Kenya Mennonite Church
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| Kenya Mennonite Church | |
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 Kenya: World Factbook, 2009[1] | |
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Kenya Mennonite Church is a Mennonite conference in Kenya. KMT is officially associated with Mennonite World Conference. In 2006 KMT had 50,560 members in 286 congregations.[2]
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History
Early relationship with Kanisa la Mennonite Tanzania
The Kanisa la Mennonite Tanzania (KMT), which was planted by Eastern Mennonite Board of Missions and Charities (EMBMC) in the 1930s, spread the gospel to Kenya throughout the subsequent decades.[3] Pastors and church members in primarily village communities were responsible for the evangelistic activity.[4]Initially, Mennonite influence came through the connections many Luo people of Kenya’s Nyanza region have to family in Tanzania’s predominantly Luo Mara region. The Luo people have historically lived in this area around Lake Victoria, which the Kenya-Tanzania political border bisects, and have moved freely between the two countries.[3]
Founding of Kenya Mennonite Church
In 1965, Don R. Jacobs stated, “the fact that there are so many Mennonites in East Africa not under direct Board appointment is a rather interesting, if not quite remarkable development, in the programs of the Mennonite Church in the world.”[5]By 1969, the EMBMC pointed out the need for reducing the mission’s control and allowing the “Africanization” of church leadership, asserting that the church “must be given the freedom to find the forms and expressions which best represent their life and spirit in terms most appropriate to their circumstance.”[4]In 1977, the Kenya Mennonite Church was established as an entity separate from KMT. Bishop Kisare worked with Kenyan Mennonite pastors to set up a central committee to create structure for the church.[3]
Timeline
| valign="top"1933, December 2 | Elam and Elizabeth Stauffer and John and Ruth Moseman, who were commissioned by the Eastern Mennonite Board of Missions and Charities (EMBMC) set up the first Mennonite mission station in East Africa. It was located in Shirati, Tanzania, only thirteen kilometers from the Kenyan border. Zedekiah Kisare, a young Tanzanian Christian, interpreted for the missionaries during church services. In 1940, the fifth mission station was opened in Nyabasi, Tanzania, near the Kenyan border. The missionaries hoped to avoid establishing large institutions, rather providing basic education and healthcare.[3] |
| 1942:East African Revival | The preaching of an African evangelist at the Mugango mission station started a revival, which spread to many other locations. Many people felt the power of the Holy Spirit, and were convicted of their lackluster Christian lives, causing them to repent and spread the gospel. Chief Wilson Ogwada, a retired chief living Migore, Kenya, says the revival caused him to leave Shirati, Tanzania, and travel throughout Kenya with another believer, Nikanor Dhaje, preaching. This revival created a new understanding and relationship between Africans and missionaries.[3] |
| 1942-1960: The Mennonite Church emerges in Kenya | Prompted by the 1942 revivals, Zefanya Migre, Dishon Ngoya, and Zedekiah Kisare, among others, frequently traveled to Kenya to witness and look after groups of believers in areas such as Bande and Nyagwaye. Many Kenyans and Tanzanians in the Lake Victoria region moved back and forth between the two countries, bringing the Mennonite faith to Luos in this region.[3]Youth from Suna, Kenya, had attended school in Shirati, Tanzania since the mid-1930s. |
| 1945: Kenyans asked the colonial government for permission to set up a Mennonite station. | The request of sixty Suna residents was denied in 1945,[6]and the government goes on to refuse requests in 1960, 1962, and 1964 as well.[3] |
| 1962 | Delegates from Mennonite groups in Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Somalia, Tanganyika (now Tanzania), Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), and Zambia, met to encourage each other and explore how to live as people of peace in the midst of violence. The 1962 meeting in Limuru, Kenya blossomed into the creation of the African Mennonite and Brethren in Christ Fellowship (AMBCF). The group met a second time in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe in 1965.[3]The group has been unable to meet regularly due to high travel costs and difficulty obtaining visas. In 1979, the group drafted a significant peace statement.[7] |
| 1965: The Kenyan government recognizes Kenya Mennonite Church as an official church | Many Tanzanian Mennonites return to Kenya, formerly held back due to their apprehension about the new government. These groups go to Songhor and Kigoto, where Naaman Agola and Elifaz Odundo lead believers.[3] |
| 1966 | Kanisa la Mennonite Tanzania sends missionaries to Kenya. Hellon and Joyce Amolo were sent to Suna, where they planted six churches, before moving on to plant four in the Kadema area and two in Mbewa. Church leaders Musa Adongo and Naman Agola return from Tanzania to the Kisumu area. |
| 1968 | The Kenyan government allows the Mennonites to build a mission station in Migori. Clyde and Alta Shenk, missionaries with the Kanisa la Mennonite Tanzania, move there to assist in building meeting houses and strengthening and encouraging congregations.[8] |
| 1969 | Alta Shenk iss killed in a plane crash outside Nairobi, Kenya. Clyde Shenk returns to the U.S. but comes back to Kenya in 1971 after marrying Miriam Wenger. They continued work at Migori and retired in 1976.[8] |
