AFRICAN INLAND CHURCH

Table of Contents

Introduction

God’s word is the authority for the Great Commission, which He has chosen to share with His people, the Church. The church universal is seen, in concrete form, interacting with the community in the form of local congregations (churches) of believers. The Church is the “salt “and “light” of the world. It has the responsibility to demonstrate the biblical love and judgment of God to the World (Ranger, 2008).

The responsibility of the church is based on the purpose of God for all mankind, of all ages and in all parts of the world, persuading them to place their faith in Christ through whom God reconciles them to himself. These believing people experience the indwelling of the Holy Spirit who assures them of peace and hope. It is from this view that the local church is entrusted to do. Local churches here refers to institutions and instruments for providing a true Christian community which expresses itself in oneness of fellowship, and in working together in making disciples for Christ (Ranger, 2008).

The Africa Inland Church- Kenya believes that world wide united witness to the Gospel on the part of all believers in Christ is the greatest need of the world lost in sin and unaware that Christ is the only solution to its grace problems. Its congregation believes that all Christians are one in Christ who is the head of the church. It is out of this understanding that the local church; the Africa Inland Church – Kenya, is committed to the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20, Mark 16:15-16), the furtherance of the Gospel in its totality (Acts 20:27), the defense and confirmation of the Faith (Jude 3), and the fellowship of the Gospel (Galatians 3:28).

African Inland church - Kenya has the following departments which each has a role to play as they strip to achieve the common that goal, the Great commission; AIC Health ministries, Bibilia husema broadcasting, Missions abroad, Christian Education and AIC childcare. In this paper we are targeting at reviewing the Christian Education department, however we will start by giving an overview its entre church history.

Historical background of AIC

The Africa Inland Church, Kenya resulted from the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ by the Africa Inland Mission (AIM). AIM focused on evangelism in cross-cultural missions and the primary objective of the Pennsylvania Bible Institute to train those who would engage in cross-cultural evangelism (Boahen, A. A., & Unesco, 1985). These individuals had to understand Scripture well in order to apply Scripture to any situation. The Institute had an enormous influence on the AIM. It influenced the life and Christian beliefs of the AIM through its doctrinal confessions. The main goal of the Institute was the evangelization of the world, which was seen as the special mission of the Church. The Institute thus trained individuals to equip them for the ministry of evangelization (Pierson, 2009).

Reverend Peter Cameroon Scott was the first missionary to arrive in Kenya. He established the first congregation in the eastern part of the country in a place called Nzaui in Makueni County. As a result of Scott’s ministry in Ukambani, many believed and became evangelists. They joined hands and together actively evangelized, and planted new churches that were referred initially as a ministry of the AIM (Pierson, 2009).

As the church grew and spread throughout Kenya, it assumed more and more responsibility for its ministry and administration. The church began to support its ministries financially and thus began functioning autonomously from AIM. Sometime in 1940, leaders of both the church and AIM began preparing a constitution. In 1943 the church became nationalized and the name Africa Inland Church, Kenya (AIC) began to be used. In 1952 the AIC completed the constitution and from this point on the church managed its own affairs according to its constitution (Constitution). On 21 October 1971 at a national service at Mumbuni in Machakos led by the Reverend Wellington E Mulwa, AIM ceded mission stations to AIC, and AIM became a department of the AIC in all church related matters (Pierson, 2009).

In 1979, the AIM Kenya Field Council was dissolved and in 1981 the AIM Kenya branch ceased to function as a department of the church and instead as a separate organization began sending missionaries to the AIC (Spear, 1999). On 22 October 1995 AIC celebrated its centenary at the Moi International Sports Centre Kasarani, Nairobi. Today AIC is proud to have achieved tremendous growth in the country and to pin point it has produced prominent people in the country, former President Moi, Kalonzo Musyoka just to mention a few.

1. 
   

   Christian Education Department (ced)

   
   

The AIC CED department is tasked with empowering the members of the congregati...