Many Nations

Kensington’s passion to equip churches worldwide and to love our neighbors everywhere are things that are very personal for me.

My parents are from Syria and Iraq respectively. I was born in Kuwait. My family is part of the remnant Christian population which has dwindle to less than 3% in the Middle East. Migrating to the United States changed the legacy of our family. We brought with us faith in a big God, strong family ties, and food and hospitality. What we gained here in the U.S. was a relationship with Jesus and freedom to practice our faith.

In the book of Revelation, the apostle John shares a vision of “a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe and people language, standing before the throne” all worshiping God together (Revelation 7:9).

This heavenly reality has always seemed impossible to achieve here on earth. In heaven, we will worship God with other people of different languages, ethnicities, and skin tones, but here on earth, Sunday mornings are still a relatively segregated hour across the globe.

In 2015, Kensington Founder, Steve Andrews, had a “many nations” experience much like what the Apostle John wrote about in the book of Revelation. Steve and friend, Don Anderson, visited the The National Evangelical Church of Kuwait compound which hosts approximately 80 congregations of Christian faiths in different languages.

When we were there, it was 85 services in 40 languages attended by up to 30,000 people from 165 countries! Hands down, it was the greatest church day of my life. In between services I was able to talk to people from every spot in the world. I cried all day sensing that I was getting the clearest vision of what Heaven might be like….All Peoples, All Together…All in Jesus.
-Steve Andrews, Kensington Founder

These languages are spoken mostly by foreign nationals who make up 60% of the population and 78% of the workforce. How incredible is it that such a great multitude from different “tribes and tongues” are all worshipping God together in a country where non-Muslims cannot become citizens currently. (I should know because I am Christian who was born in Kuwait and have never had access to citizenship).

This experience galvanized Kensington’s leadership into prayer that God would bring an intercultural community together under our roof — that God’s will would be done on earth as it is in heaven.

A small group of Portuguese-speaking believers from Brazil had been meeting on Kensington’s third floor since 2014, hoping to create a community for those coming to metro Detroit to work in the automotive industry. Within a year of Steve Andrews’ trip to Kuwait, this community began holding Sunday services in the Troy Chapel and became Kensington’s Brazilian Campus. For more than six years, this vibrant and close-knit community of believers has been welcoming Portuguese-speakers to Detroit, showing them the love of Jesus, and reaching out to bless others in their communities and around the world.

It is important for immigrants to find a church where they can keep their identity. It also important for any “ethnic church” to be connected with an inclusive English-speaking church, where they can get support and the second generation can be fully integrated.
-Kleber Cabral, Lead Pastor, Brazilian Campus

In 2017, Ramesh Sapkota, our global partner from Nepal, relocated for a time to Michigan for a Sabbatical. While here, Ramesh, encouraged by Steve Andrews, saw the need to reach the South Asian community around the Troy campus. With more than a quarter of our neighbors in Troy being Asian, primarily Indian, Ramesh began walking the aisles of Meijer at night, listening for languages from Southern Asia. Ramesh started numerous conversations then and there, and invited new friends to share a meal with his family. By the fall of 2017, a South Asian Fellowship group had begun meeting on Saturdays for community and a potluck dinner. And in April of this year, this group launched the Christ Holy Telugu Church under the leadership of Ramakrishana with Sunday morning services in Telugu on the third floor of Troy Campus.

Our mission is to reach people, within and outside of our community, to share the Love of God and to build a strong community for the Kingdom of God. -Ramakrishna, Pastor, Christ Holy Telugu Church

We have not yet reached the full vision in Revelation of “a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe and people language, standing before the throne” but these steps are something to celebrate.

If you stop by Troy campus at 11am on a Sunday, there are three services simultaneously praising God in English, Telugu and Portuguese. Our children are in the same programming, all learning about Jesus and growing together. Let’s continue to pray and be part of bringing the Kingdom of God here on earth as it is in heaven!