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By Francis Manana Bishop Arthur Kitonga is the founder of the Redeemed Gospel Church, a fast growing church which has many branches in Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa. Kitonga was born in 1946 to a Christian couple, Samuel Kiseve and Rebecca Kanini Kiseve. He is from the Kamba tribe and speaks Kikamba, Swahili and English. He and his wife, Mrs. Josephine Murugi Kitonga, have four children, one daughter and three sons. After his formal education, Kitonga worked at a factory in Nairobi and was a nominal Christian attending an Anglican African Church. His friends almost killed him when he prayed to be delivered from his enemies and promised to serve God for the rest of his life. He was saved at an open-air meeting where Pastor Paul Johnson was preaching. He then attended Gospel Tabernacle which later became All Nations Gospel Church.
Six months later, God called him to full time ministry. Despite his father's lack of support, his uncle, Bishop Charles Muyu, encouraged him to pursue this calling. In miraculous ways, the Lord provided the money for him to go work with his uncle in Uganda (including selling some of his clothes). His uncle gave him opportunities to preach. For two years he lived in a grass-thatched hut and traveled on bicycle, preaching at Kabuga Rwandese Refugee camp and later at Kamwenga. In 1964, he moved to Kamwenga where he heard a clear call from God to preach the Gospel. For several months he had a congregation of four people under a tree. But this changed when he preached at an Anglican Church one Saturday. Kitonga tells what happened: "While I was still preaching, the power of God came down, people were filled with the Holy Spirit, they started speaking in new tongues and miracles started taking place. The sick were instantly healed. Deliverance took place that had not been witnessed in the church before. After this supernatural demonstration of God, the leaders stood up and told me to halt the message. I was promptly told to leave the church. I left. But the people had witnessed the power, and they yearned for more. There was no way they could be restrained. The following day, being Sunday, our congregation under the tree rose to 300! (Revival Springs p.10)." Kitonga dismisses his critics who see this as an example of sheep stealing, stating that denominational loyalties crumble when people witness God's power at work. Word of this success spread all the way to Kampala and the Elim Mission in Kampala sent missionaries to evaluate his work. They helped erect a large structure to accommodate the new members. Several churches were opened in Uganda after this event. Elim Mission gave Kitonga a scholarship to study at Kaimosi Bible Institute in Western Kenya. Later, he went to Nairobi Pentecostal Bible College. After graduation he became the Director of Theological Education by Extension and then Dean of Students at Kampala Elim Bible College. Before he fled Uganda in 1973 during Idi Amin's terror which also closed Elim Mission, Kitonga was Secretary General of the Mission. In Kenya, he founded the Redeemed Gospel Church in 1974 with its headquarters in Nairobi, in the slums of the Mathare valley. Kitonga tells of an experience, one of many powerful testimonies in the church: "I remember one time, when a gang leader confronted me. He had been angered by the fact that the ladies who were gang members who were also their girl friends were getting saved, and thus quitting the gang life. The gang leader came to our meeting, ready to attack us. He was the leader of the gang called Forty-Two Brothers. But his plan was thwarted, when God's power knocked him down. When he rose to his feet, he surrendered his life to Jesus! Today, he is the Pastor of Saints Alive Center of the Redeemed Gospel Church at South Kariobangi. His name is James Mungaria. " Kitonga also felt called to minister to the physical and psychological needs of the people. He states his vision: "It was around that time that God gave me a vision to feed the poor, and to educate the poor children. We embarked on the program. We also started projects to train the poor in skills that would make them self-supportive. The holistic gospel requires that you reach out to assist those who are in need of food, clothing, shelter, education, and some means to earn an income (Revival Springs p.11). Redeemed Gospel Church is a leader in this kind of ministry among the Evangelical churches in Kenya. The church has a Social Welfare Department that has benefited over 30,000 poor children. Under Kitonga's leadership, a television ministry was started in Kenya, Uganda and the U.S.A. Over 500 branches of the Redeemed Gospel Church have sprung up in Kenya, with many in Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa and now one in Minnesota, U.S.A. Kitonga is the senior pastor of the Huruma Church in Nairobi (the church headquarters) which is the largest congregation and has over 15,000 members. Kitonga has chaired numerous joint national and international
crusades, led conferences, and seminars and serves on several boards.
