Our History
Milestones
2010-2013
St Monica Church in Kitengela town full to maximum Capacity with over 2,000 Christians attending 3 masses on Sunday and during the week
2013
The Late John Kariuki’s family makes a donation of 2 acres of land in Acacia area, about 6 Kilometres from St. Monica church
2013 - 2014
Plans to set up outstation in acacia are in Kitengela
10th November 2013
First fundraising event (Harambee) Presided over by Father Mwangi from Kikuyu.
6th December 2014
The Dinner Harambee
8th February 2015
Groundbreaking ceremony and Holy Mass presided over by the then Society of African Missions (SMA) Superior Father Thadeus.
12th April 2015
Second fundraising event (Harambee)
8th May 2016
Third fundraising event
2015- 2020
Construction of Sts. John and Sylvia Church
18 July 2021
Consecration of Sts. John and Sylvia, Our Lady of Divine Mercy and Shrine. The dedication and opening ceremony was graced by his Eminence John Cardinal Njue (Archbishop Emeritus of Nairobi) and RT. Rev. John Oballa Owaa, Bishop Catholic Dioceses of Ngong on 18 July 2021
Overview
In 2013, the family of the late John Kariuki donated two acres of land in acacia area, Kitengela to Saint Monica Church, Kitengela. At this time, the church was struggling with congestion and the church could not be expanded further to accommodate new parishioners in the growing Kitengela town.
This was the starting point for the dream of developing an outstation for St. Monica with a vision of decongesting the church.
A Steering Committee composed of the Development and Finance Committees, was tasked to spearhead this project. The development committee came up with the Master Plan and the Architectural drawings for the Church.
Guided by these words, as is recorded in the book of Haggai, Chapter 1 verses 8:
“Go up into the Country: bring timber, build the house That I May take Pleasure in it and receive my glory, says the LORD”
The Steering committee strategized on resource mobilisation initiatives to realise the Kes. 40 million (40,00 USD) indicated as the initial cost of construction works.
These strategies included:
- Harambees – The church conducted 3 major harambees. The first harambee was conducted on 10th November 2013. The second on 8th February 2015 and the third on 8th May 2016. All the harambees were preceded by pledge.
- A dinner event.
- Thanks giving contributions during major events of the parish including the St. Monica day celebrations and the groundbreaking mass.
These strategies resulted in generous contributions of parishioners in cash and kind. The family of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Mwangi is recognised as a great contributor to the success of our Harambees for donating grand prize items for our raffles being 2 pieces of land and a motorbike.
The Ground breaking ceremony and Mass was conducted on 8th February 2015 and presided over by the then SMA Superior Father Thadeus.
The Steering committee, cognisant of the long term plans of building a church found it necessary to scout for more land to accommodate that vision.
Once again the family of the Late John Kariuki came through by graciously offering to sell 2.25 Acres adjacent to the initial donated land. This acquisition of the land was financed through a loan from Waumini Sacco that was fully repaid by March 2019.
The plans to complete and consecrate the church by April 2020 were upset by the Covid-19 pandemic containment measures instituted in March 2020.
The reopening of the Churches, with the stringent social distancing requirements, prompted the celebration of Mass at the church to accommodate more parishioners.
In a very special way, we thank Your Lordship the Bishop of the Diocese of Ngong, Right Reverend Bishop John Oballa Owaa, for your stewardship and overall leadership in the Dioeces. kind considerations to our many requests whenever we made them.
The realisation of Sts. John and Sylvia Church’s dream would have been unattainable without the collaborative efforts of all of you. Asante
“Go up into the Country: bring timber, build the house That I May take Pleasure in it and receive my glory, says the LORD."
We are grateful to the Almighty God for this far that we have come.
We thank God for all the parishioners who came out to support in their own ways and made sure that the main activities of the Parish at least remained a float. Your generosity and sacrifices have made our dream a reality. You trusted us with your money. You pledged and honored the pledges. At no one time did you feel bothered by the many phone calls we made to remind you of the pledges as they fell due. We thank the professionals amongst the parishioners who extended a hand and assisted in ideas and resolving setbacks. We are most grateful that you came through.
We cannot forget our dear parishioners who supported us and have since left us to be with the Lord. We remember the late Alice Wairimu Simiyu, wife of Mr. Simiyu and the late Mr. Francis Oyolla, husband to Mama Maria Oyolla. May their souls rest in eternal peace. We are very grateful for the immense support you gave us.
We are grateful to all the church committees, volunteers and contractors who saw through the construction of the church from start to finish. We appreciate the interim committees of the Sts. John and Sylvia Church for the effort expended in making this church ready for today’s occasion. Your efforts are very visible!
We are grateful to Father Ben, our visionary leader who coordinated the efforts of the project from start to finish
To the assistant priests: Fr. Mwangi, Fr. Edwin, Fr. Felix, Fr. Pradip and Fr. Godfrey and Fr. Peter, Thank you for your wise counsel and were spiritually nourishment during the course of the project
We are grateful to our Cardinal, Your Eminence John Cardinal Njue, Archbishop Emeritus of the Archdiocese of Nairobi, for accepting the invitation to preside over the dedication and Blessing of Sts. John and Syvia, Our Lady of Divine Mercy Shrine.
Contact Us
Location - Acacia area in Kitengela opposite Olerai Hotel.
Call: 0706240233
info@stsjohnandsylviakitengela.org
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