History of ASI in Kenya

Introduction

The Adventist Lay Persons Services and Industries (ASI) is a lay ministry that is run by Adventist church members who have a passion for sharing Christ in the market place, where they spend their time engaged in gainful employment.¹

In Kenya, this ministry started in 2002 after John Gichuiri Macharia, who was the president of the Central Kenya Conference, introduced it to the church in the East Africa Union Mission. When he attended the 57^th General Conference Session in Toronto, Canada, which was held June 29 to July 8, 2000, he was impressed to hear reports of the beautiful services rendered by lay church members who went out of their way to support the mission of the church in their own ways and with their own resources. He heard of the many people who were brought to the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ and the many baptisms that had happened as a result of their ministries.

Lay members such as Fitz Henry, an engineer and a successful businessman, took three months of the year to do mission work in various parts of the world. At that General Conference session, it was reported that Fitz Henry had brought to Christ more than 53,000 people who became new members of the church.² It was also told that a member of the church from the Southern Asia Division had resolved to address the challenge of transportation for pastors in his division and purchased 120 motorcycles for them.

After hearing these great reports, Pastor Macharia went back to his union and conference and saw the many church members in Nairobi and other large cities whom the Lord has entrusted with so many talents and resources. He thought that such members needed to be challenged to use their talents and resources more for the mission of the church.

Soon after the General Conference session, Pastor Macharia was elected president of the Central Kenya Conference. He continued laboring with the thought of engaging lay church members in the Lord’s mission. It took him more than a year to convene a meeting of lay church members who were professionals, to share with them the burden that the Lord had put on his heart.

The first meeting was convened at the Nairobi Central Church in February 2002. Close to 100 professionals turned up for the meeting in the old sanctuary. The meeting turned out to be the inaugural meeting of the Adventist Lay Persons Services and Industries (ASI - Kenya). In his preparation for this meeting, he had involved and invited the union officers of the East Africa Union Mission, Paul Muasya, president; Peter Bwana, executive secretary; and Gideon Munene, treasurer.

He called the meeting The Professionals Forum for More Support of the Lord’s Cause. Before calling for this meeting, he consulted with the other officers of the Central Kenya Conference, the executive secretary, Alfred G. Marundu, and treasurer, Kepha Pondi, and an ADCOM action had been taken to provide a budget for the meeting.

After a devotional thought, Pastor Macharia shared with the attendees his burden and vision concerning a greater involvement by lay members in the Lord’s service. He challenged them to be more involved in the mission of the Church, using the examples he had heard while attending the 2000 General Conference Session. The attendees were in agreement.

Committees were formed in line with the various professions that were represented at that forum. They were charged to take action to see what they could do to support the Lord’s cause in a more significant manner. When the union officers got the burden that God had given to Pastor Macharia, they started talking about it in their visits to the other conferences and fields in the union. On reaching the South Kenya Conference, they met a lay member, Dr. Solomon Omache, who shared with them the idea of ASI. This member had attended an ASI Convention in the United States, and he was the one who provided the name of the ministry (ASI).

Two months later, in May 2002, the East Africa Union Mission (EAUM) officers brought the idea of introducing the ASI ministry to the entire union during the midyear executive committee meeting. An action was taken to form a taskforce that would go around the union and sensitize the membership about this new lay ministry. Pastor Macharia, Dr. Omache, and others were tasked with the work of promoting this new initiative. Dr. Omache was elected the first chairman of the taskforce and later was elected to be the first president of the Adventist Lay Persons Service and Industries, when an action was taken to start the East Africa Union Chapter of ASI during the yearend executive committee of 2002.

