God joined Glen Rock with Nairobi
Monday Ministerial Musings
By Rev. Mark William Ennis
2026 Blog #13
April 27, 2026
God joined Glen Rock with Nairobi
A bit more than a year ago, our congregation in Glen Rock, NJ was the recipient of a strange connection. Each week we have a zoom Bible study which is facilitated by Rev. Dr. Pamela Pater-Ennis. We began to advertise this on the usual platforms of social media; Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. It wasn’t long before we were messaged by a gentleman in Kenya. He asked if we allowed non-congregational members to join in this on-line study group. Of course, everyone is allowed to join this Bible Study.
This gentleman joined us on our zoom study. This was quite a sacrifice of time on his part. It is a sacrifice because the time difference between New Jersey and Nairobi, is seven hours. As we began our study in the evening in New Jersey, he was joining us at four in the morning. Now with our time change to daylight savings time, he is joining us at three in the morning. How many of us in the United States would wake up at 3:00 am to join a Bible study?
Given the difference in time, I was skeptical that this man would continue to join us, but I was quite wrong about this. Not only did he continue to come, but he began to recruit family and friends to join us. Coming from Nairobi, these folks bring a very different perspective than we have in New Jersey. Their circumstances, experiences, and world view are quite different from ours.
We later learned that this gentleman, David, runs the Joy Hope Feeding Centre for Children in what is called the Kibera slum in Nairobi. This center feeds children in the area on a daily basis. Some children live in the building while others come for the meals and the schooling but live at home with their families. In a few cases, infants have literally been left on the doorstep. These children, abandoned by their families, have been taken in and cared for by David and his helpers.
As David learned of my Children’s Bible Story Series, he began showing these weekly stories to the children that he cares for. Soon he proclaimed me to be a “faculty member” of this feeding center. Occasionally, David has posted videos of the children watching my videos and thanking me for them. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that I would be teaching school children in Kenya. I guess that God had other ideas.
These folks from Kenya helped me to understand foreign aid in ways that I never learned in history or economics classes. Shortly after taking office, our current president, Donald, cut much of our foreign aid. David, and the children, felt this immediately. Food packages that had been used for feeding his children would no longer be delivered. Without this, the center depends more on private donations for the food supplies needed. Some members of our study group joined other groups in donating to alleviate this problem.
Our Bible study leader, Rev. Dr. Pamela Pater-Ennis contacted Derrick Jones who is the Reformed Church in America’s director of missions for Africa and Oman. On one of his many trips, he met with David and toured the facility in Nairobi. He vetted this group and determined that it is indeed a legitimate mission and will receive assistance from Reformed Church missionaries and staff.
As chance, or God’s plan, would have it, two Reformed Church missionaries in Africa, Roland Jr. and Jane Van Es, work relatively close to Nairobi. They, along with Derrick have begun a relationship with David so that there can be assistance to this feeding center. We hope that this will be the start of a long-term relationship.
This congregation in Glen Rock has a long and extensive history of supporting missions. That mission spirit has been reawakened since we began studying the Bible with these Christians from Kenya. Members of the Community Church of Glen Rock have collected money to fund the mission in Nairobi. Some church members are even planning a trip this fall to visit the center and assist with its work.
Is this a coincidence? I don’t believe in coincidences. As a Calvinist Christian, I believe that God is sovereign. For some reason, in God’s time, God used Facebook and Zoom to unite this congregation with the Joy Hope Food Centre. I pray that we can do good work for God in this relationship and that God will use us to bless his children.
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