“We Cannot Grow Alone”: Reflections on Training Kenyan Churches to Send

A Cameroonian missions pastor and Upstream's Bradley Bell reflect on training Kenyan churches, learning from one another, and the rise of the African sending church.

When Bradley Bell, Upstream Collective's executive director of equipping, traveled to Mombasa, Kenya, to train local church leaders on building a sent identity in their congregations, he didn't go alone. Alongside him was Chofong Alfred, a missions pastor from Cameroon whose own church has been learning to send well. After the sessions wrapped, the two sat down to reflect on why one church would pour itself into another, what they learned from Kenyan believers along the way, and what it means to stand in the middle of a moment when the African church is rising to send to the nations.

Bradley: So, Chofong, we are currently in Mombasa, Kenya, and we are pouring into churches here, helping them learn to send well.

We thought it would be great if you joined us and helped facilitate the training. So, a question for you: You are a missions pastor in Cameroon. You could just be investing in your own flock, but you have taken time away from your church and your family to serve churches in another nation. Why would you do that? What is the value to these churches?

Chofong: Thank you so much. I must say that it is actually a privilege to be on this trip, and especially to be doing all of this.

To answer the question, I think that it is so important that we invest in others because it will be a blessing to you, and then also to those you are investing in. God's kingdom is bigger than one local church. So, we are one global family. The way God has decided that we should grow is not by trying to be a super sending church that is capable of doing everything alone, but also by pouring into others. As we get involved in sending, we learn, we grow, and it is just fitting that we use our learning to encourage others.

Also, it is not just a one-way road where you are pouring into the lives of others; there is a great sense in which by helping others, one is learning as well. The simple reason for this is that we are able to help one another in this relationship. I am giving, and I am also receiving from you and that helps me to improve in my own practices. I would not have received them if I was seeking to do everything alone. So, it is of great importance and benefit to the body of Christ.

Bradley: One of the things that I feel like we have been learning a lot about in missiology is that sending always comes with receiving. In fact, the way that God creates—the way that salvation comes—mercy pivots on receiving. Then, when it is truly received within the heart, that grace overwhelms us in such a way that we desire to give. We are unable to not go, and that expresses itself in sacrificial sending.

So, on these trips—and I think we talked about this before we came—you come to be a blessing, but you will experience the blessing of others. You will learn and grow. So, what are some ways that you found yourself learning and growing from Kenyan believers and Kenyan church leaders while you have been here?

Chofong: I think I have been challenged in many ways. Because of the journey, I need to take some time to evaluate my own missions practice, trusting that God also leads me.

I have met people through this, and they have a lot of different ways through which they are serving. I am already doing something, but there are different aspects of engagement that I could not have seen if I did not come and see people who are working in different dimensions with the gospel. It takes many different kinds of efforts.

The thing that I see about the work happening here is people saying, "This is what I am doing," and others saying, "This is what I am doing," and I see people learning from each other. That is so important for us. We cannot grow alone. We need to be able to go along and benefit from each other.

I am feeling like I need to grow better in building stronger relationships through which we are able to learn. That was one of the key aspects of learning during this trip. As I came, I also got humbled as I met different servants of God. Some of them may look very humble physically, but you see that these are people who are really on mission too and God is using them in great ways.

Sometimes when you stay in one context, it may sound like you are already doing a lot, but there are other children of God who are involved in this mission and doing a lot in other places. You can also feel at one point that what you are doing is next to nothing. But as you get exposed, you begin to see that you are doing something. Not like you are trying to compare yourself with another person, but you may be overwhelmed by the enormity of the work. Going to share with others can actually open your eyes to see how far you have moved and give you reasons to be encouraged and to praise God for his people. So, there has been a lot of learning.

Bradley: Yeah, for me too. I have learned so much on this trip, and I have been so encouraged. I mean, Africa statistically is now the most Christian continent in the world. If the blood-bought saints of God are the most valuable resource that the church has, then Africa is the richest continent in the world.

What is that like for you though, as an African leader in the local church and in global missions? What is it like for you to see this rising tide of Christianity and to be in the middle of this moment where the African church is going to send? It is going to export Christianity out—it already is. But being in the moment of trying to help that movement of sending healthily, what is that like for you?

Chofong: I think it is both exciting to see what is already happening there, but also humbling because it comes with a lot of responsibility. We have a great force, but how do we get involved in such a way that we are raising this generation to get up and go?