Following this action, chapters were organized in each field and conference in the union and that was the birth of this wonderful ministry that has involved many lay members and made them active in the Lord’s service. A lot has happened since then and many people have been reached with the gospel. The fields and conferences organized chapters in the following order: Central Kenya Conference, Western Kenya Field, Nyamira Conference, and South Kenya Conference in 2002, while the others started in 2003. Elections in the various chapters were held between July and October 2003, and the national elections were held at the end of 2003. A constitution was developed to govern the operations of this new ministry and officers were elected for each field, conference, and union. The following are the presidents who have led this important ministry since its inception: Dr. Solomon Omache (2003-2006), Francis Njoroge (2006-2012), George Kidenda (2012-2017), Doris Kenyanya 2017-2019), Mogusu Momanyi (2019 to present).

The East Kenya Union Conference regarded this ministry so highly that the president of ASI was voted to be a regular member of the union executive committee.

The ASI ministry helped the church immensely soon after its birth. The Western Kenya Field chapter achieved a lot under the leadership of Francis Njoroge of Kakamega. The Lord used these lay members to resolve a long-standing difference that had existed between some church members at the Kapsokwony Mission Station near Mount Elgon and the Western Kenya Field and East Kenya Union Conference leadership.³ This challenge had threatened to tear the church apart and the church leadership had kind of despaired due to the hostility that the members had developed against the leadership.

Impact of ASI

The members who were recruited into this ASI ministry brought revival to the church in terms of commitment and the returning of God’s tithes and the giving of offerings. The criteria for membership in ASI was church membership and meeting the basic responsibilities of a member in good and regular standing, faithful in returning tithes and giving offerings. Members were not to be church employees. The ASI in Kenya has achieved much through the efforts of the church members who chose to join this lay movement. The following are some of those achievements: engagement in evangelism, supporting Global Mission Pioneers, construction of church buildings, participation in stewardship promotion, training about income generating activities, participation in and support of Total Member Involvement (TMI) locally and internationally, attending ASI conventions in Kenya, East-Central Africa Division (ECD), and internationally, availability of members for mission work both locally and in other countries, more church members running their own businesses, and more church members returning tithes and giving offerings.

Since the beginning of the ministry, the following chapters have hosted union-wide ASI conventions:

• Central Nyanza Field at Tom Mboya Labour College (April 22-24, 2004).

• Central Kenya Conference at KCCT Mbagathi (April 21-24, 2005).

• West Kenya Field at Asis Hotel Eldoret (February 22-24, 2006).

• South Kenya Conference at Gusii Institute Speaker, Geoffrey Mbwana (July 5-7, 2007).

• Kenya Coast Field at Mimosas (October 17-19, 2008).

• Kenya Lake Field at ICIPE Mbita Point (July 9-11, 2009).

• Central Kenya Conference at Nuru Hotel Nakuru (October 20-23, 2010).

• In 2011 there was no convention due to logistical challenges.

• Central Nyanza Field at National Museums of Kenya Kisumu (October 17-20, 2012).

• There was no convention in 2013 as the host chapter was not ready.

• West Kenya Conference at West Kenya Conference Guest House (November 2014).

• Ranen Conference at Rongo (November 2015).

• Central Rift Valley Conference at Brevan Hotel Bomet. Guest Speaker Pastor Mwakalonge Magulilo (November 24-26, 2016).

• Kenya Coast Field at Kanamai, Speaker Joel Okindo (November 2017).

Sources

Henry, “Harrington Fitz Henry: Dialogue with an Engineer Evangelist in Jamaica,” Dialogue 10:1 (1998).

Sang, Godfrey K. Kili, and Hosea K. On the Wings of a Sparrow: How the Seventh-day Adventist Church came to Western Kenya. Nairobi, Kenya: Gapman Publications Ltd., 2015.

Notes

1. Unless stated otherwise, this article is based on the author’s knowledge as founder of ASI in Kenya.↩

2. Iris Henry, “Harrington Fitz Henry: Dialogue with an Engineer Evangelist in Jamaica,” Dialogue 10:1 (1998), 23-23.↩

3. Godfrey K. Sang, Kili, and Hosea K., On the Wings of a Sparrow: How the Seventh-day Adventist Church came to Western Kenya (Nairobi, Kenya: Gapman Publications Ltd., 2015), 249.↩