David Mukuba Gitari, first Bishop of the Diocese of Mount Kenya East (1975-1997) and Archbishop of Kenya (1997-2002), died in hospital in Nairobi on 30 September, 2013 aged 76. David Gitari was one of the first post-colonial global African Christian leaders. He was born to Samuel and Jesse Mukuba in 1937. Samuel was the first person to evangelise the area where his fifth child would be bishop decades later. David as a child was too small to be allowed to enrol at school at the age of 6. He was also sent home from teachers training college at the age of 17 because he could not reach the blackboard. He was a leader in the Kenya Students Christian Fellowship and, encouraged by the late Oliver Barclay, trained in theology through IFES at Tyndale Hall, Bristol, in 1965. He became a travelling secretary for the Pan African Fellowship of Evangelical Students in East and Central Africa. In 1971 he became General Secretary of the Bible Society of Kenya. He came to prominence in Kenya in 1975 when he gave a series of six Bible expositions on the State-run Voice of Kenya radio in the five-minute “Lift up your hearts” slot before the 7am news. A leading member of Parliament, JM Kariuki had been found murdered in a thicket in the Ngong Hills. Gitari expounded Genesis 4 on Cain’s murder of Abel.

He was ”˜carpeted’ by VoK and told his sermons had been disturbing. Gitari replied that the gospel of Jesus Christ is very disturbing, especially to sinners. Biblical Exposition Biblical exposition set the pattern for his preaching, proclaiming orthodox Christian faith to the whole of society and the powers that be.

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Kenyan Archbishop David Gitari was one of the most influential and theologically astute Bishops in the Anglican Communion. His sermons, expounding the Scriptures, combined challenges to personal conversion with prophetic denunciations of local and national injustices.

He held a high doctrine of the authority and power of God’s Word in the Bible and applied it with shrewd and brave political acumen, reading the signs of the times and warning about hinges of history. In 1988 his courageous sermons led the national critique of replacing the secret ballot with voting by queuing up behind photos of candidates. He survived an assassination attempt on his life in April 1989.

At the 1988 Lambeth Conference, he chaired the resolutions committee and gave a paper on Evangelization and Culture; just before the 1998 Lambeth Conference, he received an honorary DD from the University of Kent and the opening Eucharist of the conference was the Kenyan Service of Holy Communion, which he inspired and shaped as the innovative chair of the Liturgical Commission.

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Most of interest to me–“Troubled But Not Destroyed’ the title of the late Dr. David Gitari’s un-released autobiography.”

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The death [of the] Archbishop (Emeritus) brings into focus the role of the church in community empowerment and mobilization. In the history of the Bible whenever God anointed a king, he also anointed a prophet; King Saul had Prophet Samuel while King David had Prophet Nathan. These two institutions worked hand in hand also ensuring that the leadership was held to account. Even today, God continues to call leaders into both offices. The late Archbishop Gitari was the Nathan and the Samuel of our time. He was called at a time when the government of the day needed to be put into check.

He did not hesitate to boldly criticize the government from the pulpit along with fellow clergymen such as Reverend Dr. Timothy Njoya, late Bishop Henry Okullu and late Bishop Alexander Muge. He carried the hearts of many Kenyans and was never afraid to speak his mind when the government went wrong. As such he was a true defender of democracy and a man who stood his ground on what he saw as oppressive and dictatorial leadership.

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Archbishop Justin said today: “David Gitari was an Archbishop of great courage who preached the Word of God steadfastly, both in season and out of season. He was a gifted and committed servant of the church who served our Lord Jesus Christ faithfully. He had an enormous vision for development and for social justice and was not afraid to promote change, always reminding the church to retain a critical distance from political power. His concern for prayer and promoting love and harmony has continued to the end of his life through his welcoming of so many to the Philadelphia Guesthouse near Mount Kenya. He will be remembered with much affection and admiration around the Anglican Communion. His family and the whole Anglican Church of Kenya are in our prayers.” – See more at: http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/articles.php/5146/archbishop-justins-tribute-to-archbishop-david-gitari-1937-2013#sthash.YOCA3vdC.dpuf

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Born on September 16, 1937 Gitari attended the famous Kangaru High School in Embu before attending the University of Nairobi for a Bachelor of Arts degree and was ordained to priesthood in 1972.

