The Chief Apostle will conduct a divine service in Thika (Kenya) on 30 June. He will also celebrate the divine service for the departed in this East African country. The brothers and sisters have high expectations.
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Thika is a town located in central Kenya, about 40 kilometres north-west of Nairobi.
Photo: Valerius Tygart
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The divine service in Thika will take place at Mount Kenya University.
Photo: Jwkoigi
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Just outside of the town are the Fourteen Falls, which are considered worth a visit. Fourteen smaller streams merge to form a big waterfall that drops 25 metres. They are very impressive.
Photo: Gabby Canonizado
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The Chief Apostle will attend a concert in Nairobi, the country’s national capital, on Saturday, 1 July. A choir and an orchestra of about 350 members will perform.
Photo: Sam Stearman
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Afterwards, the Chief Apostle and his party will continue to Homa Bay, where he will celebrate the divine service for the departed. It will be a very special moment for the young congregation. Homa Bay is about 420 kilometres west of Nairobi, on the south shore of Lake Victoria.
Photo: Valerius Tygart
Chief Apostle Jean-Luc Schneider will be in Kenya from 29 June to 2 July. He will visit three cities: Thika, Nairobi, and Homa Bay. The divine service in Thika will take place at Mount Kenya University. Three Apostles from Kenya and one Apostle from Uganda will go into retirement, and three new Apostles will be ordained.
Thika, the first divine service
Thika is a town located in central Kenya, about 40 kilometres north-west of Nairobi. The population is 100,000. Just outside of the town are the Fourteen Falls, which are considered worth a visit. Fourteen smaller streams merge to form a big waterfall that drops 25 metres. They are very impressive. Thika has become an important town and is growing rapidly. Situated in a fruit-growing area, it specialises in fruit-canning. The town’s name goes back to either the Kikuyu or the Maasai peoples. The town is serviced by a highway, a railway line, and bus connections, and has well-maintained roads inside the town.
The New Apostolic Church has been active in this region since 1978. It was Apostle Wilbert Vovak who did pioneering work here together with Patrick Mutunga Mutava, who became an Apostle later. He offered his flat to be used for divine services in the beginning—then in Happy Valley—a good name for the start of something new. There are plans for Chief Apostle Schneider to write a message in the congregation’s guestbook.
Additional congregations were established in the area over the years. In 2005 Apostle Patrick Mutava passed away. Today the congregation in Thika belongs to the district Nairobi North.
Homa Bay, the second divine service
The Chief Apostle will attend a concert in Nairobi, the country’s national capital, on Saturday, 1 July. A choir and an orchestra of about 350 members will perform.
Afterwards, the Chief Apostle and his party will continue to Homa Bay, where he will celebrate the divine service for the departed. It will be a very special moment for the young congregation. Homa Bay is about 420 kilometres west of Nairobi, on the south shore of Lake Victoria. It is home to the Luo and Abusuba peoples. The city has a population of 200,000. The village in which the former American President Barak Obama has ancestral roots is not too far away.
The New Apostolic Church came to the area in 1975. A group of devout people who talked a lot about God and faith felt drawn by the New Apostolic teaching. Among them were Samson Ogutu and Simon Anokoli, who were ordained as Apostles in a divine service in Zurich (Switzerland) in 1979. Apostle Ogutu really pushed to start new congregations in his time, and sometimes sealed give thousand people a month!
Kenya, a country in anticipation of the Chief Apostle.