THE NAIROBI CHRISTIAN CHURCH 2019 AGM

By Fred Opiyo

The Nairobi Christian Church held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Sunday of 29th September at the Umoja Sanctuary.

The AGM was preceded by an early service where the worship team led in delivering captivating worship songs. Evangelist Raymond Musonye preached observance of the Holy Communion which served also as the message of the day based on the book of Mark 1;40-45 with the feeder scriptures from Leviticus 13:45-46, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Isaiah 53:5-6 and Luke 22:19-20.

The congregation was reminded of what Jesus did for us on the cross. He emphasized that Jesus is willing to touch and heal us from our sins, and in any challenges, be it in our marriages, singlehood, and weaknesses. 

Let’s remember Christ’s death on the cross by being grateful and obedient to what Jesus has done in our lives. Jesus traded places with us and took the place of our isolation from God because of our sins. He concluded, “When Jesus touches you, he touches you with a touch of love, of compassion and healing and mercy.”

At 10:05 am, the church settled down for the AGM and the board chairman Boniface Masila took over, introducing the board members. The board secretary Carol Ochieng read the previous meeting minutes for 2018 AGM. In the Chairman’s 2018 report, the chair extended his gratefulness for the support and prayers given to the board by the church leadership and all the church members. He gave the current number of disciples at 1401 in 2018 down from 1411 in 2017 citing the reason for the drop that we stopped holding each other accountable spiritually. As a church, we are called to reach out to the weak and the lost. This should be a personal and collective responsibility.

He noted that 29 disciples were baptized in 2018 and the total number in the East Africa Churches of Christ has slightly increased. The youth ministry in Nairobi registered 159 participants for the 2018 annual swamp camp up from 115 in 2017. The Campus ministry has also not been left behind with a membership growth of 117. The Campus launched their newly Ground zero as a ministry in 2018 and they had 16 baptisms and a successful East Africa conference in Arusha, Tanzania with 73 in attendance. The singles also had an exciting retreat in Kisumu with a good turnout of 167 while the marrieds retreat in Kisumu had 364 in attendance. The church had a total of 16 weddings in the year.

There were leadership changes in 2018; Paul and Betty Nthei were appointed Evangelist and Women’s Ministry leaders respectively. Evangelist Samson and Judy Monda transferred from Dar es Salaam to Nairobi and now serve in the southern block while Sammy and Eunice Mbuva came back to serve in the Eastern block from Mombasa.  A minute of silence was observed for our departed brother Aggrey Lugonzo and sister Joan Jelimo.

The board treasurer, William Siwa read the financial report. He hailed the sacrifices disciples take to give their contributions in making the smooth running of the church possible. His report covered various areas such as the income and expenditure and rental income from the church properties including the school at the Umoja sanctuary.  He pointed out that the weekly contributions and the general giving from members had increased from the previous year. He also appreciated the support and assistance from our sister churches in the U.S.A. The church expenditure dropped due to staff reduction and other costs which were done in 2016/17.

Mr. Ernest Omollo, the auditor from Ernest and Howard, thanked the leadership and church members for their cooperation during the process of carrying out their auditing work. He went on to report that they have audited the financial statements of the Nairobi Christian Church and its comprehensive income as up to 31st December 2018. He confirmed that the financial statement gives a true and fair position of the accounts.  The accounts were prepared in accordance to the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

The three reports were adopted after being proposed and seconded respectively.

There was a question and answer session mostly on the treasurer’s report and William Siwa did his level best to answer them. The other questions touched on the church leadership and Evangelist Mike Odwallo (who also sits on the church board) answered to the effect that the church is currently being led by a body of evangelists. The board is working out a process to choose a lead Evangelist who will lead the church. The chairmen of different committees that oversee the affairs of members in the church enumerated on their mandates and the reports of their progress so far.

The event ended up with prayers by Evangelist Mike Odwallo at 1:00 pm and a few of the faithful interviewed had this to say.

Jeremiah Otwoma from Kayole Bible talk in Eastern block asserts that “the AGM was well attended and acknowledges that this year’s event was properly arranged and planned.  The presentations went well. However, it is not easy for everybody to understand the presentations. He suggests that after the meeting, people should be sensitized and told more in their respective small group meetings and sectors to understand the explanations even better. He added that it is important for disciples to be focused on the mission (making disciples) because if we don’t do so we might not have a church in the near future. Evangelism should be at the core of everything as we are also having those who fall away which should not be taken for granted. The stability we have in the church is because of people adhering fully to the bible and the teachings of obedience to it.

Simon Okoth from Kiambaa Ministry in Western bloc noted that those who serve in Kingdom kids be allowed to sit in the meeting instead of sitting in classes to wait for parents to come to pick their children since they are members of the church too.

Tracy Obiero and Ashley Mwelu from the Ground zero campus ministry stated that the AGM was great for the integrity of the church, especially in finances. It allows the church members every year to receive a financial statement for the purpose of accountability.

As for our contribution to the growth of campus ministry, we are able to move together as a family of God, have godly fun together and reach out to as many young people out there to know God and to serve Him. We participate in different activities and through this; we always invite our friends to join us in worship services. We are glad that we have had wonderful baptisms last year and we thank God for that. We organize devotionals and also bible talks where we study the bible eventually leading to the high number of baptisms in the campus ministry.

Glory be to God.