Mid-month news May 2025
jimoharries@gmail.com
Dear Friends,
Appeal
I am grateful to those who have offered to assist me with supplementary funding. Please make your donations to here: https://www.stewardship.org.uk/partners/jimharries or write to my financial manager Peter Stagg at his email address here: peterdavidstagg@yahoo.co.uk
Wouldn’t get Dizzy!
One of the churches I periodically visit, so as to share the Gospel with them, has a variety of methods to bring healing. One I have frequently seen, is to make people spin around, until they get dizzy and start falling over. It seems to be believed that their being so dizzy destabilizes the incumbent untoward spirit, so that various methods – like having the possessed person roll around on the floor, run around the building, or be sprayed with holy water – ought to be more effective at promoting its removal. On this particular occasion, I noted an amazing woman who, no matter how much she was spun around, did not get dizzy!! Of course, she was there so as to get healed, so eventually, she played along.
These kinds of practices by local churches can help you to understand the urgency of my work – that aims to share God’s Word with people in deep and meaningful ways using their own languages.
Hugged by Women
The word obviously got around, that my encounter with the recent criminal investigation, meant that I was now off the scene. Visiting people to pray for them on my bicycle, as a result a few times became an emotional affair of profuse expression of thanks to God and hope for the future! Some women are even hugging me, usually a no-no between genders in this part of the world.
At the same time, do pray that the right news filters through to people. Some I have met, seem to most clearly remember the warnings given a couple of weeks ago by one government officer to those present, to the effect that Jim has committed some very serious crimes for which he will be harshly punished. Then when they look at me, they seem to be wondering; ‘well, what have you done’? (Not knowing that the implicit accusations made against me, that I was trafficking in children, grooming them, and sexually abusing them, were not true.)
Rescued from Whites by Africans
Looking back on my missionary career, I certainly see some patterns. I experienced some rejection by my own people in 1993, then 2011, then 2022, then 2025. 1993, the mission I had served previously refused to take me back. In 2011, the same happened again. In 2022, my main supporting church backed off. In 2025, Interpol sent police to me, on suspicion that I was abusing, grooming, and trafficking children. Neither of these are easy to survive. So, how have I survived them? Beyond that it has been God giving me the strength, it has been local people’s ongoing close supporting relationship with me. Financially, I have been the source. But relationally, it has been their commitment to me. Give thanks to God, and please continue to pray for me in the weeks and months ahead, as it is hard to know what is around the corner.
See here for a video of the context of the house I am now living in in Kenya. The large building is used for worship by my Kenyan home-church.
This picture illustrates how termites can decimate the timbers in a house. Much of this 3 by 2” timber was eaten up, leaving it far too weak to support the roof of my new house.
A view of my new (old) house. On renewing the roof, I subsequently replaced some of the iron sheets.
Here is a view of the side of the same house. Number 1 is a hole that I found, that was dug 30 feet deep with a view to building a toilet. The toilet was never built. The first thing I had to do when moving in, was to fill this extremely dangerous hole. 2 is the kitchen that was attached to my house as it was used as a church guesthouse, that unfortunately easily fills the house with smoke. 3 is the church building itself.
I actually spent just three nights in my ‘new’ house, before setting off on my annual trip to Tanzania. As I write, I am in Babati in Tanzania, one of the teachers at this Bible school.
Bible Translation Conference
On 2nd and 3rd May 2025, I attended a two-day conference on Bible Translation, held in Germany. (I of course joined them by zoom!) Here is the recording of the presentation that I gave. (From Tanzania, where bandwidth is not always good, it made sense to pre-prepare a presentation and post it on you tube rather than to try to present live.)
The response following my presentation was amazing. Although people’s speaking in German, with a poor internet connection that at one time resulted in my dropping off-line completely, made it hard to understand everything, I got the impression that my audience were deeply stirred. In short, Western people tend to consider exorcism an ancient ritual of dubious foundations that can do a lot of psychological damage. This is, partly at least, because they fit exorcism into their own dualistic worldview. In this worldview, spirits that are exorcised are evil beings that are not-real. In Africa, I suggested in my presentation, what is habitually exorcised, are sins, or the effects of sins, especially envy. The attention received in an exorcism ritual in some ways parallels the receiving of attention associated with modern ‘counselling’. Those being exorcised in the name of Jesus declare their faith in the God who made heaven and earth who, unlike the gods of their forefathers, loves people rather than being envious of them. Accepting that God is filled with love for his people, is often difficult.
Amazing New Book!
The new leadership of the AVM (Alliance for Vulnerable Mission) has led in the writing of a jointly authored book entitled Vulnerable Mission for Practitioners. The production of this book, has me appreciate just how helpful it can be to have a change in leadership. I had been defeated to produce such a book over the years. It is for PRACTITIONERS. That is, it uses simple language to articulate how some missionaries and development workers should engage vulnerable mission in their work and activities. It makes a fascinating read, and is very challenging.
