Care of Creation Kenya is Moving!
We have big news for you: Care of Creation Kenya is moving!
For more than 7 years, Craig and Tracy Sorley with their Kenya staff have been working out of Brackenhurst Conference Center, a well-known facility in the hills above Nairobi. This has been a good base of operations, and the Sorley’s have used it to develop relationships, strategies and techniques including the now-well-known Farming God’s Way program. There have been limitations, however, including limited space both for office and project activities and no opportunity for expansion.
An Open Door …
God has unexpectedly opened a great door of opportunity for us in the community of Kijabe, on the edge of the Great Rift Valley in central Kenya. We will be able to expand our project activities with more land, more office space, and improved tree nursery and Farming God’s Way demonstration plots. Most importantly, we have a new ministry partner in Moffatt Bible College, one of the premier ministry training institutions in East Africa.
The community of Kijabe (click here for a map) is significant for symbolic as well as strategic reasons. This town was the one of the first bases of Africa Inland Mission (AIM), with a history going to back to 1903, the very dawn of mission work in Africa. In seeking to foster a new focus for missions – caring for God’s creation – we could not think of a better place to build our ministry.
Strategically, Kijabe is home to a major mission hospital, a well-known missionary children’s school, and our new 
Financially, after we have covered the cost of the move (see below), almost every part of our operation will end up costing less than it does now.
Timeline…
As I write to you, the final touches are being put on the Memorandum of Understanding that will serve as the basis for our partnership with Moffatt. By the middle of July we hope to begin preparing our new site for the tree nursery and Farming God’s Way plot. By early August we will be moving five staff families, including Sorleys, from their present locations to Kijabe and will begin project operations at the new location at that time.
This is an ambitious timeline. And this is Africa, where schedules go to die. Nonetheless, with your prayers and God’s help, we think we can do this.
The Budget
Of course, moving takes money as well as time and energy. We estimate a total cost for this move of about $10,000. That seems like a lot of money, but is actually quite modest for a move of this magnitude. Our challenge is that we need the money before we can actually do the move. God opened doors so quickly and unexpectedly in making this new location available that we are absolutely confident that he will provide the funds that are needed to allow it to actually happen.
And he is already doing so. We already have committed gifts of almost $4,000 of the $10,000 that we need. Will you help us make this move happen by joining with those who have already signed on? Click here to use our website’s donation page and select “Care of Creation-Kenya Project” from the drop down list or send a check to Care of Creation, PO Box 44582, Madison WI 53744 – noting “Moving Project” in the memo line. As always, all gifts are tax-deductible.
In Other News
Of course, there’s plenty of other activity in the Care of Creation world. We’re watching the Gulf oil spill closely and with great dismay – watch for news of a national day of prayer on July 18. We will pass information along as we receive it. And before that, Care of Creation and Eden Vigil are cohosting the Consultation on Environmental Missions in Manhattan KS July 12-16. Here’s the information – contact Robynn, our registrar, here if you’d like to come even at this late date. We’ll make room for you.
Thank you again for your partnership with us in this great work –
Ed Brown
For the rest of the Care of Creation Family
