News & stories Mennonites and Maasai team up for transformation OLEPOLOS, Kenya – Today, Olepolos, Kenya, is a model community – an example to its neighbors. Agricultural development flourishes, a leadership training school draws people from surrounding communities, and international visitors come to learn development techniques. But ten years ago, the community was considered a center of drunkenness and immorality. Forced by the government to settle down and give up their nomadic lifestyle, the once-proud Maasai community erupted in daily fights. No one had graduated from high school in 30 years. They were not alcoholic because they wanted to be, or were evil,” says Clair Good, who came to the community in 1995 with his wife Beth and their four daughters. “They were alcoholic because they had lost their culture, and they were lost.” But Clair and Beth, who were serving with Eastern Mennonite Missions, believed God had a direct word for the community. “We prophesied about what we saw in the Spirit. Where everyone else saw drunks, murderers, and corrupt, worthless people, we saw pastors, missionaries, and teachers who were going to touch the world.” The story of the gospel's powerful impact on this community is told in Olepolos: a community transformed, a joint DVD project between Eastern Mennonite Missions and Mennonite Media. We never had to tell the people about their sin,” says Clair. “They knew they were lost.” They simply presented the gospel story from Genesis to Jesus, and then prayerfully invited them to make up their own minds. Both individuals and the community as a whole made decisions about whether to accept Jesus as the way to God. The Goods consciously empowered the community to make their own decisions about their cultural practices, in light of scripture and the Holy Spirit. When the foundations of the Olepolos church were laid, Clair told them, “This is not a ‘missionary church.’ It doesn’t belong to another tribe, it doesn’t even belong to EMM. This is God’s church, and this is your church. And you will lead your church.” Though the Goods faced many difficult situations, this release of authority had a powerful effect on the leaders of the community; they worked through profound changes in issues including cultural practices, women’s concerns, and violence and warfare. As they honestly critiqued themselves and their culture, and accepted God’s loving forgiveness, they began to reclaim the Maasai culture they had been losing. They began wearing their colorful Maasai beadwork and clothing with a new pride, and changed their old rite of female circumcision to instead be a celebration of a young woman’s coming of age. In a place where, a decade earlier, the women could not even remember the traditional songs, and shouts of anger and strife would ring, now sounds of joyful worship to God echo – in vibrant Maasai style. The community still faces its challenges, as all communities do. But Olepolos elder David Shunkur sums up the feelings of the community today: “Once we were not a people; now we are a people!” More information on Olepolos and the ten-minute DVD