The government has also appointed him to serve on three Presidential
Commissions. He is, among other things, Chairman of the Evangelical
Fellowship of Kenya (EFK), and Associate President of the Association
of Evangelicals in Africa (AEA). In 1995 the RGC celebrated its 20th
anniversary. In the same year Kitonga was awarded an honorary Doctor
of Divinity Degree at Jehovah Jireh School of Ministry in South. Nation Taking a different path
By Joe Ombuor To travel to his life's calling, Arthur Kitonga had to sell some of his clothes to afford bus fare. Now aged 54, and presiding over the rapidly growing Redeemed Gospel Church (RGC) which he founded, the trim and effervescent Bishop Kitonga smiles on his past as he cranes his neck into the future. "I was barely 19 when I set off from Nairobi for the Western Ugandan town of Kasese on a train pass provided by an aunt," he recalls. He was going to join his preacher uncle to answer a divine calling. To reach Fort Portal, he had to dispose of his last penny on a bus ride. "It cost five shillings - and that was the amount my aunt had provided for the purpose. Penniless, tired and with no familiar person in sight, I spread my clothes on the pavement at Fort Portal and slept my problems away." What followed was a life of fortitude and great testing inside Rwandese refugee camps where he languished, hungered and pined with the refugees. "My clothes and shoes got worn out as I went around on a bicycle in my evangelistic work," he reminisces. Year, 1964. The journey to a successful ministry with over 800 churches and a following numbering hundreds of thousands locally and abroad had started. After years of ministering in Uganda, during which he was appointed Dean of Students at the Kampala Bible College, Bishop Kitonga narrowly dodged the killer gangs of Idi Amin to return home to Kenya sometime in 1973. He started the Redeemed Gospel Church at Nairobi's Mathare Valley slum in 1974. Bishop Kitonga has seen gifted evangelists bud and flourish under his ambit. These include Pastor Wilfred Lai of Mombasa's Jesus Celebration Centre (who is today the Secretary General of the Redeemed Gospel Church), the Rev Margaret Wanjiru of Jesus is Alive Ministries (ordained by Kitonga in August, 1997) and Rev Jonah Obonyo of City Victory Temple (whom Kitonga located in the Mathare slum in 1992. Today, as the church he humbly founded "to redeem God's people from poverty, illiteracy and unhealthy conditions of the slums" spreads its wings far and wide, the bishop has won himself many admirers and detractors alike. That could be due to his humble personality that has seen the church grow by leaps and bounds to neighbouring countries and further afield to Zimbabwe, South Africa, Congo and the United States as hundreds benefit from programs initiated through his efforts.
The bishop feels the vibrant socio-economic programmes through which he has fed and rehabilitated thousands of slum children, educating and transforming them into useful citizens have touched jealous chords. Even his prayers for the Government, and frequent appearances on national occasions have not gone down well with his nemeses. "I have received death threats," he confides. "(My critics) have dubbed me a Government apologist, a Kanu stooge - even a land grabber - accusations that they cannot prove. Some even dragged my name (into an issue involving) a plot in a cemetery, which they could not identify when I took them to task, prompting me to take them to court. It is wrong to demonise people unfairly." But is he rich with ill-acquired wealth as alleged? Bishop: "I am a leader with a massive following. I would not be accepted as a church leader if my hobby was to amass ill-gotten wealth". He owns land, he admits, "but most of the pieces I am said to have grabbed were acquired legally for the development of the church." Talking of the 200 acres he acquired in Yatta, Bishop Kitonga says he applied through the right channel when other people, including politicians were being given land there. "That is the place where Redeemed Gospel Church is building a secondary school for Kenyan children," he explains. "Another portion was leased to the African Christian Church for a French beans project that is supporting over 100 poor women while I have settled 10 poor people on the remaining portion." Also acquired for public utilities according to Bishop Kitonga are the four and a half acres on which the headquarters of the church stands at Huruma in Nairobi, a portion on Outer Ring Road, where the church has put up a tented facility that sits over 4,000 faithful, a plot at Buxton Estate, Mombasa where the Church has built Pastor Wilfred Lai's Jesus Celebration Centre and some 16 acres at Ol Donyo Sabuk where the church is building a rehabilitation centre for children. "Our plots in Korogocho and