He married Grace Wanjiru on March 31, 1966 and God blessed them with three children.

Gitari was the third primate and Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Kenya from 1997 to 2002 and at the same time, Bishop of the Diocese of Nairobi.

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Live updates from the BBC today here

There is also a report in the East African ‘Standard’ newspaper this morning:
Explosions go off inside Westgate Mall in Nairobi [title of article amended later]

Bishop Joel Waweru of Anglican Church of Kenya called for his followers and his countrymen to maintain peace.

“We are so disheartened with whatever happened, but we would want to call upon our Christian brothers and sisters to keep peace and to maintain peace,” said Waweru.

Read here
Reuters: 10-Islamist gunmen hold hostages in Kenya siege, 68 dead

NAIROBI, Sept 22 (Reuters) – Islamist militants were holding hostages on Sunday at a shopping mall in Nairobi, where at least 68 people were killed in an attack by Somalia’s al Shabaab group.

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Live updates from the BBC here

Update
News from the local paper the Standard with a live link from KTN here

A message from +Peter Jensen about GAFCON II here

Archbishop Stanley rightly speaks of a spiritual cancer in the Communion, but we need to see that the overthrow by some Churches of the creation order of male and female is just one symptom of the disease. The cause is spiritual, the overthrow of God’s Word as revealed and authoritative truth. So it is very appropriate that Archbishop Stanley also speaks of the need for confessing Anglicans to see themselves as a movement of revival, taking inspiration from the East African Revival. We need to learn from our history. Divisions about the Bible had spread to some missionary organisations in East Africa after the First World War, but the leaders of the East African Revival knew that there could be no true evangelism and no true revival unless the Scriptures are allowed to speak as what they really are, the inspired Word of God.

So we can see why our affirmation in 2008 of the Jerusalem Declaration was so very important. We described it as ”˜a contemporary rule”¦ to guide the movement for the future’. Anything less would have ”˜healed the wound of my people lightly’ (Jeremiah 8:11) given the widespread confusion about the gospel and Christian discipleship which we sought to address. Let me remind you of the commitment we made in the Jerusalem Statement to restore Scripture to its rightful place in the life of the Communion:

”˜We, together with many other faithful Anglicans throughout the world, believe the doctrinal foundation of Anglicanism, which defines our core identity as Anglicans, is expressed in these words: The doctrine of the Church is grounded in the Holy Scriptures and in such teachings of the ancient Fathers and Councils of the Church as are agreeable to the said Scriptures. In particular, such doctrine is to be found in the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion, the Book of Common Prayer and the Ordinal.’

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Anglican Church bishops from Western Kenya have asked Kenyans to maintain peace. The bishops arrived from Rwanda last Saturday. They had been invited by bishops in the Anglican Church of Rwanda for a one week session on peace.

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While we give thanks for much that has been achieved, especially in the emergence of the Anglican Church of North America and our Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans, we are painfully aware that the Episcopal Church of the United States and the Anglican Church of Canada continue to promote a false gospel and yet both are still received as in good standing by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Furthermore, the Church of England itself, the historic mother church of the Communion, seems to be advancing along the same path. While defending marriage, both the Archbishops of York and Canterbury appeared at the same time to approve of same-sex Civil Partnerships during parliamentary debates on the UK’s ”˜gay marriage’ legislation, in contradiction to the historic biblical teaching on human sexuality reaffirmed by the 1998 Lambeth Conference.

In these circumstances, attempts to achieve unity based merely on common humanitarianism and dialogue, without repentance, sacrifice the transforming power of the gospel. The seeds of the East African revival were planted through years of faithful bible teaching and were brought to life by the Spirit of God, with deep conviction of sin and the irrepressible joy of sins forgiven.

