Pastors surround Sister Sarah Wanjiku Kibiri as she gets anointed with oil to serve as the new pastor of the Jamhuri Gospel church in Worcester as a crowd of worshippers watch to witness. pic by H.Maina/Ajabu
by Harrison Maina, Ajabu Africa News, posted December 14, 2010.Updated 12/15/10, 4.30 pm
WORCESTER, Mass.,_ “I am a strong advocate for females in the controversial debate whether women should be allowed to serve in church as pastors”, said Bishop Stephen Chege on Sunday last week when he presided over the ordination ceremony of sister Sarah Wanjiku Kibiri who now officially becomes Rev. Sarah Wanjiku Kibiri under the Jamhuri Gospel church , a Kenyan community church in Worcester.
Time and time again, Bishop Chege said, we have seen countless examples of women in the bible who were giving high responsibilities in the church and therefore even today, we should not shy away from allowing women who have a calling to serve as pastors in our churches.
The ordination ceremony too place at the Jamhuri gospel church and was attended by close to 200 Kenyans from different churches and cities in Massachusetts.
A big number of other Kenyan pastors also graced the colorful event that saw various lively praise and worship presentations performed by various groups and gospel artists including Caroline Mbithi, Joseph Muruaru, Lucy Muthumbi, Alice Maina Elizabeth Maina, and the Jamhuri gospel church choir.
In a fiery speech before the official anointing of sister Sarah Wanjiku, where anointing oil was poured on to the new pastor's head from a long traditional cow horn, Bishop Chege said that over the years in different Christian denominations, there has been great controversy on consecration or ordination of women in the service of God.
He said that some denominations do not believe that women should be ordained into the service of God, while others believe in ordaining them.
“Now by being here today I believe you already know my position in this controversy
I am strong proponent to the ordination of both men and women into the service of God. I do not believe in this truth without substantive scriptural support”.
Bishop Stephen Chege fills a cow horn with special anointing oil
The Bishop went on to biblically support his assertions quoting from several books in the bible where female servants of God risked their lives to work with other men of god in facilitating the spread of the true gospel.
Quoting from the book of Galatians 3:26-28, Bishop Chege read the verse that clearly supports his belief; “You all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither the Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female for you are all one in Christ Jesus”.
He added that “the scripture is very emphatic that there is neither male nor female; we are all one in Him” and therefore women can be ministers of the gospel without fear or intimidation
Among the women highlighted by the Bishop as having supported the ministry in the bible were Priscilla and her husband Aquila, who taught apostle Apollo about the baptism of fire and the spirit (Acts 18:18-19), Mary, who worked hard for church of Romans, Romans 16:6, and Phoebe, Romans16:1-2, who was of great help to many apostles as they went around preaching the word, including Apostle Paul.
“Sister Phoebe was referred by Paul as a deacon or servant of the church in Cenchrea.This alone should tell you she held a very high position in that church”, said Bishop Chege.
The bishop likened Sister Sarah Kibiri to Phoebe, saying “As sister Phoebe was a great help to Apostle Paul, I would with all sincerity tell you that sister Sarah Wanjiku Kibiri has been a very great help to me from the time I came to known her.
Bishop Chege pours the anointing oil on the head of Sister Sarah Wanjiku Kibiri to officially serve as a pastor
Bishop Chege, who heads the Full Glory International Center which has two branches in Nairobi and one branch in Alabama, is an international preacher who has empowered many upcoming preachers initiates their ministries for the purposes of propagating the gospel.
He asked the Kenyan community and members of the Jamhuri Gospel church to support the new pastor Sarah in her work as she embarks on executing her ministerial duty in the service of God.
“God looks at the hearts unlike men who look at the outward appearance”, said Bishop Chege. “Today sister Sarah may not look very descent before the eyes of men but her heart is right with God and so she qualifies for this ordination”.
The bishop then proceeded to conduct the anointing ceremony where special anointing oil was poured of Sister Sarah from a long traditional cow horn as she was surrounded by many pastors.
Cheers and ululations rent the air from family, friends and visitors as the new pastor Sarah emerged from the long anointing prayer and signed an official certificate from the Full Glory International Center to declare her the new pastor, serving at the Jamhuri gospel church in Worcester.
"At the moment however, Jamhuri Gospel church is not yet under the authority of Full Glory International Cente or any other larger church governing body until they make a decision of where they want to go", Bishop Chege told Ajabu Africa News while answering a question in a post event interview.
“We are very pleased and honored that sister Sarah has now been officially ordained to serve as a pastor. She has always been preaching the word of God even from Kenya and many people used to think she was a real pastor”, said Joseph Kagotho Kienja while reading a word of word of thanks as a family representative.
Family spokesman, Joseph Kagotho Kienja
During her acceptance speech, the new Rev. Sarah Wanjiku Kibiri said that she was honored to be anointed as a servant of God at Jamhuri Gospel church and she would put all effort necessary do her work at serving the needs of the church.
“As I start this new task ahead of me, I vow to serve God with might and all that I have for he has called me to serve and to prepare his bride for his coming”.
Speaking to Ajabu Africa News, many Kenyans present at the event congratulated Sister Sarah and vowed to give her support in her ministry work.
They said that it is good to see a pastor ordained especially right in front of their eyes in Worcester as many pastors have come up these days and accorded themselves pastoral titles without anyone ever knowing where and when they were ordained.
Among the pastors who assisted Bishop Chege conduct the ordination ceremony were Rev. Ben Njuru of compassionate fellowship church in Worcester, Rev. Joseph Waiyaki of the CCF church Lowell, and Rev. Charles Kihiko of the Calvary evangelical church in Lowell.
