Kenyan Pastors Banned from Easter, Marathon Community Celebrations

Rev. Horrace Kamau

Rev. John Gathogo

Rev. Gerald Wahome

By Harrison Maina, Ajabu Africa News, posted April 9, 2011

LOWELL, Mass._Three former pastors at the Saint Stephens’ Church in Lowell have been banned from attending Kenyan community celebrations to honor Kenyan marathon runners as well as functions marking Easter holidays to be held at the same church next Sunday, April 17.

 According to credible and reliable information reaching Ajabu Africa News, Rev. Horace Kamau, Rev. John Mwaniki and Rev. Gerald Wahome were expelled from the church on August 10 last year and have therefore been barred from coming near or attending any function held at the Saint Stephens’ Church venue as they are ‘likely to cause a breach of peace’.

The stern orders to the pastors who had served for a long time at the well known Kenyan community church before the newly revealed expulsions, were sent in an email from the Rt. Rev. Bishop John A. Herzog, who is the Primus of the American Anglican Church, the larger oversight body to which St. Stephens’ Church is affiliated to.
 
In the brief email, which was a reply to the three pastors who had emailed the Bishop requesting permission to attend the nationalistic-cum Christian celebrations, Bishop Herzog denied the request, maintaining that the decision to expel them was made in consultation with the long serving and well known pastor of the church, Rev. Samuel Ngige  Kimohu.

“In regard to your email of March 29, 2011 your request is denied,” said Rev. Herzog in the email obtained by Ajabu Media.

“The decision of August 2010 was made by the House of Bishops of the American Anglican Church, the Chancellor and the Vestry of Saint Stephen's Anglican Church in consultation with Fr. Samuel. Saint Stephen's Anglican Church is in peace and harmony and I am sure all concerned want to keep it that way. I know you will understand,” continued the man of God.

He wished the three pastors well in their personal lives as well as in their ministry work. “May Our Lord Bless and keep you and your ministries,” he stated.

The stunning developments come barely a week before the intended celebrations at the church next Sunday, with the Kenyan Ambassador to the US, HE. Elkanah Odembo and several Kenyan government ministers and dignitaries expected to grace the event.

Rt. Rev. Bishop John A. Herzog, barred 3 kenyan pastors from attending upcoming community celebrations at the Saint Stephens church.

The event has been organized by the Kenya Pastors Fellowship (KPF) as part of the weekend long celebrations to honor Kenyan marathon runners who will be in action at the Boston Marathon on Monday April 18.

Kenyan prime Minister, Hon. Raila Odinga will attend the initial celebrations on Friday, April 15 at the Back Bay Convention center in Boston but will not attend the Saint Stephens’ Church event as he will be attending other official duties.
 
“We are very saddened and hurt by this development since we’re also members of the Kenyan community in Boston and banning us from attending the celebrations at our former church is not right,” said a devastated Rev. Horace Kamau during an interview with Ajabu Africa News.
 
“The fact that we were expelled from saint Stephens’s Church does not mean our freedom to participate in community events even if they are taking part there should be curtailed. I don’t see how we will cause a breach of peace by attending the marathon and Easter day celebrations,” he added.

Before the bizarre expulsion that has been kept under the wraps for unclear reasons, the three pastors had worshipped and served harmoniously together with Rev. Kimuhu for many years. 

Rev. Kamau joined the Saint Stephens church in 2000, and then left for a while before rejoining the church in 2004 until he was expelled unceremoniously last summer.

When reached for a comment, Rev. Kimuhu was tight-lipped on the issue deferring the media to Bishop Herzog who wrote the expulsion emails and subsequent denial to attend the community celebrations.

“I did not expel them from the church. It was Bishop Herzog who did it and he had his own reasons. Call him and ask what happened,” said Rev. Kimuhu, avoiding any mention of his knowledge of the situation.

However, pressed on how Bishop Herzog did the expulsions which according to the emails were done in consultation with him, Rev. Kimohu said that his comments can only come later after the Bishop talks on the issue as protocol demands.

When contacted, Bishop Herzog took responsibility for banning the three pastors from attending the meeting on the basis of the previous decision by the House of bishops of the American Anglican church that deemed the pastors no longer part of Saint Stephens’ Church.
 
“We expelled them because they called a Bishop from a different church who came and ordained them as priests while still members in the American Anglican church,” said Bishop Herzog in a phone interview with Ajabu Africa News.
 
He said that regardless of the fact that the event on Sunday the 17’th of April will be a Kenyan community event, letting the pastors into saint Stephens church may pose a risk of undermining the peace at the church and will also open a door for them to come back another day and form a habit of frequenting the church because a crack was opened for them to slide through.

