My involvement with the CityLife missions partners Ken & Rayma Tracy began in 2001. I had just started attending CityLife and was in a Life Group. A request came through to the Life Group saying that the Tracy’s needed a support coordinator. I put my hand up and this story began.

My Life Group leader said, ‘Please make sure you communicate with them’. They were in a very remote region so I began communicating with them over the internet. Ken (now deceased) was rapt to hear from me, and we began talking on a regular, almost daily basis. He introduced me to Rayma his wife, and their two school aged daughters.

After a few years Ken asked if I would consider becoming their Support Team Leader. I said, ‘Yes’ and have been with them ever since. It has been one of the most wonderful journeys of my life, working one-on-one with field workers called by God to do his work.

The sacrificial dedication of Ken and Rayma to their ministry deeply impacted me. When they received the call to go into mission work, they gave up a comfortable and successful life in the United States, and with their two children, followed God’s calling to find the right mission opportunity in Asia. They finally settled in West Timor and built up a very successful ministry.

Focusing on village ministry, it aimed to minister to both the spiritual and physical needs of the people by running a variety of programs from discipleship training to medical clinics. Their main focus was always village ministry.

The ministry constantly faced many difficulties and challenges that often related to witchcraft and the demonic. These influences are significantly more overt and oppressive on the ‘wild frontiers’ with young people often being abducted for rituals involving human sacrifice. Yet through it all there were many testimonies of healing and deliverance from these influences and practices.

On the physical side, Rayma is a nurse and midwife who tends to the physical health of the people, particularly mothers and children. One dramatic example of the health work of this ministry was when we were able to bring two young girls with tumors on their faces to Australia for life-saving surgery. This was a team effort involving those who provided accommodation and friendship, all the way to medical professionals who donated their time and skills.

SOW – School of Workers for Christ

Ken build up this ministry from nothing. One outstanding example of his work was on Rote Island where he created a center which is like a little village of ministry. He lived with the people, educated them and raised up leaders.

From that centre, Ken and Rayma pioneered an outreach ministry into the surrounding villages. They trained and equipped leaders to run the center and today Rote is lead by Yefta Benu, a pastor trained by Ken. As well as Rote, there are two other centres, Campalong and Soe. A Bible College was established on Campalong and these base is led by Pastor Daniel Mainke and his wife Punami. Soe is built on land which was purchased with the help of CityLife Church in 2006; this centre  serves as the base for the medical clinics and child health care programs.

Ken grew the ministry by going out into remote villages and organizing meetings where the gospel could be preached to the people. Various aspects of the ministry were strategically established for effectiveness; e.g. evangelism, church planting, discipleship and the training of leaders are all interwoven. This ministry has also transformed the community practical ways by helping people to improve their agricultural and animal husbandry practices.

Ministry teams visit villages on a very regular basis, going into the mountains for days at a time to minister to the needs of the people. The journeys tend to be long and arduous. I myself went to the Betun base in 2007 with Ken and couple of other Australians. It was a day long trip to an extremely poor region where food is very scarce.

Over the years, many teams and individuals, including myself, my daughter, my husband have visited this area and spent time with Ken and Rayma to experience first-hand, their involvement with the people and the living conditions that they operate in. Short term missions trips are truly a great blessing to our field partners as well as to those who go.

Sadly in April 2011 Ken passed away from an aggressive form of Leukemia. Rayma took over the reigns, and with the help of Daniel Mainke has overseen the ministry to date. The transition was not easy. My husband and I visited them in 2012. It was interesting and encouraging to see the legacy that Ken had left behind, and how God is continuing to move in the lives of these people.

Rayma remarried in early 2018 and due to different reasons, her involvement in Indonesia has reduced, although she continues to live there for some months of the year.

Daniel Mainke is now in charge of all the bases. He lives at Camplong base, has a true gifting as a teacher and loves teaching at the school. He also teaches at the extension branch and central Bible school in Kupang. His burden for the senior high students includes teaching them life-skills, i.e. brick making, so that they will have at least one trades skill.

The Tracy’s partnership with CityLife began in 1994 and after a long and fruitful partnership that has seen the gospel preached, churches planted, local leaders raised up and today the ministry is led by these leaders.

– Aloma