Who We Are
We are the Rose Family — Matthew, Rebecca, Deborah, Hannah, Esther, Lydia, Priscilla, and Jason. God has called us to serve Him in Kenya as church-planting missionaries.
We are sent out by Grace Baptist Church, an Independent Baptist church in Hinesville, GA. Our missions agency is World Wide New Testament Baptist Missions in Kings Mountain, NC. God has given us an exciting opportunity to spread the hope of Christ here in Kenya; we pray that you would consider helping us.
Our Mission
Many people shopping on market day
Our focus in Kenya is reaching the lost with the Gospel by planting indigenous churches that will reproduce themselves and by training faithful men “who shall be able to teach others also.”
Our ministry goals are: 1) Evangelizing the lost, 2) Discipling the saved, 3) Planting indigenous churches, and 4) Training faithful men.
We desire that, one day, there will be a Gospel-preaching church in every city, town, and village of Kenya!
Our Story
Matthew made a profession of faith at 4 years old but struggled with doubts about his salvation until one Sunday when he was 27—He finally trusted Christ as his Saviour! Matthew trained for the ministry at Ambassador Baptist College. Rebecca accepted Jesus as her Saviour at her home when she was 6 years old. She surrendered herself to God’s service when she was 16. She studied church music at Bob Jones University.
We were married in September of 2010, and in 2011, we joined the staff of Grace Baptist Church in Hinesville, GA (our sending church) as youth director. We served there for five years.
God called us to Kenya in January of 2016. We had been praying for two years for God to show us what He wanted us to do with our lives. Matthew was serving on full-time staff as the youth director of our church. He had just read the autobiography of James Stewart (I Must Tell) a missionary evangelist who served in Eastern Europe before WWII. Through that book, God dealt with Matthew’s heart specifically about foreign missions. Shortly after finishing the book, Matthew was preparing to take our teen group on an outing. He opened Google Maps for directions and Google zoomed in on Kenya!
Children playing near a monastery
It was a random mistake by Google, but God used it to point our direction to Kenya. We began to pray that God would confirm His calling through the Scriptures. He answered our prayer! God lead us to Proverbs 16:9, “A man's heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.”
In July of 2016, we took our first survey trip and saw the desperate need for more Gospel-preaching churches and God burdened us for church planting. We were so encouraged by the reception of the Gospel message. During that trip, God allowed Matthew to lead three Kenyan men to Jesus Christ!
We began deputation in January of 2017, and we arrived in Kenya in August of 2020. We studied Swahili at a language school in Limuru. After 11 months, we began our ministry in the town of Kericho.
Kericho is a town of 42,000 people and is surrounded by beautiful tea plantations that are home to many plantation workers. The town and its surrounding areas need the Gospel and solid churches that preach the truth of God’s Word.
Plantation workers in a Kericho tea field
We moved to Kericho in August of 2021 and immediately began holding an open-air Bible study in a public park every Sunday. God began saving people and helping them to grow in Christ through the teaching and preaching of His Word. The average attendance was over 20 on most Sunday's and It was our prayer that God would form a church from this group of believers.
Open-air Bible study in Kericho
After two years God answered that prayer. Ten believers followed Jesus in baptism and we opened Faith Independent Baptist Church in October of 2023. It is the only Independent Baptist church in Kericho Town or the neighboring areas. The members have a desire to learn, and God is teaching them little by little.
First baptism
It is our prayer that God would help this church to become mature in Christ and that He would call some of our men to serve Him as pastors so that we can establish more churches in the area. Though we are not worthy, We feel honored that God would ask us to serve Him in this capacity! God continues to prove again and again that He wants our family in Kenya. It is a joy to have confidence that we are doing exactly what God wants us to do. God’s will is a wonderful, peaceful place to be!
Faith Independent Baptist Church, Kericho