| 1973 | David and Grace Shenk start the first Mennonite church in Nairobi.They had previously been working in Somalia.[8] |
| 1976 | East African Mennonite churches with long-standing ties to the Eastern Mennonite Board of Missions and Charities begin to meet every two years to discuss their vision and concerns, as well as to strengthen relationships.[3] |
| 1977: The Kenyan Mennonite Church is established | The church had previously been a part of Kanisa la Mennonite Tanzania. Bishop Kisare worked with Kenyan Mennonite pastors to set up a central committee to create structure for the church. Since then, KMC has had direct contact with EMBMC through its central committee. Nashon Arwa and Musa Adongo are the first ordained Kenyan Mennonite pastors. Naaman Agola, Elfaz Odundo, and Joshua Okello are ordained as pastors later.[8] |
| 1979 | Samuel Adongo becomes the Executive Secretary of KMC after David Shenk left Kenya. He is the first African executive secretary of the church.[8]The Ogwedhi Sigawa Project is started as an outreach to the Maasai people. After a conflict between the Luo and Maasai turned violent, the Border Committee, a group of chiefs and elders of both ethnic groups, met together to devise a solution. Wilson Oguwada, a Luo chief, suggested that only a church could end the bloodshed and recommended the Mennonite church as a “peace-loving” church.[3]They decided KMC could help them achieve peace, and invited the church to use 100 acres of land for a development project. Mr. and Mrs. Jerry Stutzman, missionaries, and Paul and Siprosa Otieno, an evangelist couple, began the task of working for peace. The project built a church, primary school, farm, dispensary, tree nursery, and wells. The project successfully facilitated the interaction of Luos and Maasai; today they are living, worshiping, and working together peacefully. |
| 1980 | The Eastleigh Fellowship Center, a community center in Nairobi, is opened. It aims to provide a Christian witness in the city, with room for inter-faith dialogue between religious communities, as well as recreation for low-income families and students. Another KMC outreach is a correspondence course, “People of God Service to Muslims,” which serves as an introduction to Christianity for Muslims and has been studied by over 6,000 students. Bishop Joash and his wife Rebecca Osiro give seminars on Islam at Kenyan churches.[3] |
| 1988:KMC is divided into two dioceses | Musa Adongo serves as the first bishop of the Western Diocese and Joshua Okello iss ordained as bishop of the Southern Diocese.[8]The drafting of a constitution in preparation a church conference and calling a Kenyan bishop results in conflict and misunderstandings, but the church leaders involved are reconciled in February 1982.[7] |
| 1989 | The Happy Church of Nakuru, comprised of ten congregations and over 1,000 members, joins the Mennonite Church. Joseph Kamau, the church’s founder and pastor, is ordained bishop of a new diocese at Nakuru in 1991.[8] |
| Early 1990s | The Mennonite Theological School of East Africa is reopened in Nyabange, Tanzania. It had been closed during the 1980s due to conflict. Students from Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania are enrolled at this college, which is located in the Mara region of Tanzania.[3] |
| 2006 | Bishops from the Kenya Mennonite Church and Kanisa la Mennonite Tanzania form the East African Mennonite Mission Board to assist the churches in spreading the gospel.[6] Less than two years after Kenya Mennonite Church sent missionaries to Uganda, the Mennonite Church of Uganda, comprised of four churches, is established. Eastern Mennonite Missions president Richard Showalter called the church’s beginning “one of the most rapid formations of an autonomous new national circle of congregations EMM has ever witnessed,” adding that there is now a “great-granddaughter circle of churches.”[9] |
Growth
Present
Key individuals in church life
Electronic Resources
Annotated Bibliography
Citations
- ↑ "Kenya," CIA World Factbook. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ke.html (accessed 5 August 2009).
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "Africa." Mennonite World Conference. http://www.mwc-cmm.org/en15/PDF-PPT/2006africa.pdf (accessed 20 September 2009)
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 Checole, Alemu, et. al. Anabaptist Songs in African Hearts Intercourse, PA: Good Books, 2006.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Kraybill, Paul N. “Overseas Missions: Tanzania.” Eastern Mennonite Board of Missions and Charities 1967 Annual Report.
- ↑ Mauma, Eliam. “Overseas Missions: Tanganyika” (Eastern Mennonite Board of Missions and Charities 1965 Annual Report), D-6.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Hess, Mahlon. “Kenya Mennonite Church.” Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/K463.html. Accessed 19 November 2008.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Bertsche, James E. "Africa Mennonite and Brethren in Christ Fellowship." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online, 1990. http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/A352.html. Accessed 6 December 2008.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 Eastern Mennonite Board of Missions and Charities. Learning About God’s Work in Kenya: A Mission Project for Home or Church. Salunga, Pennsylvania: EMBMC, 1992.
- ↑ Showalter, Jewel. “Kenyan church leaders face refugee crisis." The Mennonite online. 22 January 2008. http://www.themennonite.org/issues/11-2/articles/Kenyan_church_leaders_face_refugee_crisis. Accessed 29 November 2008.
Acknowledgments
Laura Harnish compiled much of the information presented here in a student research paper for a spring 2009 Anabaptist History Class at Goshen College.
