The journey towards the Vihiga Pastoral training began in August 2024 after the Marriage Enrichment Conference for pastors and their spouses. After hearing about The TLAfrica Material Production Project, the pastors requested training in Counseling Skills. The mobilization exercise began in January 2025, led by our host pastors Eric and Violet Indende of IPHC (International Prayer House Church). Pastor Eric Indende is the Chair of the Evangelical Alliance of Kenya in Hamisi sub-county. He called the pastors and physically visited some to invite them to the conference.

The training took place from 19th to 21st March 2025. We had a total of 47 participants from about 20 regions in the county, representing about 25 churches. About 70% of the pastors have not had a formal theological education (either a diploma or degree). Their church membership ranges from 15 to 200 members, with an average of 50 members per church. Most of the participants were part of the 2024 Marriage Enrichment Conference. Despite this being a crop-planting season due to the onset of rains, the pastors showed their commitment by attending with much enthusiasm.

Dr. Jecinta teaching during the class sessions

This was the very first time TLAfrica has trained pastors using the Counseling Skills Manual, which is part of our material production project.The author and Conference trainer, Dr. Jecinta Muigai, co-trained the sessions with her husband, Ignatius Barasa. Dr. Jecinta reminisced about how Prof. Ntamushobora, back in 2020, shared the vision of writing the manuals and using them for training grassroots church leaders. She rejoiced that, despite the many delays in the process, God finally actualized the vision, and she was able to meet the pastors and pass on her knowledge and skills to them.

  

The trainers, Dr. Jecinta Muigai,  and Ignatius Barasa.

 

 The Counseling Skills Manual

 
Group discussion sessions Participant presenting group feedback

The Conference had eight sessions spread across three days. These included: Introduction to Counseling; The Biblical perspective on Counseling; Effective Counseling skills and techniques; The Counseling process; Role plays; Ethics in Counseling; Stress and self-care for the counselee; and, Developing a Pastoral Counseling program in the local church. The trainer incorporated group work and class activities, which enhanced the learning process. The participants also had time to role-play counseling cases. The trainees came up with four cases and demonstrated how counseling can be carried out for the cases using the skills taught.

Participants role-playing a counseling case
Class activities to demonstrate effective communication and counseling skills

Each participant had a worksheet that contained the main ideas for each session and some space for taking notes. The participants shared in morning prayers, song and dance, worship, and meals during the Conference. The participants also received certificates of participation.

At the end of the conference, each participant filled out an evaluation form, whose purpose was to gauge the conference in terms of the content of the course, effectiveness of the participant worksheets, presentation of the materials by trainers, and relevance of group activities. The form also gauged their growth in terms of Counseling skills. Additionally, we sought to know what helped them the most in the course, what practical skills they would apply, recommendations for enhancing the course, and which other topics they would like to be trained on. Most of the participants indicated that they had little or no knowledge of Counseling, and that the course was enlightening and eye-opening for them. The top two appreciated skills were the process of counseling, and active listening skills for a counselor. The most prominent practical skills which the trainees plan to implement include:  listening actively, allowing counselees to drive their own solutions, and developing a counseling ministry in the churches. The pastors indicated that they would appreciate additional training, mainly on: Marriage, Tent-making, Effective preaching, Discipleship, Church leadership, Church Finance Management, and Youth Ministry.

Feedback and testimonies from trainees:

Pst. Ludecky: I came in while the trainer was demonstrating the process of communication using a diagram. She showed how a message goes from the sender to the receiver, and how the receiver interprets the message. I learnt that listening is very important in counseling, even before the interpretation of the message. I will be careful in this area of communication and try my best not to make any assumptions about the counselee’s issues while counseling them.

Pst. Pamela: I am happy to be one of those who have been enlightened. I have done counseling at a certificate level, but the approach used in this training has been very effective for me, especially in the skill of active listening, which I have never mastered. Whenever my counselees go into long stories during my counseling sessions, I cut them short and try to bring a solution. Now I have learned how to listen and guide the counselees to formulate a solution for themselves. Right now, I see what I did wrong, and I know how I can engage them better using the counseling skills I learned. This is going to help me and others around me.

Pst Henry: I want to appreciate you for helping me. When one is in the garden, sometimes they don’t see their weaknesses. I thought I was an expert in counseling. I have discovered that I have been preaching to my counselees and making choices for them. I have learnt that my role is to listen effectively and facilitate the counselee in finding a resolution to his/her issue. Today, iron has sharpened iron, and I must repent. God bless you.

Pst Rispah: I want to thank TLAfrica and our facilitators. I have learnt not to spiritualise every issue of the counselee as a pastor. Many times we go straight to quoting scriptures, and ignore the process of listening to the counselee. I hope that we have more days of interaction in the next session.

Janet: I am a high school teacher, and I get involved in many counseling cases for girls. I have realised that I have not been doing it right. I have learnt that I must give the counselees enough time to express themselves, and that my goal should not be to provide solutions for them but to gently question and probe them so that they think for themselves. I have learnt that the counselee is the one to make decisions. I plan to apply these lessons in my counseling.

Follow-up:

The Kenya Office plans to conduct a follow-up on these pastors end of May 2025, to assess their growth and transformation in Counseling skills. The main areas of follow-up will be:

1) How many sessions of Counselling have the pastors had in April- May, and which counseling skills have they been able to apply in their counseling?

2) What changes have they experienced in their particular area of weakness in counseling?

3) What highlights or challenges have they faced in applying the acquired skills?

4) Have they trained any other leaders in their church on Counseling Skills, and how was the experience?

5) Have they been able to establish a counseling ministry in their churches using the steps discussed during the training? How was this accomplished, and what was the church’s reaction?Here is what our trainers had to say:

Dr Jecinta: I want to take this opportunity to thank TLAfrica for inviting us to facilitate the basic counseling skills course. Please let all those involved know that we have no words to express our gratitude because we have been overwhelmed by your love and acts of kindness. We pray that God will bless you greatly and will extend TLAfrica.

We began with around 26 participants, and by the time we were finishing, there were 47. Word went around about the skills that they were getting. It was captivating to know that the participants were from different denominations and remained together throughout the course, which, according to them, was unusual. Bringing pastors, bishops, evangelists, and other ministry workers together has been a difficult thing in this area. However, God broke their denominational barriers through TLAfrica. Many of these participants had never received formal training in basic counseling skills. Some had basic skills they had acquired over the years, but they needed to be refreshed.  After the course, their excitement was unmatched. It was inspiring to hear their testimonies of how, for years, the pastors have offered spiritual guidance and counseling to their congregations and communities in the way they knew best. The training helped them to recognize the mistakes they have been making and they are ready to apply what they learned. They felt prepared to handle deep emotional, marital, and personal struggles faced by their church members and community members.

The training not only deepened their basic counseling skills knowledge but also empowered them with practical ways of showing empathy, problem management skills, and self-care skills, making them more effective shepherds in a world full of challenges.

Thank you again.

Ignatius: Thank you for the opportunity you gave my wife and me to be part of the just-concluded Pastoral seminar on Counseling skills. I was impressed by the flawless order in which the training was planned and executed by TLAfrica. Apart from the first day’s program starting late, the rest of the sessions were done very well. The praise and worship at the start of each day and session was done very well by the worship team, and this set a conducive spiritual atmosphere for the day’s activities.

The attendance of the pastors, Bishops, and church overseers was good. From the interactions I had with some of the pastors and the testimonies given at the end of the training, the trainees learnt something from the training. Being heads of churches, they will train their followers to use the same skills and thus strengthen the church leadership in the region.

Thank you, TLAfrica, for the great impact you are making on leadership in African communities.