THE FAITH Victory Centre in Kenya is an evangelical charismatic church with a strong emphasis on church planting and building, drawing people into maturity in Christ and bringing the good news to the poor. Senior pastor Meshack, 48, is married to Grace and has three children, Bernice, Mary and Eliud. Meshack was brought up by Christian parents but it was not until he was 15 that he found faith in Jesus for himself when, out of curiosity, he went to a youth meeting to listen to a visiting speaker. From this point on, his faith was no longer something second-hand and he longed to serve Jesus in whatever way he could.

In 1990, a number of the members of the Anglican church that Meshack attended were baptised in the Holy Spirit. Meshack was one of them. They met regularly together and discovered how, in New Testament times, people were baptised on believing in Jesus and the little group readily baptised each other again. Sadly, they were asked to leave the church. A group of them continued to meet and pray together.

These were the small beginnings of the Faith Victory Centre. Today it has 20 congregations in different parts of Kenya. The mother church at Nakuru, central Kenya, which Meshack pastors with two other main leaders, has a 200-strong congregation. An apostolic team of five head the national church.

“People are open to the gospel in Kenya,” explains Meshack. “Recently we had a series of open-air meetings and 200 people gave their lives to God. We are very keen on friendship evangelism and I always tell my people ‘you must bring two things to church - a Bible and a visitor!’ The weakness in the church has been in discipling these new converts. We are seeking to change this and have recently introduced mid-week home groups.

“God has not given us a mission to everyone. He has given us a ministry particularly to the poor,” says Meshack. The Faith Victory Centre in Nakuru relocated to the city’s slums, an area of makeshift houses with a population of about 70,000.

Drug addiction, prostitution and alcoholism are all rife, and children roam the streets. The city council’s dumping ground lies within the district and here young and old scavenge for cast-offs to eat. “Each Tuesday we take food to these people,” says Meshack, “and just be with them, make friends and show we care. My wife has a vision to train the young women there in a useful trade, such as tailoring or knitting. I would like to see the young men trained too, either in carpentry or as drivers.”

Visiting the Jesus Fellowship’s community businesses and seeing them work gave Meshack fresh vision for this. On his return to Kenya after the conference, the church started a school in its compound.

For Meshack the future is pregnant with vision and includes buying maize mills and maybe growing into community living, as well as church expansion. “We plan to plant one or two new churches each year – and my desire is for healthy churches!”

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