Rev. Samuel Kimohu. Denied responsibility at banning 3 Kenyan pastors from appearing at the upcoming community celebrations.

However, the Bishop said that he was not aware of most of the details that took place in the background regarding the ordaining of the three pastors that took place with the full blessings and guidance of Rev. Kimohu, only for them to be expelled a short while later.

Rev. Kamau was ordained as a deacon under the American Anglican church by Bishop Herzog in 2008 at a ceremony that took place at the Saint Stephens’ Church.

He was later ordained as a priest under the All Nations Anglican Church by Bishop John Githiga from Texas in August last year at an occasion held at the Saint Stephens’ Church in Lowell and attended by scores of pastors from the Kenyan community led by Rev. Kimohu.

Bishop Githiga was also the bishop presiding over the wedding celebrations to mark 26 years of marriage between Rev. Samuel Kimohu and his wife that was held on the Saturday before the ordination took place on Sunday, August 1st, 2010.

The wedding celebrations had caused uproar in the Kenyan community for the hefty sum of money that had been earmarked to be raised at a controversial pre-wedding party to cater for the wedding budget estimated at about $50,000 by organizers.Reliable sources said that the pre-wedding event managed to raise about $20,000, well below the desired amount.

Many people felt that there were several sick people in the community in need of financial help and a pastors's 26 year wedding celebration did not make good enough reason to put a burden on the community to raise such a large sum of money.

Rev. Mwaniki Gathogo was also ordained as a priest during the same ordination ceremony on August 1, 2010..

After the unexpected expulsion from the Saint Stephens church, Rev. Kamau and Rev.Gathogo went on to found the Hope All Nations Anglican church located at 1565 Main st. in Tewksbury, Ma.

Also perplexing was the ordination of Rev. Gerald Wahome who was counseled and sent to Kenya by Rev. Samuel Kimuhu to be ordained as a priest under the Charismatic Episcopal Church. Rev. Kimuhu used to be under the Charismatic Episcopal Church while still a minister of the word in Kenya but the denomination has known church in the USA.

Upon his return, Rev. Wahome continued to serve at the Saint Stephens’ Church with no problems until his time of expulsion.He now serves at the St. Paul's Community church in Lawrence under pastor Peter Gachathi since his expulsion..

“That’s wrong. This was not the right thing for Father Kimuhu to do. We do not operate that way and had I known about it before, I would have stopped those ordinations from taking place at the Saint Stephens’s Church,” said Bishop Herzog during the interview with Ajabu Africa News.  
 
The three pastors told Ajabu Africa News that they had sought help form the Kenya pastors Fellowship (KPF), under the chairmanship of Bishop David Karaya to have the venue of the event changed to somewhere else where they would be free to attend.

“Pastors should not go to the saint Stephens’ Church and the venue should be changed because if they go there, Rev. Kimohu will be strengthened in his position and the truth will be crushed,” said Rev. John Gathogo who runs Ezra devotional ministries, an independent gospel teaching ministry that can operate under the umbrella of any church.

Several telephone calls and voice messages to Bishop David Karaya of the Kenya KPF seeking comment were not returned.

Saint Stephens’ Church, one of the oldest and well known Kenyan community churches based in Lowell, is not new to controversy. Many members of the church who called Ajabu Africa News said that the latest controversy of naming pastors from attending the community events on Sunday is the last straw that broke the camels back.

“Those pastors served us for very many years and we did not have a problem with them. It is Rev. Kimuhu who engineered a plot behind the scenes to remove them as they posed a threat to him,” said one member who south anonymity to avoid backlash from the pastor.

“I don’t see why the pastors should not attend this event yet they are part of us,” added the concerned Kenyan.

Over the years, St. Stephens has curved a niche for itself, posing as the main platform for Kenyan community civic and business events in the area of Lowell.

It has come to be more known as the landing spot for many Kenyan businessmen and companies who want to have easy access to the potential customers and investors in the area of Lowell.
 
Reliable sources say that many members of the church have been dissatisfied with the image that leaders of the Saint Stephens church have cultivated leading to the church to be recognized more for business and political activities.

“Our church sounds more like a house of politics and business than a house of God. This current scandal is a testimony to what our church has become,” said a member who declined to be named.
 
Just like in Africa, where political turmoil is being passed on from one country to the other as the youth demand change for better governance, the rapidly unraveling scandal at St. Stephens’ Church is looking more like the recent chaos that hit a neighboring Kenyan community Presbyterian church (Ushindi), which is still roiling in unending problems resulting from questionable church leadership occasioned by a sex and money scandal when a pastor who was defrocked refused to leave the church, seeking to hold tight onto his position .
 
 Ajabu Africa News will keep you updated on the situation as it evolves.1

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