“Don’t waste your time in Olepolos!”
With these words ringing in their ears, EMM missionaries Clair and Beth Good arrived in Olepolos, Kenya, in 1995. This Maasai community had earned a reputation for flagrant drunkenness and immorality.
Clair says, “I never had to tell people about their sin. They knew they were lost. Instead, I prophesied about what I saw in the Spirit: I saw a church in Olepolos; I saw pastors, missionaries, and teachers who were going to touch the world.”
Discover the amazing story of how a people reclaimed their dignity, spirituality, and culture through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
To order your copy, or to find out more information, contact Amanda Perry at 717 898-2251.
Read more about Olepolos
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.
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Olepolos community celebrates ten years of transformation
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| Joseph Naimodu (right), pastor of Olepolos Community Church, chaired the 10th anniversary festivities and honored En Ole Ntutu (left), an elder in the church, and Stanley Shunkur (not pictured), a church planter at Entiriben, the first church planted by Olepolos Community Church. |
In August, four hundred people gathered to celebrate ten years of development in Olepolos. Clair and Beth Good, with their daughters Hannah and Naomi and five North American church friends, traveled to Kenya to celebrate. Beth shares this reflection.
NKOBEN, Kenya – It was August 21, 2005 – just ten years since our family had been invited to move to the Maasai community of Olepolos, Kenya. Just yesterday, Olepolos Community Church had been filled to capacity with more than 400 people, gathered to celebrate ten years of God’s transforming power. As a good friend reminded us of the humble beginnings of that church, we made ourselves comfortable on the tree-shaded ground just across the river.
This day, we sat at a place called Nkoben ("Burned Stump"), so named after a historic fire left nothing but burned tree stumps in its wake. Nkoben is a Maasai community that has continually struggled to adjust to the modernity closing in around it; but Nkoben looks across the river to Olepolos, another place that seemed entirely ruined, but has now been transformed by God.
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DVD is approximately 10 minutes long.
A joint project of Mennonite Media and Eastern Mennonite Missions.
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