Personal Bio
Jonah and Mara Fields serve in western Kenya, coaching rural church elders through slow inductive study and literacy circles that feed preaching points under national pastors. Jonah trained as a secondary teacher in Ohio; Mara coordinated member care before Piedmont World Partners sent them in 2018. They live near Kisumu with two school-age children and measure fruit by elders who keep meeting when foreigners travel.
The Mission
We coach rural church elders through literacy circles and inductive study that feed preaching points under Kenyan pastors near Kisumu. Piedmont World Partners places us as secondary partners: we carry notebooks and transport, not the microphone. The aim is congregations that open Scripture when we are off the circuit.
The Heart Behind the Mission
Western Kenya already has shepherds who outlast trends. Our role is to walk beside them until literacy and inductive habits stick. We refuse highlight reels that center foreigners. Faithfulness looks like elders who keep meeting after our vehicle leaves the compound.
Join in the Journey
Pray for elders by the nicknames we share in letters and for literacy circles that keep meeting in the rains. Practical support covers circuit transport, printed booklets, and multi-year partnership that ignores viral metrics. If you visit, accept local schedules and do not photograph seekers without consent.
Key Goals
- Coach rural elders through literacy circles that feed local preaching points
- Keep co-laborer transport and printed booklets funded without foreign-centered metrics
- Raise Kenyan mentors who run evaluations without our household at the center
Challenges
- Rainy-season roads that cancel literacy weeks
- Prosperity teaching that confuses new readers after open-air meetings
- Balancing circuit travel with family rhythms near Kisumu