Our Story
Our Story
Children during recess at George Kendagor Christian Academy
Map of Kenya
A Brief History of the Kenyan Ministry
In the early-2000s Central Presbyterian Church and later Greentree Community Church, both located in St. Louis, established a relationship with the Bible Faith Church (BFC) denomination in Western Kenya. Initially, Central provided university and seminary education in the U.S. for David (Daudi) Kendagor, a son of George Kendagor the founder of Bible Faith Church. When his schooling was complete, David’s family returned to Kapenguria, Kenya to establish a Bible College. The construction of the facility was financed by Central and they continue to support the work of BFC in Kenya.
Once the Bible College was established, David’s wife Jane began home schooling their children. Before long, other families were asking Jane to teach their children as well. As the number of children grew, the learning became more formalized. What has became known as the George Kendagor Christian Academy and was created in 2006. As they added grades over the years, classes were held in rooms built for the Bible College. The primary school grew year-by year and now includes pre-school through grade 8.
Financial support for the primary school historically came from Greentree and private donors. The rapid and consistent growth of the primary school resulted in many classrooms being located in “temporary” buildings. Due to new government regulations of schools, the Kenyan government is now requiring that classes be held in a “permanent” structure for accreditation.
With initial architectural drawings and a budget construction began in early 2020 of a 10 class-room, 2-story building, which was funded by Grace4Kenya. Students attended classes in the new school in January 2023.
About the same time that the Bible College and primary school were started, Rachel Kendagor R.N., and her husband, Pastor Samuel Kendagor (also a son of George) along with Pam and Kevin Voss from Greentree Church, started an in-town clinic and began a mobile outreach medical program serving a number of remote villages. The intown and mobile clinics continued to grow with support by private donors and have been funded by Grace4Kenya since 2021.
After a mission trip in 2012, the Mollers along with Mike and Susan Williams introduced the staff of the mobile clinics to Community Health Evangelism (CHE). CHE is a global program that equips communities to identify issues and mobilize resources to achieve positive, sustainable change (www.CHEnetwork.org). Three Kenyans were trained in 2012 to lead a pilot CHE program in Kaprom. a small village near Kapenguria. The program expanded to 4 other villages by 2023.
In 2012 a permanent clinic was built in Bendera, an area within Kapenguria, to serve the community and provide a base of operations for the weekly mobile clinics. The nurses, lab technician, and administrative staff provided prenatal care, well-baby immunizations, and urgent care for all ages who are ill. The outpatient clinic moved into the ground floor of the new hospital in 2020 and added an emergency room.
The success of the clinic located in Bendera along with the dreams of Rachel and Samuel Kendagor led to the development of a hospital. The hospital construction started in early 2019 and the ground floor was completed in early 2020. While the construction began for the most part with private funding,, Grace4Kenya to finished building the 3-storyhospital, and purchased furnishings and medical equipment. The 24-bed hospital is now accredited as level 3B primary care facility.
Bible Faith Church continues to recruit pastors and plant churches in West Pokot County. Both Central and Greentree have supported this effort, along with private contributions from members of both churches. Both churches have sent teams in various years to work with the Bible College, the church planting pastors, the primary school, and the mobile medical clinics. Grace4Kenya continues this ministry with pastor support, a building fund, scholarship fund and providing motorcycles for transportation.
The final area of support to be developed by Grace4Kenya is in facilitating financial opportunity and empowerment. Unemployment is high in rural Kenya, and primary, high school, and even university graduates find it difficult to find gainful employment. The Community Health Evangelism program is teaching villagers ways to generate income for their families through agriculture and poultry keeping. They are also collaborating with BioFarms to give small holder farmers a market for their avocados. As families have more income they will be able to pay school fees, seek medical care, and support their local pastor. The goal of Grace4Kenya is to collaborate with other organizations to explore ways to help the people of Western Kenya lift themselves up and break the cycle of generational poverty.