When John Muna announced he intended to start a church in Masaini (Masai land) his fellow ministers warned him, “You are not Masai. If you go out there, they will kill you!” Acting on what he strongly felt was the will of God, he went anyway.
After teaching Bible studies and witnessing, he gathered a congregation of mostly Masai women and children who then helped him erect a simple structure of lattice-work tree limbs and tree trunks with a grass thatched roof. A church had been started in the village of Majengo on the dusty plain halfway between the international airport and the Tanzanite mines in the shadow of mighty Mt. Kilimanjaro.
As expected, opposition arose to the new church and the interloper preacher. Masai men went to the village leaders protesting the church and claiming that they were going to beat the new preacher and destroy the new church. One village leader (a modern day Gamalliel) warned the disgruntled men that the preacher and the saints had a right under Tanzanian law to assemble and have church and that any action against the preacher would be breaking that law.
Dissatisfied with the lack of support from the village elders, the men started a campaign of threats and terror. They interrupted church services, threatened a thrashing for any of their wives or family members who attended the church and promised to drag the pastor out of the church for a whipping. Standing in the doorway of the church, Pastor Muna quietly said, “If you think you have the authority to do that, go ahead.”
As with Paul, the rabble-rousers planned an ambush for Pastor Muna. For three Sundays, they lay in wait along the path he had to take to get to the village from his home which was a 2 hour walk away. Yet, for three Sundays, they never saw him coming or going. For three Sundays, they returned back to the village only to discover that church had already been held and dismissed and the pastor was gone. God had protected his minister and blinded them to his passing on the trail.
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| This is the church today that Pastor Muna began years ago. |
Frustrated, angry and determined, the men next focused on terrorizing the women many of whom were their wives or family members. The women were forbidden to attend church. They went anyway. The women were assured that if they went, they would be beaten. They went anyway.
Things climaxed one Sunday when the men stormed into the dirt floored church and dragged a woman out into the churchyard and began beating her. Finished with her, they returned for another and then another. The protestations and interventions of the pastor were worthless against so many men. When all the women were bloodied and beaten, the men shouted at them that they could never return to the church. Standing as a unit, the women replied, “Then go ahead and kill us. If we can’t follow Jesus and worship Him, then we don’t want to live.” Stunned, the men realized they could do nothing else to the women. To beat them would cause no problem with the law but to kill them would place the men in a serious predicament. The women, warriors in a spiritual battle, supported their pastor and defeated the opposition of Satan through the power of the Holy Ghost.
Shortly after all this violence, one of the ringleaders became seriously ill. He called for Pastor Muna to come pray for him. God in His mercy instantly healed him. The church, now a mud building with a tin roof, started almost 25 years ago. Masai pastors and evangelists have come out of that church. Through the years more ministers have come out from under the ministry of Bro. Muna than any one pastor in the whole country. We even have a current Bible school student from Pastor Muna’s so his influence is still strong.
Determination. Commitment. Steadfastness. Love for the Truth, the word of God and the Savior who sacrificed His life for them. Masai women and a lone pastor walked a bloody trail to follow Christ to a victory that reached beyond the dusty, parched land of Masaini.
Unto the Next Generation…
The Masai village elder that warned the trouble makers not to interfere with the lawful right of Bro. Muna and his church to assemble had a young son. As with all Masai young men, his responsibility was to care for his father’s herd of cows. At the age of 15, this young man took the herd far from his village seeking grazing. Because of a severe drought, he decided to move the herd up on the side of Mt. Kilimanjaro, the tallest peak in Africa. During his long journey up the mountain to find grass, he met a man from his village and sent word to his father where he would be with the herd. For 6 months, he lived with the herd on the side of Kilimanjaro drinking their milk, eating what he could find. For six months, this 15-year-old boy protected his father’s herd from predators and thieves.
At times walking was difficult for him. He had fallen on a low-growing thorn bush in years past and one of the thorns was driven deep into his knee. Most of the time, he had no problem; but at certain times of the year, the knee would swell and become red and feverish. After his return from the mountain to his village, he told his father that he wanted to go have that Pentecostal preacher pray for him. His father said, “No, if you want to go to a church, go to that Lutheran church near the village.” The boy would not relent. He kept asking his father repeatedly. Finally, he went. When Bro. Muna prayed for him, the knee was instantly healed and never swelled or was painful again.
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| Pastor Noeli pastoring the Maimoria church not too far from the bible School in Moshi. |
If you ever want to meet this Masai young man, you will find him pastoring the Maimoria church near our Bible school in Moshi. His name is Noeli. He and his brother both are Bible school graduates. He married the pastor’s daughter so his father-in-law and brother-in-law both are preachers. Because of Noeli’s witness, he has several family members attending our churches. Most are baptized in Jesus’ Name and filled with the Holy Ghost.
It can be said of Noeli “This is the generation of them that seek him” (Psalms 24:6). Now, his two sons and daughter are second generation Pentecostals carrying on the truth of the gospel to the “next generation”.
