KAIROS – connecting with God’s heart for mission

RSS

 

 

 

The work of KAIROS is supported by SIM Malawi project

MW96753 Mission Advancement Fund

 

KAIROS is a foundational course on world Christian mission. It brings out God’s heart for all the nations of the world and His desire to use His people to be a blessing to them. KAIROS emphasises the importance of ministering to cultures that still have few or no indigenous churches. Thanks to an invitation from SIM Malawi, KAIROS is now being made available here

 

Around 40 church leaders from a number of different denominations across Malawi came together in Blantyre to be inspired to take a fresh look at mobilising their churches under the banner of the KAIROS course.

KAIROS came out of the Simply Mobilizing movement, an organisation set up in 2015 but with roots going back to the 1970s in The Philippines. KAIROS is seen as a course aimed at mobilising the local Church.

“All too often, people in the local Church see mission as a ministry, but not one which necessarily involves them,” said Keith Koster (pictured left), South African Regional Director for Simply Mobilizing.

“Once they have been on a KAIROS course, their view on mission and mobilising is totally changed and they see it as the heartbeat of God.”

Malawi is the latest of 82 countries in which KAIROS has been established, and the hope is that, because of the diversity of church leaders attending the Blantyre event, there will be an increased outpouring of mission and mobilisation in the country.

“Surprisingly, people often wonder what God’s teaching on mission is or even if mission is biblical,” said Keith.

“So, we work through three steps in the beginning of a KAIROS course. We have an overview of scripture to look at mission. Then we look at mission in the Old Testament and finally mission in the New Testament. By the end of this, people see that not only is it biblical it is at the heart of God.

“Once we have laid this Biblical foundation, we go on to cover the historical, strategic and cultural elements of mission as well.

KAIROS Blantyre: Church leaders taking part in the KAIROS Course in Blantyre

“We hope that, through KAIROS, we can build up a body of people who can become champions for mission and mobilising in their churches and communities,” he said.

One of the delegates on the course was Revd Alexious Midian. He said: “I have come on the course so I can be equipped to lead missions in my church across south-west Malawi.

“The challenge of the course is how can we convince people to be more involved in mission and how can we mobilise them to get involved in this work.”

The five-day course uses a mixture of presentations from the facilitators, ‘Growth Groups’ (smaller groups which are facilitated and allow for discussions between the participants), and a work book which links things together. But this is only part of the course.

A second, two-day element of KAIROS allows people who have taken part in the initial training to go on to be trained as facilitators. But once that is completed, they are not able to go out and set up courses on their own.

 “We train people and then we mentor them,” said Keith.

“Once someone has gone through Facilitator Training, they are able to participate as a Facilitator in KAIROS courses. Our objective is to train and raise up Head Facilitators of whom some will, hopefully, go on to  lead courses and form an indigenous national team.

“Over that time, the local facilitators can develop to become fully fledged Head Facilitators in their own right and can then start to run their own courses. It is a very hands-on development, but we think it is important to ensure that people not only understand the KAIROS course and ethos but also are well grounded in the biblical perspectives of mission and mobilising.”

Revd Reuben Kachala was already looking forward to this aspect of the KAIROS course.

“I am on the course because I feel that mobilisation is my calling,” he said.

“Malawi needs mobilisers with the skills to prepare people for mission. I have signed up for the Facilitators Course because I want to be able to take the skills we learn at KAIROS, to use them across Malawi.”

Training exercise: Top ‘Missionaries’ are briefed on the language and culture of an unreached people group  to which they are being ‘sent’

Centre The ‘people group’ going about its business

Bottom The first encounter of the ‘people group’ by the ‘missionaries’

 

As the first group of pastors takes advantage of the course, the hope is that a National Co-ordination Team will emerge which will be able to run KAIROS in Malawi. Using local people at this level, as well as at local-church level, is a vital part of the ethos behind the course. By working in this way, it is hoped that KAIROS will be more fully ‘owned’ in each place it is developed.

“Looking ahead from this event I have a couple of areas for which I would value prayer,” said Keith.

“The first is that people will take all that has been imparted and received from this course, and that it helps turn the training into a strategic movement in Malawi, with many people getting involved with mission and mobilising.

“Second, I pray that KAIROS will help to break down barriers between churches. Seeing so many pastors from so many different churches at this event gives me hope that the fences will start to come down, and a mission and mobilising movement will come out of Malawi,” he said.