Kindle version available from Amazon for just over £4. Details: https://vulnerablemission.org/vm-for-practitioners/
Old Missionary Friend
John Rowse visited us in Mukinge Mission Station, in 1990. I never forgot his message – imploring us to recognize God’s grace. Especially emphasized by him was, that a Christian who slips into sin and doesn’t have the chance to repent, has not lost their eternal life. God’s Grace is bigger than that! I knew that he spent a lot of time in Tanzania. Fast forward to May 2025 … and an old grey haired man was here a few doors down in the guesthouse in which I am staying. It was none-other than John Rowse – still spending months at a time in East Africa away from his Australian home, sharing the very same message, of the love of God!
I have pasted below, the content of my latest letter to my UK MP.
Jim
……………………………………
Dear Ann Addington, (Senior Parliamentary Assistant to The Rt Hon Kit Malthouse MP).
It is good to hear back from you. Thanks for writing, knowing that you must be busy.
It is good to know the action steps that you took following my writing to you. I am very grateful.
The reason for my writing to you originally, was to try to find a way out of the ‘trap’ that I was in. I had been looking after children in my home in Kenya since 1997. This never caused any problems, until the UK government brought in stringent safeguarding laws for UK citizens living outside of the UK in the last few years. Then what was I to do? Chase the children away so as to keep safeguarding laws? Abandon them? There seemed to be no provision for someone in my position. Hence I was stuck, and needed assistance.
All my efforts, including those of writing to you, to safeguarding agencies, and to others in the UK, drew a blank. I received no help of direct relevance to my above-described situation. (With the exception of some conversations I had with Paul Harrison, who told me that I was doing all that I reasonably ought. https://www.efcc.org.uk/about/safeguarding/ )
Are you (is Kit?) aware, that police came to my home in Kenya on 26th March? A group of 12 police and government officers was led by a special division of the Kenyan DCI (Directorate of Criminal Investigation) called the AHTCPU (The Anti-Human Trafficking and Child Protection Unit). This unit is trained by, apparently funded by, and sent by, the UK police, to investigate cases of suspicion of child abuse, I understand primarily or exclusively by British citizens who are living in Kenya. The outcome of their coming, was that I was asked to leave the house(s) I had lived in for 23 years. The children, some of whom had lived with me for around 15 years, were all forced to disperse to their biological relatives. Then everyone had to abandon that home. Some days later, my bishop asked me to leave my room on his mission station, through fear that police coming to find me would tarnish the reputation of his church. I had stayed in that room for 13 years. Fortunately, there was a house that I had built in the 1990s, that I was able to move back in to. I also lost my laptop and phone, (plus my backups), that contained a lot of vitally important information. The police seized them, and have not yet returned them to me.
Apart from the above, the police were providing frightening predictions, some being announced publicly, that I would spend years in jail, and without evidence, implying that I was abusing children. Fortunately, their implication was incorrect.
The above action has solved my immediate problem. Before the police showed up, I doubt any local people would have believed me had I said that we must discontinue looking after children immediately. The coming of the police proved that this was a serious issue. So, the police helped me to divert the blame for the disruption that occurred, from myself and onto them and the British government. Yet, I do not think that this was a good or sufficient justification for instigating a criminal investigation.
Unfortunately, I therefore see the whole recent operation as a sad failing of the system. Why was no one from the UK ready to communicate with me on the lines of the issues I was facing? Why was there no provision in the new regulations for people like myself who had taken responsibility for the rearing of local children? Instead of sending a criminal investigation by full force, why did the police in the UK not get in touch with me and advise me? They could if necessary have sent a police officer to tell local people how serious this situation was. That would have been a lot cheaper and more civil than a full-fledged criminal investigation out of the blue. Was there no thought, that accusations against me from the British government might make my ongoing ministry with local people more difficult? My impression, is that local people were amazed and asking themselves on what basis the British government acted. Villagers knew what I was doing, as I had lived like an open book in their vicinity for the last 32 years. None had ever accused me of any child or other abuse.
I am not very well versed in legal affairs. Perhaps I should not be writing as I am above? I was advised, by the head Kenyan police officer, that accusations came from the UK, and the criminal investigation was initiated in the UK. Yet I have not yet heard anything directly from the UK police. I am waiting for them to tell me whether I will be charged with anything. At the same time, it is difficult to see how they can charge me without evidence, but it is also difficult to understand how they could have initiated an expensive comprehensive criminal investigation in the absence of evidence for that for which I was accused. If I am to be charged, then I am happy to travel to the UK. I am already planning to travel to the UK at the start of October.
Thanks,
Jim