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The leader of Kenya’s Anglican Church has reprimanded the country’s parliamentarians for demanding a pay increase 100 times the minimum wage.

In a statement, Primate of the Anglican Church of Kenya and Bishop of All Saints Cathedral Diocese the Most Revd Dr Eliud Wabukala expressed his disappointment over the MPs’ demands. He said, “We are aggrieved that MPs on both sides of the house found common ground to overwhelmingly vote for the salary increment, yet positions on national priorities like security, health, education and poverty alleviation are not assured of such prompt response.

“The MPs’ move to determine their pay is unconstitutional and is a direct conflict of interest,” said the Archbishop. “We urge [them] to pursue dialogue with the Salaries and Remuneration Commission as opposed to [engaging in such] rebellious acts as attempting to repeal acts of parliament to work in their favour.”

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All Saint’s Cathedral in Nairobi, Kenya will host the second Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) October 21-26, 2013. Canon Phil Ashey is in Nairobi where the leaders of GAFCON recently held a planning meeting and finalized plans for the upcoming event. The first GAFCON, held in Jerusalem in 2008, was a major step in an organized, global effort to refocus the Anglican Communion around a common confession including Jesus Christ as Lord, the Bible as the Word of God and other central beliefs.

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This entry is Sticky at the head of the page

Watch it all courtesy of Anglican TV and see also Anglican Bishops Express Strong Support for Bishop Lawrence and the Diocese of South Carolina

Amidst allegations that Anglicans worldwide do not recognize the Diocese of South Carolina and its Bishop, Anglican Bishops from East Africa strongly announced their support for the Diocese’s dissociation from The Episcopal Church Tuesday during comments at the Cathedral of St. Luke and St. Paul in Charleston. ”¨

The Bishops from Sudan, Rwanda, Kenya and Tanzania proclaimed unqualified endorsement of Bishop Mark Lawrence and the Diocese. Their comments seemed to dispute the claims of Bishop Charles vonRosenberg, the newly elected Bishop of the recently formed Diocese – The Episcopal Church in South Carolina. In January, vonRosenberg announced that the Anglican Communion has not acknowledged Lawrence’s Diocese, even though it represents the vast majority of local Anglicans. However the four Bishops, all members of the Anglican Communion in good standing, specifically recognized the Diocese during the gathering.”¨

The four were guests of the Diocese following their participation in the New Wineskins Conference in Ridgecrest, North Carolina, the largest Anglican missions conference in the world.

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On April 9 at 6 p.m. we have the rare opportunity to hear from several Bishops from East Africa. We’ll hear first hand accounts of the vital work God is doing in the Anglican Communion. We’ll also hear how we can pray for their ministries and explore opportunities for further partnerships in “Making Biblical Anglicans for a Global Age.” Supper will follow in the Bishop Allison Courtyard, hosted by the Anglican Communion Development Committee. Students are encouraged to attend and to bring their youth leaders. We also welcome The Rev. Dr. Peter Moore who will moderate the conversation with the Bishops. Parking is available in the Cathedral lot and the CPW parking lot on Vanderhorst St. behind the parish house.

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Long queues are reported nationwide as Kenyans vote in an election that observers describe as the most important in the country’s history.

Voters are complaining of having to wait under a hot sun for several hours.

There has been a series of violent incidents around the port town of Mombasa, with at least five police officers killed in one attack.

Authorities have urged Kenyans to avoid the widespread bloodshed that followed the disputed 2007 election.

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Update: Kenya election: Votes counted in crucial poll

From CMS
Lord of our Nation, King of Creation
Blow the wind of your Spirit across our land in this season of elections:
A Spirit of wisdom to guide our choosing;
A Spirit of Hope for a new tomorrow;
A Spirit of love, for those with whom we differ;
A Spirit of justice to defend the poor and needy.
In defeat, makes us gracious.
In victory, makes us generous.
And in all things, unite us in your Son, Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace.

