Scott & Barb Harbert
with Africa Inland Mission
Background
Early in his Christian walk Scott got a burden for prayer, especially when privileged to work alongside David Bryant. Then with InterVarsity, David spawned a movement of prayer for renewal and world evangelism called Concerts of Prayer.Several Urbana Student Missions Conventions and a mission trip to Kenya through Inter Varsity then confirmed the call of God on Scott and Barb to serve as missionaries with AIM.
For many years Scott has worked in churches throughout Kenya, helping them grow in their prayer lives, as individuals and as a church. Pastors and church leaders on the Steering Committee for Prayer Renewal offer assistance, direction, and encouragement. Scott has also had opportunities to minister in other countries, including Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Burundi.
Barb developed a ministry with women in Nakuru, giving leadership to a Women’s Bible Study. She also offers Soul Care Days to women. These are mornings of solitude where women spend three hours alone with God using a guided study. Over a shared lunch they share how God met them during their time with Him.
Then in late 2003, Cindy Judge of Wheaton Bible Church described how a Western Church could partner with the African Church, with a missionary as the link between, to more effectively address the AIDS crisis. She asked if Scott and Barb would help establish this kind of partnership in Kenya, particularly in Nakuru.
They knew very little about AIDS at this point. They are not health care workers and they already had a very important ministry of prayer mobilization. Yet as they prayed about Cindy's request, they saw God open so many doors and were convinced they needed to be involved.
Initially what they brought to this partnership was relationships, relationships God had enabled them to build through many years of ministry in Kenya. They began to pull those people together and soon they had a solid team of both missionaries and Africans who were committed to addressing the AIDS crisis in a sustainable way.
They remain no less committed to a prayer ministry, for if the church would have Jesus' heart, it would beat with compassion for the hurting. They believe the church needs a change from the inside out if it will have any lasting effectiveness against AIDS.
Country Info
About 80% of Kenya’s population would call themselves Christian.
Although Christianity is very popular, as the saying goes, “it is a
mile wide and an inch deep.” Discipleship and teaching are generally
weak. And many members, even leaders, have lost their first love for
God. Prayer, though historically a priority in the life of the church,
is now all too often reserved for the Sunday morning prayer or to end
business meetings. There is much need for renewal.
As the country is dying spiritually, so it is dying physically
through the scourge of HIV/AIDS. In Kenya about 150,000 deaths last
year were HIV/AIDS-related. The number of orphans and vulnerable
children has increased to a staggering 1.6 million.
Ministry Description
Scott trains and disciples Africans, building a network of those committed to pray for renewal and spiritual awakening. He conducts prayer seminars throughout Kenya, particularly for leaders; teaches short courses on prayer and leads Days of Prayer in Bible schools to give students tools for building prayer into their lives and churches when they graduate; and through one-on-one relationships shares with individuals to whom God has been giving a burden for prayer and who are beginning to impact their own regions for prayer.
Barb is Coordinator of Nakuru AIDS Initiative (NAI), which is involved in numerous HIV/AIDS related projects throughout the Nakuru Region. Training has been an important thrust of this ministry:
NAI also offers support to Hope for Life Kenya, whose community is literally being transformed through a feeding program for orphans and vulnerable children, as well as a skill training program for the youth. Other churches in the Region are now also reaching out to the AIDS-affected and infected through similar projects.
The Harberts have been serving in Kenya since 1988.
Serving With
Africa Inland Mission
P.O. Box 178
Pearl River, NY 10965
1-800-254-0010
http://www.aimint.org/usa
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