Kiambu AIPCA leaders meet to end wrangles in church

The African Independent Pentecostal Church of Africa leaders in Kiambu have united to seek long-lasting peace and cleanse themselves from the shame of constant fighting.

The leaders on Tuesday held a closed-door meeting at Kiamwangi AIPCA church in Gatundu South.

After the meeting, Bishop David Njuguna said as gatekeepers of the church, they realised they needed to be united.

“We have resolved to work dynamically to ensure that we remove the shame and stigma of the AIPCA in this region and in our country as a whole,” he said.

"We have mandated our education secretary and resident bishop of the diocese to reopen our regional satellite colleges so that our clergymen in Kiambu county and this region will start the training programmes."

In 2017, AIPCA church sunk to new levels of leadership wrangles that led to numerous fights. Interventions by President Uhuru Kenyatta hit a snag.

Bishop Muita Njomo of Gatundu South Diocese said they will be holding forums as church leaders to focus on their core business, which is to bring unity among members and preach the word of God.

The bishops urged their followers to be patient as leaders iron out their differences and bring the church together. 

Among other things, the church will seek to repossess are properties that were lost due to internal wrangles. Most of the properties are schools that the church had started and are now being managed by other people and institutions. 

“Due to wrangles, the church has lost some of its properties, and we will seek to repossess them, but first we must seek the unity of the church leadership,” Bishop Charles Kago of Githunguri Diocese said.

Bishop Stephen Wachira of Thika South Diocese said, “We are bringing the clergy together so that we can speak in one voice. We think about the church as a corporate, not as an individual.” 

AIPCA is one of the oldest churches in Kenya formed by African Christians who could not fit in the colonial Catholic Church. It mainly consisted of reformed freedom fighters. 

After Independence, cracks emerged following leadership wrangles. This led  to countrywide splits.