B. RESOURCE MOBILIZATION

The Resources Mobilization Department is charged with the responsibility of identifying and recommending for acquisition of financial, prayer and human resources for the BSK. The main functions of the Department include recruitment and management of the BSK membership and Branches, Public Relations in general, Church relations, Youth, children, literacy, HIV/AIDS programmes, and Fundraising. We are thankful to the Lord for enabling the staff in this department, led by Mr. Thomas Tharao, the Resources Mobilization Manager to selflessly commit themselves to the demands of the ministry, with some very encouraging results. The following were some of the main activities undertaken in the year:

B.1 MEMBERSHIP AND BRANCHES

a) Membership

BSK is registered under the Societies Act, vesting ownership of the Society on the membership. It is therefore very important that the membership of the Bible Society is clear and that members are active in pursuing the objectives of the Society. The following new members were recruited in 2005:

Of the 125 members, Nairobi had the highest recruitment of 87 members, representing 70% of the new members. Nyeri Branch followed with 20 members (16%) and Kisumu was third with 11 members (8.8%). A membership recruitment strategy based on revised membership criteria will set for 2006 and beyond. I would like to thank those who brought in new members. The work is much and will need support from as many Christians as possible.

b) Branch operations

h Nyeri Branch

The Branch did a lot of work, especially during the Bible Week, when the members visited 6 churches and raised financial support of Ksh. 20,074. Other activities included liaison with NCCK activities, distribution of Scriptures and general promotion of the activities of the BSK. Dr. Josiah Ngige-Nguo, a member of the BSK Board has been personally very instrumental in creation of the vision by the Branch Management Committee: little wonder that when the Branch held its AGM, all the members of the committee were returned for another term. The Branch would like to get FCBH services started in the churches there.

h Meru Branch

The Branch carried out its work quite well, raising Ksh.35,070/- in the year. Branch officials were returned in the Annual General Meeting of the Branch. They have continued to be interested and to encourage work on the Kîmîîrû Bible Translation project. The Vice Chairman of the Branch, Mr. Festus Nkinda suffered a stroke that led to his hospitalization for a long time. Our prayers are with him for quick recovery.

h Kericho Branch

The Branch organized a very successful youth rally on 2^nd July 2005, facilitated by the staff from Bible House. 34 young people gave their lives to Christ. The Branch also visited 10 churches during the Bible Sunday.

We thank God for the many members that have continued to uphold the ministry of BSK in prayer and finances. My Board notes that these reports refer to only three branches, out of 11 registered branches, and possibility f many more. As noted in my report in 2005, the few Branch activities were not representative of BSK expectations of how BSK can serve the Church of Christ in Kenya. As expressed last year, your Board is in the process of considering strategically the practical contribution of the Branches, as they do not appear to adequately match the financial and physical effort put in by the staff.

A total of Ksh.83,150 was received from the members as a result of the Members’ decision in a NAGM to support the ministry with at least Ksh.100/= per month (Ksh.36,400.00 in 2004). This was a great improvement on the previous year support, and we are grateful to those who chose to honour the resolution of the National Annual General Meeting. Many sent more than the minimum agreed upon.

B.2 CHURCH RELATIONS

BSK has over the years cut an excellent relationship with the churches in Kenya. There is hardly a church today that would not welcome a visit by a BSK representative, or that would question the integrity of any persons associated with the BSK. We thank God for this. BSK exists to serve the Churches. The Church Relations Coordinator, Rev. William Matolo tirelessly visited and consulted with churches and para-church organizations on our behalf, for which we sincerely thank him. He coordinated other BSK staff and Board in strengthening the working relationship with Churches. The following activities were undertaken together with the Church in Kenya:

a) Church visits

To enhance relationships with the churches, the following activities were undertaken:

i) A total of 134 church visits were made in the year, creating general working relationship with them. New partnerships relationships was made with the following churches:

· Deliverance Churches – Mwiki and Ongata Rongai

· AIC Milimani and Ziwani

· SDA churches in Karura Forest Division

· Church of the Good Shepherd – Gong Road

· Methodist Church – Ruaraka and Kibera.

