Ridegways Baptist Church, Nairobi – Mission:
To bring people to Christ, nurture and develop them to Christ-like maturity, and equip them for godly living and service in their homes, in the church and in the world
Ridegways Baptist Church, Nairobi – Vision:
To be a God-centered, healthy and vibrant Church family
Ridegways Baptist Church, Nairobi – Motto:
The church where everybody is somebody and God is all
Ridegways Baptist Church, Nairobi – Core Values:
Commitment to the Lordship of Christ
A loving & caring community-available to one another
Compassion for lost souls
Integrity
Service
Team work
Excellence
Ridegways Baptist Church, Nairobi – Origin:
The beginning of Ridegways Baptist Church, Nairobi rose out of a need and a vision of a missionary from the United States of America, one Bill Curp who was then living in the Ridgeways community. This Baptist Missionary drove his family out of the community Sunday after Sunday to go to church. At that time, there was no church in Ridgeways, Garden Estates, Runda and Muthaiga and most people drove to town to attend church as research done by a Leonard Otita in 1988 revealed. Bill Curp saw an opportunity for a church to be planted in Ridgeways and he visited the Kenya Baptist Theological College in Brackenhurst, Tigoni and expressed this need to Dr. Sam Turner, another Baptist missionary who was serving as the Academic Dean and lecturer at the College. Dr. Sam Turner, desiring to give the church to be planted a national outlook, invited Elijah Wanje, the then Registrar and lecturer at the same College to join him in starting the church. Both Dr. Turner and Elijah Wanje were members of the Tigoni Baptist Church at Brackenhurst.
Fliers were prepared and distributed to the people of the community inviting them to the first service of the Church on March 6th, 1988.
A small room was rented at the then complex that is currently housing the Ridgeways Boys High School. Make shift benches were made and the missionaries brought hymn books from their homes including the musical instruments to be used in the service. The announcement of the birthing of this Church went to other congregations such as Parklands Baptist Church, Tigoni Baptist Church and people in the community.
During this first service on March 6th, 1988, several friends from Parklands Baptist Church and Tigoni Baptist Churches came and in total, there were not more than 25 people. Two of the 25 people present were from the Ridgeways community. Elijah Wanje led in the singing / praise and worship and Dr. Sam Turner preached the first message titled, “The ABC of Salvation” based on Romans Chapter 5.
Within three months, a good number of people from the community were attending the worship service. Many of them were Kiswahili speakers. This led to Ridegways Baptist Church, Nairobi to start a Kiswahili service as the first service and the English service as the second service.
By the end of the first year, the congregation was averaging 60-80 worshipers on a Sunday.
In 1989, the English and Swahili services were combined into one service that was translated into the two languages. During these early days, the leadership of Ridegways Baptist Church, Nairobi was made up of Dr. Sam Turner, Elijah Wanje and Bill Curp. Another missionary, Craig Bird joined the team and offered much needed help as the first Chairman of Ridegways Baptist Church, Nairobi.
On July 17th, 1989, the congregation formalized itself into Ridegways Baptist Church, Nairobi with some 30 people being the initial group members.
On the same day, July 17th 1989, Elijah Wanje was asked to be the Lead Pastor of the Church since Dr. Sam Turner was going back to the United States on one year’s leave. Pastor Wanje with the support of other younger people in Ridegways Baptist Church, Nairobi took the challenge of leadership.
- Kenya
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Sundays:
9:00 AM EAT 6:00 AM GMT
11:30 AM EAT 8:30 AM GMT - http://www.ridgewaysbaptistchurch.org
- Baptist
- http://www.ridgewaysbaptistchurch.org/our-faith-practices/
- http://www.ridgewaysbaptistchurch.org/
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