Gendia The Birthplace Of Seventh-day Adventist Church In Kenya Kendu Bay

There was a need to spread the word of God to the whole world, and the first Seventh-day Adventist missionaries decided to come to Kenya in 1906 in Gendia, Kendu Bay, Homa Bay County. #kenya #seventhday #adventist #kendubay

They were Arthur Carscallen and Peter Nyambo, from Malawi, who settled near the sandy and rocky Gendia hill after finding out that Islam had dominated the coastal region while other Christian missionaries had already pitched camp in other parts of the country.

After travelling hundreds of kilometres, they settled on a piece of land donated by a local elder, Osumba, from Karachuonyo.

From the scenic location, they could catch a splendid view of Lake Victoria and Kisumu, the country’s third largest city.

Carscallen and Nyambo embarked on building their first church – then-called British East Africa Mission Station – which was a wooden structure with a grass-thatched roof.

Carscallen became the superintendent of the mission. The two managed to learn Dholuo, the local language, within a year.

This enabled them to communicate with ease, spreading the gospel in other places on the eastern shore of Lake Victoria.

They were able to set up stations in Wire Hill, Rusinga Island, Kanyadoto, Karung and Kamagambo in Migori County.

To date, these areas have hundreds of SDA churches and thousands of faithful.

The first Luo converts were baptised in 1911. They included Onyango Obama, the grandfather of former US President Barack Obama.

The missionaries later began publishing articles to spread the gospel. In 1913, Carscallen acquired a small press during a trip to the United States and returned to launch African Herald Publishing at Gendia.

The printing press still produces publications, including lessons and song books – Nyagendia.

A few metres from the church, they built a school and a hospital, Gendia Mission Hospital. These institutions are still operational.

Carscallen was later joined by his fiancée, Helen Thompson, who started growing cotton to make fabric.

Her work promoted cotton growing in the region until 1990 when the sector collapsed.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sabbath, and its emphasis on the imminent Second Coming (advent) of Jesus Christ.


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