Dear Supporters,
We praise God for you, because through you, we have been financially and prayerfully empowered to accomplish our goal of equipping churches to reach youth for the last 10 years in Kenya! Some quick stats about our ministry:
* 573 conferences have been taught
* 13,522 individuals added to local churches
* 6,000+ young people have made a profession of faith
* Biblical Principles of Youth Ministry Curriculum taught in 7 Seminaries in 5 different countries and more than 20 small local Bible schools.
* Developed and Launched KUZA, the first devotional app written by Kenyans for Kenyan youth. Over 9000 downloads and more than 3500 active readers
An Upcoming Change
As you know, for the past 10 years we have been missionaries with Global Youth Ministry (GYM). GYM has been a huge part of our lives, and we are so grateful for everything they have done for us. Through a time of reflection, prayer, and wise counsel, we feel that God is leading us in a different direction in regards to our sending agency. We still feel called to continue our ministry in Kenya by equipping churches to reach youth for Christ. However, we feel that shifting to a missions-focused sending organization will better maximize a long-term sustainability for ministry to continue in the hands of indigenous workers.
We believe God provided His answer through a ministry called African Christian Outreach (ACO). Through a series of conversations, ACO’s Executive Director and a good friend of ours, offered Matt the opportunity to join the team and lead ACO’s new initiative in equipping the East African church to reach youth.
We want to stress that our move in no way reflects negatively on Global Youth Ministry. We love Global very much, and have an extremely positive relationship and history with them.
African Christian Outreach (ACO) has been focusing on Engaging with the Gospel, Equipping through Discipleship and Empowering through Life-on-Life Experiences on college campuses in East Africa for 47 Years. Tom and Kerry Stickney, the current directors, live in Nairobi with their two children. Kerry teaches with Kelly at Rosslyn Academy, both of their children attend Rosslyn, and Matt & Tom go fishing together. Tom’s parents started ACO in 1971. ACO currently supports an indigenous staff team of 27 people that are actively ministering in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, and South Sudan. Our goal of equipping churches to reach youth complements ACO’s vision, and the long-term success of ACO will allow for the sustainability of our ministry for years to come.
Thank you for your continued financial and prayer support (see below) as we move forward in this exciting new venture!
We are grateful for you!
Matt & Kelly Elmore
Director of Church Equipping
African Christian Outreach
matt@africanchristianoutreach.com
352-430-7181 (until July 16, 2018)
+254-714097513 (IMessage or WhatsAPP only)
www.elmoresinkenya.com or www.africanchristianoutreach.com
Changes Going Forward: Where/How you can send your financial support
(Please see below for how to continue giving to our ministry. Your continued financial support is very important in enabling us to stay on the mission field, and for that we are so grateful)
We would like to request that you give in one of the following ways:
1. Online Giving - Sign up by clicking the "Donate Now" button below. You can choose either a one-time gift, or set up automatically monthly donations through your debit card or directly through an automatic deduction from your bank account. Please consider giving a monthly donation if you are currently not doing so.
*This method is preferred due to the ease of record-keeping.
*If you are already giving online, you do not need to change anything!
2. Checks - If you prefer to send checks, please make them out to: “African Christian Outreach" and write “Matt & Kelly Elmore” in the memo line.
Mail the checks to:
African Christian Outreach, PO Box 702001 Dallas, TX 75370
Please DO NOT continue make donation payments via the Global Youth Ministry website, or mail checks to Global Youth Ministry OR First Baptist Church Of Lake Wales.
(There will be a "grace period" for a few months as we transition systems, so if you forget and give the old way to Global Youth Ministry/FBC Lake Wales, no worries! The money will still get to us.)
Please be assured that by giving to us through ACO, your gift will remain tax-deductible and 100% of your giving will go directly towards our ministry.
Feel free to contact us if you have any questions!