Mathare are prayer centres with secular amenities such as schools, dispensaries and feeding centres," he says. Does he own any land of his own? The bishop avers in amusement: "I have small pieces here and there like other Kenyans". As for his rapport with the Government and loyalty to its leader, Bishop Kitonga says he upholds the teachings of the Bible that advocate respect for the king and the Government of the day. "If that is being an apologist, so be it," he says. He refers me to the book of Romans 13 Verse 1, which reads: "Everyone must obey the state authorities because no authority exists without God's permission, and the existing authorities have been put there by God". Question: "Are authorities such as Idi Amin's that almost had you killed put there by God to be obeyed by all?" "When the church in Uganda ceased to pray and became lukewarm, Amin emerged from nowhere and started leading the country. It was God's admonition that He was not happy! We, as servants of God could only pray for divine intervention which finally came after nine years". Bishop Kitonga says he has always prayed for the Kenyan Government and drawn the president's attention to a scripture in the bible that condemns evil advisers. "Take away the wicked from before the king's presence and his Government will be known for its justice" - Proverbs Chapter 25 Verse 5. "Politically, I am non partisan and I can therefore not be a Kanu stooge. All I do is to pray for the Government of the day which currently happens to be under Kanu," he says drawing my attention to Paul's first letter to Timothy Chapter 2. The scripture reads from Verse one: "I urge that petitions, prayers, requests and thanksgiving be offered to God for all people; for kings and all others who are in authority that we may live a quiet ad peaceful life". He says believers must teach people to obey the authorities. "We cannot do that by taking a combative stance on issues advanced by the Government, but through prayer. When, for instance, church people join the Ufungamano initiative instead of praying for reconciliation, then we are courting trouble". Bishop Kitonga says church people ought not to behave like politicians because that confuses the nation. "I am fully convinced that men and women of God have gone astray into politics, deserting their divine duty of spiritual guidance," he says. Question: Were the evangelical churches where you belong not being used to play politics when you converged at Uhuru Park in the wake of a rally by the mainstream religious groups demanding a people-driven constitutional review?Bishop Kitonga: "Nobody but God was using us to pray for reconciliation between the mainstream religious-led Ufungamano initiative group and the Government backed parliamentary committee. We wanted to show them that they had gone against the biblical teachings underscoring respect for the Government of the day". "Those fighting the Government today will do so tomorrow when another Government comes because the trait is in their blood," says the bishop. He regrets the fact that the Government has taken advantage of division in the church to confuse the land "to the delight of the politicians". "If the mainstream and evangelical churches can talk the same language and pray together for a just course such as a break in the constitutional review impasse, the politicians would be forced to listen," he says. Bishop Kitonga who was honoured with a doctorate degree by a South African University for his service in 1995 is today Associate President of all Evangelical Churches in Africa in-charge of East and Central Africa, Chairman of Dorcas Aid, Africa and Vice Chairman of Evangelical Fellowships of Kenya. Married since 1972 to Josephine, the couple have four children, Vicky, Moses, John and Sammy. Vicky, the only daughter is married to former slum boy educated through one of the church's programmes and currently working with the World Bank. Moses and John have both completed their university studies with BA, MA and Business Administration respectively Wafuatao ni wasaidizi wa Askofu Kitonga katika kanisa la Redeemed Gospel Huruma.
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Gazeti la Injili latishiwa kushtakiwa
Kauli yetu: Gazeti la Injili liko kulinda maslahi ya Mungu pamoja na watumishi wake duniani. Magazeti ya dunia yanapowachafua watumishi wa Mungu, Chombo pekee kuwatetea ni gazeti la INJILI. Tunapofanya wajibu wetu kama MEDIA ya Injili, tungetarajia ushirikiano mzuri kutoka kwa watumishi wenzetu wa Mungu. Tukitumie chombo hiki kumpinga shetani anayetaka kulishambulia kanisa akitumia vyombo vya habari vya kidunia. Siyo nia yetu kumkwaza yeyote, Ndiyo maana tunaomba radhi kama maneno yetu yamemkwaza Bishop Kitonga. Tumeitikia wito, na kuyatoa maneno husika.
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