Read it all and there is more from CSW here and there is an interview with Archbishop Eliud Wabukala on the Sunday Program 24 minutes in here

A Kenyan priest has appealed to Christians around the world to pray for the people of Garissa, a violence-stricken city in the North Eastern Province of Kenya.
The Revd Canon Francis Omondi’s plea comes after at least five people were killed and four others wounded by Somali Islamist group al-Shabab who opened fire on guests at one of the city’s local hotels, The Dunes on 16 January.
Al-Shabab””a clan-based insurgent and terrorist group””has continued its violent insurgency in the area with Christians and security personnel being the main targets of the attacks.

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As we enter the season of Epiphany we rejoice in the splendour of the light that has dawned upon us in the appearance of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Yet it is a great sadness that before the New Year has hardly begun, the life of the Anglican Communion has yet again been clouded by compromise with the secular preoccupations of the West.

The decision by the Church of England’s House of Bishops, just announced, that clergy in Civil Partnerships can be eligible to serve as bishops will create further confusion about Anglican moral teaching and make restoring unity to the Communion an even greater challenge.

The provisions of the UK’s Civil Partnership legislation mimic marriage for same sex couples and are clearly designed on the assumption that such couples are sexually active. While it is true that the House of Bishops require bishops with Civil Partners to be celibate, this proviso is clearly unworkable. It is common knowledge that active homosexuality on the part of Church of England clergy is invariably overlooked and in such circumstances it is very difficult to imagine anyone being brought to book.

However, the heart of the matter is not enforceability, but that bishops have a particular responsibility to be examples of godly living. It cannot be right that they are able to enter into legally recognised relationships which institutionalise and condone behaviour that is completely contrary to the clear and historic teaching of Scripture, as reaffirmed for Anglicans by the 1998 Lambeth Conference in its Resolution 1.10.

The weight of this moral teaching cannot be supported by a flimsy proviso. In his teaching about marriage, Jesus reaffirms that marriage is the coming together of a man and a woman in accordance with the pattern of creation itself when he says ”˜from the beginning of creation God made them male and female’ (Mark 10:6). For the health and well being of both church and society we must promote this great God given gift of marriage without compromise and ambiguity.

The Most Rev’d Dr Eliud Wabukala

Archbishop, Anglican Church of Kenya and Chairman, GAFCON Primates Council.

Epiphany

The leader of a global group of traditional Anglicans has condemned the Church of England for “compromising with the secular preoccupations of the West” in an attack that significantly ratchets up the latest fallout between liberals and conservative over the thorny issue of homosexuality.

Archbishop Eliud Wabukala, the Primate of Kenya and the leader of the influential Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans, made the comments in a statement reacting to the recent decision by the Church of England to lift the ban on gay but celibate men becoming bishops.

The Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans represents conservative congregations in North America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia who are vehemently opposed to same sex unions and gay clerics. They formed four years ago and threatened to break away from the global Anglican Communion if openly gay men continued to be welcomed as clerics in more liberal dioceses such as the United States and Britain.

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A group of Bishops and senior clerics from Nigeria and Kenya issued a call for the Archbishop of Canterbury effectively to be replaced as leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion by an elected chairman.

Meanwhile the Anglican church in Uganda offered Bishop Welby its support but warned the Church is “fractured” over questions such as homosexuality and the interpretation of the Bible.

The remarks come following a meeting of Anglican leaders from around the world in Auckland, New Zealand, which ended this week, attended by he current Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams.

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Sadly, I cannot escape the conclusion that this gathering was a missed opportunity and I endorse the report ”˜What really happened in Auckland NZ at ACC-15′ released today by the ACC representatives from Kenya and Nigeria. It is clear that those controlling the agenda were very reluctant to face the real ecclesiological and theological challenges thrown up by the undisciplined rejection of historic Anglican faith and order by certain Provinces.

