconciled / 66%
Women have more voice / 97%
Youth participation in activities(church) is more active / 81%
Children are more ivolved in church / 75%
Youth/Women are in position of leadership/decisionmaking / 97%
Increased food production / 47%
Increased family income / 75%
People are improving their health / 50%
People are improving their hygiene/shelter & sanitation / 75%
People are conserving the environment / 69%

Source: NCCK M&E reports, 2015

Although the process was piloted in 35 local churches from 9 member denominations countrywide, by December 2015 it had been scaled up to over 222 congregations. The churches mobilized their own resources to finance the scaling up.

NCCK is on a quarterly basis documenting evolving case studies of selected sites and stories of transformation of individuals.There has been transformation in over 88% of the churches.Various forms of indicators of transformation such as churches enhancing compassionate ministers, economic empowerment, churches becoming more open to working with the community, building of churches, churches starting nursery schools among others have been increasingly observed since beginning of the year 2013.

NCCK is also working with Theological institutions in Kenya to integrate CCMP in the curricula.

5.0: Photo gallery

Church Members displaying the ‘fruits’ of resource mobilization