Steering Committee Formed to Search for a New Ushindi Pastor Ushindi church members and PNNE officilas join hands in prayer at the end of a consultative meeting last Sunday at the Eliot Presbyterian church in Lowell to figure out how to remove the defrocked former pastor from the pulpit. The former pastor, Dr. Mumbui Karimi still claims to be the official Ushindi church pastor. He is now facing a criminal probe over the sexual abuse charges that he has already denied. However the developments have thrown the largest Kenyan community church in Boston into serious turmoil.
Pic by H.Maina/Ajabu Media
by Harrison Maina, Ajabu Africa News, posted March 16, 2011
LOWELL, Mass.,_ A Steering Committee, comprised of 6 Ushindi church members and several officials from the Presbytery of Northern new England (PNNE), was formed last Sunday with a mandate to search for a new ‘Kikuyu speaking’ pastor to replace the defrocked Dr. Mumbui Karimi, who is now facing a criminal probe for alleged sexual abuse of a young church member.
The developments happened last Sunday during a meeting at the Eliot Presbyterian church in Lowell chaired by the Stated Clerk of the Presbytery, Dr. Clifford L. Creel.
During the meeting, Rev. Stephen Quinlan, PNNE's chairman of the Committee on Ministry, and who was the lead prosecutor during the trial that found Dr. Mumbui guilty of the sexual abuse, said that he has been informed of an ongoing criminal investigation by the Lowell police Department on the said charges.
“With the consent of Caroline Muthoni, I am herby announcing to you that a criminal complaint has already been filed with the Lowell Police Department”, said Rev. Quinlan.
“I am informed that summons may be issued soon for Dr. Karimi to appear in a civil court to answer the charges and for a judge to determine if there was enough evidence to warrant a trial”, he added.
The stunning developments came in the heels of a hallmark ruling at the Middlesex County Superior court last week where a judge recognized the legal oversight authority by PNNE over the Kenyan Presbyterian church, Ushindi at least temporarily, until the entire matter is heard and determined.
The judge also ordered a freezing of the funds in the account, and ordered that any money left over in the old account, and all weekly collections be counted in the presence of mutually agreed church members from each side of the dispute, and spent only with the authorization by lawyers representing both Dr. Karimi and PNNE.
All old and new signatories to the church accounts were stripped of their signatory authority until further notice.
The ruling seemed to energize the PNNE, a Presbyterian church USA oversight body responsible for all churches affiliated with PCUSA in Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire and Northern Massachusetts, including Lowell.
In that capacity, PNNE is responsible for carrying out disciplinary duties for all pastors who are required to be members of the Presbytery in order to be authorized to minister at PCUSA churches.
It was while excising those powers that PNNE defrocked Dr. Karimi when he violated the terms given after he was temporarily defrocked for 6 months in the hope that he would be restored as a pastor for a sex abuse conviction.
“But when Dr. Mumbui injected himself back again into the Ushindi church on January 23, we had to permanently defrock him”, said Dr. Creel, the Stated Clerk, while addressing Ushindi members on Sunday.
Dr. Creel also said that PNNE had to move fast to secure the funds at the Bank of America account for safe keeping at a separate account with the presbytery until the dust settles when all the funds will be returned to Ushindi church.
“A huge chunk of money was moved to the custody pf PNNE for protection”, said Dr. Creel”. “Karimi wants access to it and we are glad that he now can not get access after the ruling”, he added.
Dr. Karimi, through his lawyer, issued statements to a Middlesex County Superior court in Woburn last week that he is still the pastor of the church together with other “newly elected” Board of Directors and denied any affiliation with the PNNE.
Responding to Ushindi church member’s plea that PNNE, as the legal oversight body, initiate a restraining order to prevent Dr. Mumbui from entering the church to preach, the officials admitted that they are faced with a great dilemma since the lease of the church building at 450 Chelmsford st in Lowell is in the name of Dr. Mumbui, as the principal agent on record.
“We have checked with the landlord and the landlord said he would not change anything in the terms of the lease while it is in effect”, said a frustrated Dr. Creel.
Both the PNNE and Ushindi church members expressed frustration that Dr. Mumbui went behind their backs and signed to renew the lease after it expired, pending the intended purchase of their own church building.
“A pastor should not sign a lease for the church because he is a member of the Presbytery. That should be signed by the Secretary of the Session”, said Dr. Creel, citing rules and regulations in the 400 year old Book of Order that lays down rules to be followed within the Presbyterian church denomination, renown for it’s strict adherence to orderly manner of conducting church business.
“He is holding us hostage because of signing a document that he was not supposed to sign”, bemoaned a youthful of the Ushindi church member present.
In Kenya, any church affiliated to the Presbyterian church of East Africa (PCEA) is famously referred to as Kanitha Ka Muraratara (Kikuyu for the church of order), for thir strict adherence to a orderly and hierarchical way of conducting church business.
However, Dr. Creel said that PNNE’s lawyers are looking at every possible way to legally remove Dr. Karimi from church, noting that it would not be easy since Karimi has some supporters in the church that may complicate the process.
He said that PNNE was frustrated since they have been denied access to the Ushindi church in Lowell in order to address the congregation on ways to resolve the matter at the, adding that Dr. Karimi has threatened them with trespass charges should they do so.
PNNE officials, left to right: Elder Burks, Rev. Stephen Quinlan and Dr. Clifford L. Creel
“This is why we have to meet here at the Eliot church and we know it makes some people not be able to attend these meetings to hear the truth for themselves so that they can make informed decisions”.
Dr. Creel also expressed frustration that two letters that he sent over 2 months ago to the General Secretary of the PCEA in Nairobi Kenya, Rt. Reverend David Gathanju informing him of the sexual abuse charges and eventual defrocking of Dr. Mumbui, has not yet been replied.
When he denied affiliation to PNNE, Dr. Karimi said that Ushindi church is affiliated to the PCEA church in Kenya as the oversight body.
Efforts by Ajabu Media to reach the General Secretary by phone and email on several occasions for comment or clarification have never been replied.
Similarly, efforts to get a comment from the Kenya pastor’s fellowship (KPF) an organization that brings together over 30 pastors of within the Kenyan community churches in Massachusetts have never yielded a response.
Going to the pains of demonstrating their undeniable affiliation to the Ushindi church, PNNE officials last Sunday used a Power Point presentation to describe step by step their history with Dr. Mumbui dating back in October 20th on 2004 when he, Dr. Mumbui, wrote a letter requesting membership with the presbytery.
“We appointed Dr. Mumbui as a minister on June 3, 2006 after which he was allowed to participate in the PCUSA Board of Pensions Benefit plan”, said Dr. Creel as he went through the revealing presentation.
As further proof of affiliation, Dr. Creel said that PNNE agreed to sponsor Dr. Mumbui on his application for a green card so that he could be eligible to work as a religious worker and that the church, under Dr. Mumbui, has been paying it’s annual Per Capita contribution to the presbytery .
At the same time, the Dr. Creel said, Ushindi church has been using the PCUSA’s issued tax exempt number to make church related purchases.
“Karimi also subjected himself to our disciplinary process when he was accused of sexual abuse”, added Dr. Creel, dismayed that Dr. Mumbui has now made a turnaround and denied affiliation only after he was defrocked. Continue to Page 2 >>