In particular the continued treatment of the Episcopal Church of the United States as a Province in good standing, despite its leading role as an advocate for teaching and practice contrary to Scripture, undermines the claim to be allowing the Bible in the life of the Church to actually speak as the Word of God.

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The day we give special thanks for James Hannington, Bishop of Eastern Equatorial Africa, and his Companions, Martyrs, 1885

My dear people of God:

Grace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Primates’ Council has just concluded its October 2012 meeting in Dar es Salaam where we witnessed the blessing of God in a number of key areas:

Ӣ In the increase of our numbers
Ӣ Through the achievements of our April meeting
Ӣ By the testimonies of those who are joining with us
Ӣ In the new funding provided for our communication efforts
Ӣ Through our decision to meet again in a Global assembly
Ӣ By the recognition that we are not alone in this spiritual battle

We gathered in this historic city grateful for the faithful witness of the Anglican Church of Tanzania during these challenging times. The Most Reverend Valentine Mokiwa, Bishop of the Diocese of Dar es Salaam and Primate of Tanzania, welcomed us. We were made aware of some of the current difficulties facing Tanzania and committed ourselves to prayer for protection for the Church and peace and prosperity for all of this nation’s citizens.

During our meeting we were vividly reminded of the costly struggles of so many of our fellow Christians, whether facing violent persecution, natural disaster or spiritual conflict with competing ideologies….

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The social transformation work of the Anglican Church of Kenya is in the process of rebranding from Christian Community Services (CCS) to Anglican Development Services, Kenya (ADSK).

Regional directors, programme managers and other staff of the Anglican Church of Kenya development arm attended a workshop to discuss the way forward of the proposed identity.

The workshop held on 25th and 26th Septem-ber 2012 in Nakuru, was facilitated by Dr. William Ogara from Christian Organizations Research and Advisory Trust of Africa (CORAT).

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Nairobi’s police commissioner Njoroge Ndirangu reported that an examination of the crime scene indicated a limpet mine or an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) containing nails, ball-bearings and other pieces of shrapnel was electronically detonated alongside the wall of the Christian education building of St Cyprian’s Anglican Church at approximately 10:30 local time. Shrapnel from the blast killed an eight year old boy and wounded several children attending a Bible study. Six children were taken in serious condition to the capital’s Kenyatta National Hospital for treatment.

Popular sentiment in Nairobi lays the blast on al Shabaab…the Somali terror group….

However, the use of an IED might have been a copycat attack designed to drive the church off its land….

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Following the explosive attack at Anglican Church of Kenya St. Polycarp Parish on Juja Road in Nairobi yesterday, Archbishop Dr. Eliud Wabukala joined other religious leaders in condemning the explosive attack.

Earlier in the day, Archbishop Wabukala, and Bishop Joel Waweru of Nairobi Diocese visited and prayed with four of the six children still admitted at Kenyatta National Hospital, Children’s Ward.

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The Anglican Church has asked President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga to ensure national security does not deteriorate.

Maseno West Bishop Reverend Joseph Wasonga and the Synod said Kenyans must embrace peace as the country inches closer to the March 4 General Election.

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The Anglican Church has challenged Kenyans to be patient with the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission amid reports of the commission’s integrity waning. Archbishop Eliud Wabukhala, the churh’s head, asked leaders and politicians not to be suspicious of the operations of the IEBC since this will cast its credibility and ability to a fair electioneering process into disrepute.

Wabukhala said leaders should embrace the body and advice it accordingly instead of casting blame on a particular group. “IEBC has done well in the past and any slight hitch should not be exaggerated as the end of the world. We should work alongside IEBC as a community and not try to load blames on the group. That will demoralise them and make them confused”, said Wabukhala.

The remarks by the clergy comes amid questions raised by various leaders on the biometric voter registration tender awarded to [second highest contract bidder and I.T. Company, headquartered in Nairobi ] Symphony by the election’s body.

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