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Resurgent Hosanna Gospel Center Holds Miracle Service and Church Dedication

Worshippers during the recent miracle service and church dedication at the new Hosanna Gospel Center church in Lowell, Mass.

Story and pics by Harrison Maina, AjabuAfrica.com

DRACUT, Mass. MAY 7_Hosanna Gospel Center, the oldest and widely recognized Pentecostal Kenyan community church in Mass. held a miracle service that was also part of dedicating their new smaller sanctuary in Lowell Mass., after relocating from their previous sprawling church in Dracut over one year ago.

The event took place on Sunday April 25 and attracted more than 200 people.

It was filled with colorful and moving performances by several artists, and ended with shows by the church’s praise and worship team led by John Kariuki, the divine movers, a group of three women who performed silent praise and worship music through signs, and the children’s choir from the church who performed the silent dancing.

A power packed sermon by Pastor Stanley Mungai moved those present and ended with a Cambodian man stepping to the front in faith and getting saved.

During the event, several other gospel artists performed including Jane Munyua, Jayne Peris Mbaria and Fideris Kuria.

Speaking at the miracle service, the pastor of the church, Pastor Stanley Mungai, told worshippers that God gives hope where there is no hope to those who have faith in him.

Visitors arrive at the new Hosanna Gospel Center

He said that despite the good things and problems that people have and go through in this country, having the peace of God is the most important thing one can ever possess. “Being blessed is not having a big car, it is about having the peace of God in everyday of your life” said the pastor.

“I know in this country it is possible to loose a smile and replace it with a cosmetic one permanently,” added the man of God. “You can be so depressed here that you get all your car windows tinted so that no one can see you as you go to work triple shifts due lack of peace at home,” he added.

He asked believers to stop being hypocrites so that they can live according to God’s plan of a well harmonized life. He told the gathering that when one gets tired of pretending for too long, then the peace of God starts to rule in their lives.

The pastor said that he is a good example of a person who has seen too much stuff happen in ones’ life that at times he thought he would not make it.

“I know what it means to go through stuff,” said pastor Mungai. But I also know that the anointing of God sustains you when you are a child of God,” he said, adding that he thanks God for seeing him though a lot of problems.

The new sanctuary is located in a section of a renovated mill building right off School Street, near Lakeview Avenue in Lowell, and a few yards from the University of Massachusetts, Lowell campus.

Hosanna Gospel center ran into serious problems over the last couple of years as the American economy tanked, leaving the church with a massive mortgage form their ambitious large church located on Lakeview Avenue in Dracut.

Pastor Stanley Mungai

When a good number of members left the church then problems struck, pastor Mungai and a handful of faithful made the decision to sell off the unmanageable property and moved to a much smaller, rented and easily manageable sanctuary in Lowell.

“Over the last 3 years, a lot of members left the church. We were growing at a very fast pace and some church members left as they could not keep up with the pace,”said Pastor Mungai during an interview with AjabuAfrica.com.

“Others simply moved to other states and cities after they got mareried, or when the distance to our church became too much, especially with other churches springing up in different cities”, he added.

Started in 1997, Hosanna Gospel Center was the only other Kenyan church in New England besides the Saint Paul’s Anglican Church, then located in Malden.

It attracted young and new Kenyan immigrants who traveled long distances every Sunday for worship, from as far as Brockton, Quincy and Worcester.

However, as the Saint Paul’s church fragmented into splinters and other churches started coming up, Hosanna also started experiencing pressures of rapid growth, purchasing a massive building in Dracut at the peak of their membership at 120 regular members.

Hosanna praise and worship team

But even with the troubles that hit Hosanna Gospel center, it still managed to commission a new sister church in Worcester led by David Kahura, Pastor Mungai’s younger brother.

In turn, the Hosanna Gospel church in Worcester birthed another Hosanna Gospel church in Braintree, Mass. with Pastor Daniel Kamau being the leader.

"The recent move by the parent Hosanna church to sell the money sucking church in Dracut and move into a smaller sanctuary now seems the right one to have made", said pastor Mungai. "Now we have no big burdens that bring stress".

The church is now recalibrating itself into a lean and effective church to serve it’s faithful, culminating into the huge attendance at the new church’s dedication and miracle service.

Many members of the old Hosanna church came from many cities in New England and seemed to flow right with the spirit of God.

Pastors from other churches also attended the service, including Pastor David Kahura of the Hosanna Gosepel church in Worcester, Pastor Daniel Kamau of the Hosanna church in Braintree, Pastor John Wachira of the Christ is the Answer church in North Chelmsford and Pastor Malcom Eboholom of the Ebenezer church in Lowell and a former pastor at the Hosanna Gospel center.

A large group of visitors from a Spanish church in Lowell filled one section of the church as the service progressed.

The event ended with prayers and a vote of thanks by John Mbuthia, a member of the church.

Event pics summary below