During such visits, BSK staff and members undertake distribution of Scriptures, receive donations for the Bible work and enroll members to the Bible Society. The most important activity of the day is usually the opportunity to preach and speak about the Bible work in Kenya. In 2005, Scriptures worth over Ksh. 285,000 were sold through the CRC during church visitations.

ii) Between 25^th May and 3^rd June 2005, Church Relations Coordinator (CRC) participated in the NCCK Regional meetings around Mt. Kenya, where he had the opportunity to tell the story of Bible work in Kenya, including translation work, FCBH programme, membership support and other services BSK is giving to the churches. A total of 448 bishops, pastors and church leaders from Embu, Mbeere, Kirinyaga, Murang’a and Maragua participated in the meetings. NCCK also held a Mt. Kenya Regional Conference in Nyeri. A total of 400 clergy and lay church leaders attended the Conference. CRC gave the message on the ministry of the BSK

b) Pastors’ Symposia

Three Pastors’ Symposia were held in the year in Migori, Kakamenga and Nairobi. As expressed in A.1.5 above, the symposia are an avenue for BSK to tell her story and to forge better working relationships with the church. See details of the symposia in A.1.5 above.

c) Bible Week of Prayers

This is the time devoted to more organized occasions for prayers for the Bible Work in Kenya and the rest of the world. It coincides with the UBS day of Prayer on 9^th May each year.

During the Bible Week of Prayer from 9^th to 13^th May 2005, BSK staff were able to visit different children and old people homes as follows:

In these institutions, BSK members of the Board and staff took with them Bibles and other Scriptures for free distribution, used clothes, stationery, FCBH NT tapes and foodstuffs as appropriate for each institution. They preached and generally gave the hosts hope in the Lord and in His Word.

d) Bible Week & Bible Sunday

The Bible Week this year started with a launch that took place at the Nairobi Baptist Church, Ngong Road on 28^th August 2005. During the launch, the Christians were thanked for their financial support of the Bible Society of Kenya for a long time. A total of 87 congregations were visited on 4^th and 11^th September 2005 by staff, Board members, BSK members and supporters, compared to 50 churches in 2004. Financial support was received within that time as follows:

Church donations Ksh. 139,651.50

Membership registration 17,350.00

Individual contributions 63,672.00

Total support 220,673.50

Add: Scripture sales 243,765.50

Total raised on Bible week visits 464,439.00

This compares favorably with the Ksh. 242,838.25 raised during 2004 Bible Week, including Scripture sales. Management has resolved that in future, the Sundays at the beginning and at the end of the Bible Week would be used as part of the Bible Sunday to ensure a winder coverage of churches and to provide the churches with alternative Sundays for visit.

e) Congregational Representatives

The year started with 12 active Congregation Representatives. In the course of the year, a further 10 representatives were recruited and trained. The mission of the Congregational Representatives is to ensure that the congregation that they normally attend is well informed about the ministry of the Bible Society of Kenya. They enlist for prayer and financial support and bring to the knowledge of the leadership of the congregation needs and opportunities in the BSK. This program has been on pilot, and will be replicated in other areas. We strongly believe that this is the way forward in strengthening the relationship between the BSK and the local churches.

f) ForMinistry.com Web Services

The ForMinistry.com Kenya web design programme was launched on 28^th February 2003 to train and assist Church web editors to design and maintain their web sites using web solutions made available to the BSK by the American Bible Society. Two training sessions were facilitated by the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Manager, Mrs. Anne Gichuru from 7^th to 11^th February, and 25^th to 28^th October 2005. A total of 14 web editors were trained, making a total of 91 web editors trained by the end of 2005. A number of these have already bought domain names and posted their websites in the Internet. This service is given free of charges to Churches and Christian Organizations. We have however been constrained in the training because of lack of training computers. These are borrowed from BSK staff for the occasion, which has not been good for the members of staff who release their computers. We have written a proposal to acquire computers for the unit and set up a lab for training purposes.

B.3 FUNDRAISING

BSK had set up a very ambitious budget for local fundraising in 2005. Although the local income went up by 11% from the previous year, this was only 54% of the budgeted income. The progressive increase in the local fundraising is an encouragement as can be seen in the table below. Hard work by the Resources Mobilization Department staff, supported by staff from the other departments and the Promotion and Fundraising Committee brought about this rate of increase.

Giving from individuals however went up by 23% compared to 2004. The setback experienced in 2004 in individual giving is now turned and is on upward course, to be maintained and improved in 2006. The total level of local fundraising continues to be rather low at 4.49% of the total expenses of the Society (4.18% in 2004 and 3.32% in 2003) in the year. I would like to thank the many churches, both of low and high income, and brothers and sisters in the Lord throughout Kenya who have continued to financially and prayerfully support the Mission of the BSK. A little more effort will certainly make all the difference in what BSK can do for the Church today.

