BBI ministry team led by pastor Nellie was invited at the launch of Men Awake, a ministry seeking to create a safe space for men’s emotional healing and spiritual re-birth.
Pastor Nellie was part of a three-bench panel at the PBB Temple in Nairobi on April 6 2024 where the event was hosted.
The panelists grappled with Men’s unspoken needs among them the battle with invisible barriers that keep men from fulfilling their God ordained destinies, rising after a fall and experiencing the re-birth journey.
“We need to look back into our family lineages, both sides of the family tree to see if there are patterns… what do you see? ” pastor Nellie posed.
She said if one notices a problem such as alcoholism that has affected uncles, cousins, or even siblings then, “we are dealing with a curse.”
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Curses stem from idolatry
Pastor Nellie explained that generational curses stem from idolatry according to God’s word in Exodus 20:3-5.
“Many of us are first generation Christians and are totally unaware of what our forefathers did that God calls idolatry and the resultant punishment for the worship of other gods that transcends to descendants, ” she said.
She said most men have found themselves in positions where they are battling generational controversies that did not start with them.
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Pastor Nellie said the church however has not created spaces for men to address such spiritual problems instead trying to solve them through “Christian discipline.”
Speaking at the event, the founder of Men Awake, Edwin Wachori, said the vision was borne out of a time he faced a crisis in his marriage and was motivated to help men who may find themselves in similar situations and even equip them not to fall into such trials in the first place.
“I decided I was not going to blame myself or my wife but to start all over again,” he said.
He said he envisions a space where men are empowered to embrace their vulnerability and foster their emotional well being free from the constant pressures of societal expectations.
“The programmes (purely Biblical based) include rebirth of masculinity, self care and support in the healing process through workshops and joint community activities,” Edwin said.
Pastor Boniface, a panelist and an author of several books on spirituality and self improvement urged men to share what they have gone through and conquered as a way modelling to others in similar circumstances that there is a way out.
He said men suffer from “spiritual blindness” that make it impossible to see the possibilities that exists leave alone the length they need to go to achieve breakthrough.
“A man by the very nature is a leader, blindness is the biggest disadvantage to have,” Pastor Boniface said. He acknowledged many men get “battered” in life because of “ignorance.”
“But thank God, He awakens awareness,” the pastor said.
Conquer pride, keep eyes on honour
The pastor said the toughest battle men may face is the battle of identity.
“The enemy works extra hard to keep men in blindness-ignorance,” he said, adding that the moment one finds himself in this kind of darkness they may not even see the enemy and his tactics.
Pastor Boniface said the darkness “is not on the outside but on the inside of a man and makes him fail to see what God has made available to him to break-through.”
“Accepting that one is in darkness though is the problem,” the pastor said .
He explained that men will have to conquer pride, face shame, admit that they don’t know while keeping their eyes on the honour promised in the finished work of Jesus on the cross, and then it shall be well.
Pastor Nellie said men must choose to be God pleasers rather than Men pleasers and take their rightful place of leadership in family, community and the church.
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Pastor Zino Ekelemu speaking at the Men Awake event said each man must have a place in their hearts where Jesus is exulted to the summit so that “He may draw men to Himself as promised in John 12: 32. “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.”
“The question is, where have you placed Him(Jesus)? he posed.
Men Awake patron, Lameck Ngunjiri, also graced the function.
Pastor Boniface said the darkness “is not on the outside but on the inside of a man and makes him fail to see what God has made available to him to breakthrough.”