It is exciting to see that the continent is great, but the sense of humility comes from looking at it in the sense that there is a lot that is supposed to be done. Sometimes it can really feel overwhelming, but it is not something that we can give up on.

It is exciting to be in the middle of it. It is exciting at this time to see that we can actually walk along with the Lord to help open the eyes of his people to get involved in this.

I feel that when you are leading children of God, people who have the Spirit of God, and you give them good leadership, you see that God is moving in their hearts. You see them taking steps, and I think it gets so encouraging. Even though you may at one point see that there is a greater population that is not yet doing anything, it is encouraging when you take steps to guide the people of God and see that God is working in their hearts and they are getting excited about being part of this mission.

When Africans look at missions, many people feel that we are just receivers—just receiving—and it is not our responsibility to take the gospel to the ends of the world. So, most of the time they just sit, and this thing is left to the passionate few. Sometimes they struggle with it, and sometimes those who are getting involved are very discouraged and overwhelmed because they see others not participating.

To begin to bring awareness about missions to Christians and have them get to the point where they are able to see what they were missing—that God's mission is a feast he has called them to, that there is something God is doing among the nations—and be able to say thank you for helping me get involved, it is really encouraging.

So, there is much to do at this point. Being at this exciting moment where Africa is actually growing as a Christian continent, there is much to do that will humble us, but also we have great encouragement because when you take steps and see God's people move, it brings a lot of encouragement.

If we are able to just mobilize a little more percentage of Africans and they get convicted about this and transformed by the cross, we will have a very great force going to the nations that it will be difficult to resist because we are going with the Lord and the gospel is powerful. If the church gets up and takes the gospel to the nations as led by the Spirit, things are going to happen. Sending will happen differently, people will go differently, and things will happen.

Bradley: I mean, African believers are already multilingual, they are already living next door to unreached people groups, and they already have multicultural experience and understanding. Many of them are accustomed to a different standard of living, so their transition to a difficult context could be easier than someone coming from a more affluent context.

One of the things I was thinking, Chofong, was that my greatest joy on this trip was watching you take what you have learned and poured into your local church, and pour that into others. I watched as they came alive when you stood up and spoke as a fellow African.

I am just so thankful that you were willing to come. Also, I am really thankful for your church being willing to send. I know that you carry a lot and they rely on you, so for them to allow you to come was great. But it was more than that, right? They didn't just give you permission—they were behind this. Tell a little bit of the story of how your church responded to this opportunity.

Chofong: I think it was really a great opportunity, beginning right from my senior pastor. Because he is like a father and also as my senior pastor, he had to know this first. Before it even got to the church, he had already said I should take this. To the leadership, he was open about what he knows about Upstream and what they do. So, he encouraged the church to send me.

Eventually, the congregation came to know about this, and they were very excited—even before the details, just the fact that I was going to participate in this training as a trainer. They were very excited and prayed for me.

I think for the first time, I really felt how missionaries usually feel when somebody says, "We are praying for you." I literally watched my senior pastor shed tears and embrace me as he prayed for me, and I also shed tears of joy.

During this moment, seeing how the Lord has brought us, seeing how privileged we are as his people and as a church to be able to do his mission, and feeling the overwhelming support of the church leadership and family as they commissioned me to go—it was amazing.

They knew that this invitation came from Upstream, and Upstream was ready to see that I would come to Kenya and be taken good care of, but my congregation said, "We know that this is what is involved, but we cannot just let you go without supporting you."

So, it was really overwhelming. It gave me a lot of strength, saying, "We are behind this, so you can go."

Bradley: It's beautiful. So, this wasn't just Upstream coming to Kenya to do Upstream stuff. This is a congregation reaching out its arms, wrapping those arms around churches in Kenya, and saying, "You can do this too."

This is the joy that we want to see churches saying: "You know what? We are pouring into the Bride. We are seeing our church send out. It's making an impact on the nations."

But what's even more exponential is saying, "We are going to take what we've learned, and in the context of relationships and encouragement, we are going to go and share that with other churches."

It's a beautiful picture. Chofong, thank you so much for coming on this trip. Thanks for sharing your experience with us. I'm so grateful.

Chofong: God bless you. It's such a privilege, and it's a blessing to understand what God is doing in other parts of the world, particularly Africa. Thanks to Upstream because you poured into me, and whatever came out has been a result of what you did, and my journey with the Lord through my own background.

This conversation was recorded in Mombasa, Kenya, following an Upstream Collective training for local church leaders. The transcript has been edited for length and clarity.