BSK was involved in a Fundraising Dinner on 7^th October 2005 at the Grand Regency Hotel, where a total of Ksh.540,800 was raised. Mr. Lee Karuri, the Chairman of the Private Sector Alliance and Managing Director- Dimension Architects was the Guest of Honour.

B.4 CHRISTIAN BUSINESS OWNERS FORUM

The BSK in conjunction with the Vision First Inc. of USA hosted a Christian Business Owners Forum once again at the Grand Regency Hotel between 26^th and 28^th May 2005.

The facilitators, Rev. Rich Marshall and Randy Clarno conducted 5 sessions where 60 Christian Business owners participated. A smaller group of 5 leading corporate executives was also facilitated. A final meeting was held on Saturday May 28^th to chart the way forward for the business owners. 30 persons attended. A follow up meeting was held on 3^rd August 2005 to discuss the future of the forum. A committee of 5 persons was selected to come up with the conceptual framework, including the Vision and Mission of the Forum. Since its inception in 2003, the Forum has financially supported the Bible work with over Ksh.500,000. This Forum has great potential to mobilize resources for the Lord’s work for many different churches and church organizations.

B.5 YOUTH ACTIVITIES

BSK mission to the youth of Kenya was greatly enhanced by the committed activities of the Youth Coordinator, Mr. James Njoka Kathuraku., who had a very eventful year. Programmes covered under this unit include Youth and Children issues, HIV/AIDS issues, Literacy and ministry to blind and partially blind persons. The Unit had the following specific achievements in the year:

· Prepared and printed 2000 copies of the portion “dealing with Stress”

· Distributed 50,000 copies of selection “seeking answers About HIV/AIDS?” through churches and Christian organizations dealing with HIV/AIDS

· Distributed 165 Bibles, 23 NTs, 20 NRPs and 116 assorted Scripture Portions.

· Trained 23 Youth Bible Study leaders from Kibera slums.

· Distribution of the Braille Scriptures –,

­ 39 NTs to Machakos Technical School for the Blind

­ 70 NRPs to Kitui Integrated school.

­ 330 NRPs to the Salvation Army Education programme.

­ 150 NT copies Kenya Union for the Blind for distribution through their national network of over 40 branches

· Organized and conducted Youth Rallies at

­ Migori on 16^th April 2005 at St. John’s where about 200 young people attended from 11 local churches. Some Ksh. 4,980 was raised for the Bible work in Kenya.

­ Kericho Youth Rally on 2^nd July 2005 at the ACK Trinity Church. Over 300 young people attended the rally, where more than 15 of them were prayed for to be saved. Scriptures worth over Ksh. 26,000 were distributed in this rally. The BSK Kericho Branch covered the cost of the rally, totalling Ksh 17,550.

­ Nairobi Youth Rally was held at the NPC- Valley Road, where about 160 youths attended. The attendance of the day was affected by a political Referendum rally at Uhuru Park that made parents not allow youth to come to the church. A total of Ksh 6,100 was raised for the Bible work.

o A Youth Pastors/workers breakfast was held at the Tin Tin Restaurant on 20^th June 2005, where 32 pastors and youth workers attended. Rev. David Oginde, senior pastor of the NPC Valley Road gave the keynote address on “Strategies of promoting Bible use among the Youth”

o On Literacy and training,

· 500 copies of the Kiembu-Kimbeere primers were printed, to be released in 2005.

· 8^th May 2004 – Introduced the booklet “Take charge” to 40 youths in Kibera slums. The Co-ordinator Trained 10 group leaders on 16^th October 2004.

· 13^th October 2004 – held a workshop for the Africa Evangelistic Enterprise staff on use of the HIV/AIDS Bible Study booklet “Take Charge”under a programme supported by the Bible Society in Australia.

· 14^th December 2004 - Held HIV/AIDS awareness workshop for BSK staff in the Bible House

The Youth Coordinator visited many Christian Unions in the Universities, camps, KSCF rallies and several church organized youth meetings. He also visited Children Homes and distributed Scriptures (especially NRPs and Comics) free of charge to the children. We hope the BSK will concretise its plans for the Scripture use among the young people in this nation. The Youth Committee has been meeting regularly to map out the way forward in accordance with the BSK Strategic Plan.