Biblical Resources Are Equipping the Kenyan Pulpit

Equipping Through Resource Distribution

Limited theological education, low literacy rates, severe poverty levels, and bi-vocational work. These are just the beginning of a list of challenges facing many pastors ministering to congregations throughout Kenya. And if we’re honest, most of us reading this don’t fully understand what that reality looks like. Our pastors are theologically educated, and many of us are too. We were taught to read before we can remember. And even if money is tight, it’s a rare exception when we can’t still afford to buy food to feed our families and put gas in the tank.

Jared Bosire and a team at CRCNA Resonate Global Mission have taken the challenge of helping fill in this theological education gap. Alongside his work as an associate pastor at Umoja Baptist Church, Jared serves as a Kenya coordinator for Resonate’s training programs, where he shares that his goal is to “develop pastors and lay leaders for effectiveness in ministry and [expand] the kingdom of God within their communities.”

After two years of study and meetings, groups of anywhere from twenty to three hundred pastors graduate from this program. Upon graduation, donors to Crossway have provided Conrad Mbewe’s book God’s Design for the Church to each pastor—a tool they can use and learn from for years to come as they’re re-launched into ministry more fully equipped for what God has called them to.

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The Road to Transformation

Jared works faithfully through a network of pastors to get the word out about the opportunity to receive theological training at a very low cost. Their target audience is pastors in more rural parts of the country where it’s much less likely one has received an education past elementary school.

Once pastors sign up for the training, they work through a series of eight manuals on topics like stewardship, expositional preaching, worship, and counseling. Jared explains that, “We do the trainings locally where the pastors are living . . . [and] we meet once every three months for a three day period, one gathering for each manual. During the three month break, they write an action plan based on what they learned during the meetings, which they implement and bring a report on next time.” The training is geared toward application so pastors can both learn what the Bible calls them to and what that looks like in their churches.

When the pastors bring back reports after the break, they’ve often made significant changes. Jared shared two pastors’ reflections on changes they made after learning about expositional preaching:

One told me that he went and looked at his pile of notes from his preaching, and he knelt down next to his notes and asked God to forgive him for years of leading his flock astray. He, along with many others, came back with reports that their churches are growing and people are being led deeper in their faith.

Another said he has been wrongly interpreting Scripture to the people, and that he was going to correct everything that he had preached wrong. When we work through the fifth manual, they learn about teaching the Christian faith. This means they are able to teach people a greater depth of Scripture, because in the past many shouted nonsense from the pulpit and said crazy things. But now they’re able to sit down and prepare an effective sermon that can transform lives for the Kingdom.

With more confidence that the gospel is being proclaimed and pastors are understanding God’s Word, Jared moves on to other towns once each group has graduated. But as he leaves, he entrusts some of the graduates to be trainers of others, reflecting the 2 Timothy 2 model.

Gifting Literature: A Long-Lasting Investment

In reality, the need for training among pastors is too big for a few facilitators to meet. Jared’s role often includes further investing in those new trainers.

Once one group graduates, I pick one or two from the cohort and train them so that they can multiply themselves within their communities. And once or twice, I meet them over a two or three day retreat where we do more trainings. We also set our goals for the following year, including writing reports on how the trainings are going. Again, most of these people are not able to write very well. So when they do their reports, they send them to me. It’s a great way for them to continue to improve.

Jared also gifts copies of God’s Design for the Church to as many graduated pastors as possible. “I thought the best gift that I could give to the leaders after their graduation was to put a resource into their hands so that they can continue to be developed.” He has primarily distributed English copies, but also gave out the Kiswahili translation to those who have trouble with English. This is especially true of the pastors who didn’t go to school, the primary place English is learned.

Jared is committed to faithfully teaching what is right and true according to God’s Word. He is witness to many pastors turning from their misunderstandings and learning how to rightly proclaim the gospel. “Sometimes they come with a lot of enthusiasm for theologically incorrect things,” Jared explains, “So when you teach the right thing, there’ll probably be some form of argument. After a time, they’ll see the truth of what you’re teaching, especially once you talk about a particular issue scripturally. Then they will start seeing the light.” Jared knows transformation is happening, and that’s why he continues to train hundreds of pastors every year.

Crossway seeks to support this kind of theological training through resource distribution, knowing that each trained pastor makes a difference in the lives of many congregants. In 2025 alone, more than 700,000 ESV Bibles and Crossway books were distributed to places like Kenya. We’ll continue to do so throughout 2026, and we welcome you to join us as we proclaim the name of Jesus!

Pray for the provision of resources for these pastors so they can continue to grow in love and knowledge of the Lord.

Pray for the Lord to sustain this ministry work and allow it to continue for generations to come.