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The first Adventist missionaries arrived in British East Africa in 1906. They primarily focused their work on the African people. The mission work among the European settlers came later, specifically through the period 1911 to 1963.
The outbreak of World War I in 1914 in Europe negatively impacted Adventist missionary activities in British East Africa and specifically South Kavirondo, the birthplace of the Adventist Church in Kenya. Almost as soon as hostilities broke out in Europe, they also began in British East Africa. The British were primarily at war with Germany, and it happened that their colonial holdings in British East Africa (Kenya) and German East Africa (Tanganyika) shared a very long and largely porous border.
Following the government restrictions on the activities of Adventists in Nandi, Kenya, between 1932 and 1963, the Adventists there relied on the Missionary Volunteer Societies to make up for the absence of formal Adventist schools in the region.
The mission carried by women in Kenya dates back to when the Adventist church was established in Kenya in 1906. Missionary women performed important ministerial work, which included educating the African women on contemporary aspects of living. They trained the African women on such important issues as home care, general hygiene, child care, home nursing, caregiving for the elderly, among others.
The Adventist Church in Kenya survived numerous trials during the Mau Mau uprising (1952-1960).
The Africa Herald Publishing House is a Seventh-day Adventist publishing house based in Kendu Bay on the shores of Lake Victoria in Western Kenya.
East-Central Africa Division Publishing House/Media Institution
Mordecai Ating’a was a pioneer Adventist missionary in Central Kenya.
Andrew Gathemia Ayub was a pioneer Adventist pastor, Voice of Prophecy leader, and administrator.
Clifford Thomas Bannister was a missionary to East, Central, and Southern Africa, and a church administrator and minister.
Jeremiah Kipsoi araap Bartai was a pioneer Kipsigis minister.
C. A. Bartlett was a missionary to West Africa, serving in Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Ghana. Although an ordained minister, he was also an educator, founding and running several institutions in West Africa.
E. A. Beavon was a pioneer missionary at Nyanchwa, working among the Abagusii people of Western Kenya. He was the third missionary to work among the Abagusii with Ira B. Evanson, commencing the work in 1912 followed by L. E. A. Lane. Beavon is however the first substantive missionary.
Thomas Greene Belton was a missionary to Kenya.
Martha Biomdo is distinguished as the first Seventh-day Adventist woman from the Kipsigis people of Western Kenya.
Stephen araap Biomdo was a pioneer Kipsigis Adventist, teacher, and evangelist from Kenya.
Caleb Busienei was a pioneer Nandi Seventh-day Adventist who came to the faith through the early work of David Sparrow in Western Kenya.
Peter Kipkemboi araap Butuk was a pioneer Nandi teacher, evangelist, district pastor, and church administrator.
Ron Carey served the Church for nearly 50 years in various capacities, including as a missionary, publisher, administrator, and denominational leader.
Central Kenya Conference is a part of East Kenya Union Conference in the East-Central Africa Division of Seventh-day Adventists.
Petero Chetambe was a pioneer Luhya Adventist, pastor, teacher, and church planter among the Luhya people in Kenya.