Catholic Information Service for Africa (Nairobi)
6 May 2008
Kericho — The Anglican Church of Kenya has opened a new diocese in Kericho, bringing its ecclesial territories to 30.
The new see will be headed by Bishop Jackson Ole Sapit, who was inaugurated at the Holy Trinity Pro-Cathedral Church last Thursday.
The ACK Diocese of Kericho covers the South Rift, within the administrative districts of Bomet, Bureti, Kericho, Kipkelion, Narok North, Narok South, Sotik and Transmara. The diocese has nine parishes and 107 local congregations with an estimated membership of 5,500 members. The entire region has about 1.5 million people.
On the day of his inauguration, Bishop Sapit said that though the area was endowed with agricultural potential, it was characterized by high unemployment levels, poverty, low literacy rates, high prevalence of diseases such as malaria and HIV/Aids, poor roads and few industries. Large-scale farming in tea and wheat is dominated by multinationals and the rich.
The bishop also noted that the recent political turmoil in Kenya had proved that in the country, like elsewhere in Africa, Christianity is "many miles wide but only one inch deep."
The vision of the new diocese, he said, is to have members who demonstrate faith, hope and love in their lives by actively bearing witness to the perfect will of God for mankind through Jesus Christ.
That will be achieved through missions and evangelism, capacity building and training, social responsibility, resource mobilization and good governance, he said.
The new Anglican Diocese of Kericho will not live in isolation but will work for peace, tolerance and peaceful coexistence among communities, Bishop Sapit added.
The Anglican Church of Kenya dates back to 1844 with the arrival in Mombasa of Rev. Dr. Johann Ludwing Krapf of the Church Missionary Society (CMS).
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Catholic Information Service for Africa. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
