More Kenyan Churches Seek to Leave Adventist Conferences
18 October 2019 | The list of Adventist congregations in Kenya leaving General Conference-sanctioned conferences to join the recently-formed and self-appointed Nairobi Cosmopolitan Conference (NCC) is growing.
On October 15, the Daily Nation reported that a number of churches in the Trans Mara region of the country seek to leave the South Kenya Conference to join the NCC.
One of these churches, the Oloiborosioto Church from the Trans Mara region, accused local conferences of treating it “with contempt,” claiming that it had not had a pastor for over a year.
The Trans Mara congregations join congregations such as KPCU SDA Church, in Mowlem, Nairobi, that recently left the Central Kenya Conference (CKK) to join the new NCC.
In addition, Kangemi’s Mountain View SDA and Makandi SDA Church in Meru left the Central Kenya Conference to join the NCC.
The CKC has dismissed the NCC as a private company that lacks the authority to run churches.
According to Standard Media, another congregation, Saika West SDA church, also voted in a recent church business meeting to leave the CKC for the NCC.
The departure of these churches adds to controversy in the CKC following alleged death threats against the senior pastor of Nairobi Central SDA Church. The congregation has been the scene of major controversy over recent months, with physical violence and other disruptions leading to the temporary shuttering of the church by authorities. The church has since been reopened.
One major source of the tension at the church was a dispute over a 2015 election in which heads of the Central Kenya Conference of the denomination were chosen. Some felt that the election process was manipulated and that appointments had been biased by ethnic divisions.
In the wake of the election, the Nairobi Cosmopolitan Conference was formed as a rival to the Central Kenya Conference. The General Conference is attempting to sue the NCC over the use of the Adventist trademark and logo.
