KENYA – The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya (ELCK) held its biennial General Assembly from April 9-10 at the Kapenguria Bible Center in Kapenguria.
Among other business, this year the assembly amended its constitution to officially recognize nine dioceses (at the time of the constitution’s last amendment in 2008, the ELCK had just four dioceses); heard reports from the Archbishop, Church Council, and Treasurer; and made a major change in its church relations, voting to withdraw from the Lutheran World Federation (LWF).
The vote to leave the LWF saw two unanimous votes by the ELCK’s Church Council (April 9) and the General Assembly (April 10) approving the withdrawal. Archbishop Joseph Ochola Omolo officially communicated the decision the LWF in a letter on April 15. “In obedience to God’s Word and in faithfulness to our confessional subscription as stated in Article III of the ELCK Constitution, we cannot remain in a communion that promotes or normalizes teachings and practices that we confess to be unscriptural and unconfessional,” he wrote.
Additional details on the ELCK’s decision to leave the LWF can be found in a news story from LCMS Reporter.
The General Assembly also held elections for several positions. Rev. Andrew Ngeiywa was elected as the ELCK’s General Secretary, after previously serving in the role as Acting General Secretary. The assembly also filled two vacant positions on the Church Council and one on the Board of Trustees.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya is the largest Lutheran church body in Kenya, with approximately 100,000 members. The ELCK is a member of the International Lutheran Council (ILC), a global association of confessional Lutheran church bodies dedicated to the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, grounded in the authority of Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions.
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