A case study of Life Challenge Africa in their involvement in Muslim outreach in Nairobi, Kenya, with implications for implementing outreach in the local churches.

Abstract

This study seeks to find out what LCA is doing in their ministry to Muslims in Nairobi. Specifically it looks at the strategies that are being implemented by LCA. It seeks to know how the LCA staff evaluates these strategies. Then in looking at these two parts, the researcher seeks to find out how these strategies are being implemented in the local church and gives suggestions of other ways of implementation. LCA is a project under SIM composed of eight members who work fulltime in Nairobi. There are other LCA offices in Africa, one in South Africa and two in West Africa. This study focuses on the LCA office in Nairobi and asks the following questions in order to understand the concerns state above. What are the strategies that LCA is using in their attempt to minister to Muslims in Nairobi? How do the informants evaluate the effects of the strategies implemented by LCA? How can LCA's strategies be adopted into the local churches in Nairobi, and other mission organizations? The results of this research show that LCA is using several ways to bring Muslim neighbors to the knowledge of Christ. The LCA staff stands in full support of the strategies utilized. The implementation of these strategies into the local church has been a challenge. There are several ways in which this process is being carried out, mainly in the form of public awareness of LCA and their vision. The difficulty comes in helping others catch the vision that LCA has. Based on these findings, it is necessary that other organizations join in the effort of reaching Muslims. LCA has done much of the ground breaking as far as developing materials for Christians to use to understand how best they can reach out to their Muslim neighbors. It is now the responsibility of LCA to make these resources known, and the responsibility of others to utilize them.