The Sanctuary Church

A new movement of the Spirit in Western Kenya began in late 2019. And it portends an exciting opportunity for churches beyond Kenya to return the core roots of the earliest churches of the New Testament.

It’s called the Sanctuary Church Movement

When Core 300 International arrived to Bungoma to launch PBL in 2013 with 611 church leaders, 4 Kenyan ministers stepped up and asked Corew 300 to prepare and train them them to teach the Warrior course. Four years later they adopted the next course in the Trilogy, the Priest course. By then over 5,000 ministers, uniformed officers, and farmers had graduated from the Warrior course. ministers’ families and congregations were transformed and the movement had spread to Nairobi and Mombasa to the East, and Eastern Uganda to the West.

By 2019, the number of graduates had swelled to 25,000–including 5,000 inmates! This all happened through the leadership of our local Board of Directors who mentored 10 Cluster Leaders. Their job was to nurture and equip 150 certified PBL Field Coordinators who had led 950 conferences.

We found that most churches existed to help each other, worship, and, often to aggrandize the local pastor. It was not often that East African churches reached out to the broken and marginalized in their community. Throughout the Scriptures, God commands the nation of Israel–and later, the Church, to prayerfully, financially, and practically express the redemptive compassion and practical care of our Heavenly Father for 6 demographic groups–even allocating one of the 3 Tithes to them in the Law of Moses.

-The (abject) Poor

-The Fatherless (orphans)

-The Prisoner (Hostage/Captives)

-The Physically/Mentally Challenged (Blind/Sick/Lame/Deaf/Mute)

-Exiles (Gentile/Sojourner/Homeless) and

-Widows and Impoverished Single Moms

By word of mouth and the stories of changed lives included the transformation of thousands of once toxic, misogynistic men into kind husbands who honored his wife and bonded with his children-becoming and active father. And according to our Wives’ Surveys, thy also embraced the responsibility of embracing hard work as a provider.

it was the data from the Wives’ Surveys of 2019 that confirmed that the vast majority of these men had become sustainably transformed men–as husbands, dads, and godly leaders. Their churches had been changing as well. They were no longer “Tribal”–self-serving with inward-looking congregations, but their hearts were changed, and they began to feel the compassion of Christ for the marginalized.

A few PBL Certified prison chaplains felt led to address the bitter, 50-year-old resentment-fueled division that had existed between the church ministers and the prison chaplainsa nd reached out to them asking the questions:

“What if we worked together to rehabilitate the Ex-con?

Looking to the Scriptures, they saw how Jesus had preached his first sermon from Isaiah (Luke 4:18) of his burden to proclaim freedom to the prisoners-and that there was an eternal reward for those followers who cared for and had compassion on them and their families. Our African Board in Kenya facilitated–with advice from our US leadership–to formalize a partnership between selected local churches–who would be trained by PBL Kenya–and the Ministry of Prisons to collaborate with all soon-to-be-released Ex-cons. They would be helped by the Chaplains–even to the sharing of prison records–to be received by a local, welcoming, and prepared Sanctuary Church. Although only 31 exist today, the queue of the churches seeking training is165!

Can you join us to help our volunteer Coordinators train and mentor these local church leaders? The 6-month process will cost each team of 2 men to travel multiple times to the church, costing an average of 60,000 kes ($500 USD) per church. Join our team with prayer and financial support because beyond travel, room, and board, almost every Ex-con comes with needs of food, education, job preparation–as well of the ministry of reconciliation between him, and his wife, and his children.

Here is a fun way to get involved. Adopt a new Sanctuary Church for $50 per month for 12 months!

This allows these churches to provide a soft landing for 6 inmates per year. Join us by clicking