THE PENTECOSTAL ASSEMBLIES
OF GOD - KENYA
Empowering communities through faith and service
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The Church Profile

Overview

Pentecostal Assemblies of God (K) is a self-supporting and a self a propagating church established way back in the 1902 but registered as a society in the year 1925 with its head office at Nyang’ori, Vihiga County: along Kisumu /Kakamega Road. This is approximately 10 Kilometers from Kisumu town. The church has approximately 5,784 assemblies spread throughout the country with over 5000 pastors who minister in the assemblies. Our presence is in all the 47 Counties of the Republic of Kenya.

Brief Church History

History of Marion Keller [1889-1953] and Otto Keller [1888- 1942]

The Pentecostal Assemblies of God [PAG] Kenya headquarters are situated at a hill-top (Nyang’ori - Kiboswa) on the outskirt of Kisumu City.

Pentecostal Assemblies of God [PAG] was founded in Kenya by PAOC – Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada. The founders were Marion and Otto Keller in the early 1900’s. PAG grew rapidly and spread all over the country.

Marion and Otto Keller were among the first missionaries of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada. Marion pioneered work in Tanganyika. They started mission work at Nyang'ori, near Kisumu, Kenya and established the Pentecostal Assemblies of God in East Africa.

Marion was born in 1889 in Parry Sound, Ontario, Canada. While working as an Anglican school teacher in Parry Sound she felt called to missionary work. She went to a Bible School in New York State where she met Karl Wittich, her first husband. In 1913, together with a young man named Grothaus, they set out for Tanganyika, a German colony.

The administration assigned them to work among an unreached tribe several hundred miles inland, east of Tabora. They had to learn to build their grass huts by themselves because the local people would not help. As the water source was nine miles away, the men decided to dig a well at the station. Three months after arriving in Africa, when they finally struck water they made a pot of tea to celebrate. Nevertheless, the water was poisonous and in two days both men were dead and Marion was desperately sick. The local people informed the authorities of the two dead "Wazungu" (white people) and Marion was carried to a mission hospital in the district and eventually recovered.

Marion was an exceptional young woman with a keen mind and a strong will. After her recovery, she returned to the mission station to live alone and to continue the work there for four gruelling years. She lived like the Africans in a mud hut, ate the same food they did, including lots of zebra meat, and cooked over the traditional African stove, i.e. three stones. She became so proficient in the Kiswahili language that the administration asked her to set up the examination for civil servants coming to the country.

During World War I, communication with her homeland was cut off for four years. During this time Marion was taken by German officials to the mission station and was imprisoned for a week before being released. One day God told Marion to prepare to go on furlough - an impossible undertaking as she had not received any money for years. Moreover, all the bridges down the coast,- a 600 mile journey,- had been destroyed by the enemy and no transportation of any kind was available. Nevertheless, even though it was forbidden at the time, she asked for permission to leave the country and her application was accepted. Two mission boys,- their first converts,- accompanied Marion to the railroad station where the station agent gave her a free ticket. One of the boys was eaten by a lion on the walk back. Sitting on her luggage, Marion rode for 50 miles on a troop train to Mwanza, on the southern end of Lake Victoria where she boarded a ship. Very ill, suffering from sunstroke, exhaustion and the heat, she did not know what awaited her in Kisumu, Kenya, only that the Lord had told her to go.

Otto C. Keller was born in 1888 in Germany and immigrated to the United States. He became a very successful builder in Detroit, U.S.A., a committed Christian and Karl Wittich's best friend. When he heard of his friend's death in Tanganyika he felt he should continue Karl's work there. Otto sold his business and was appointed a missionary by the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada in 1914. When he arrived in Kenya en route to Tanganyika he was not allowed to enter the country. At that time, with a severe famine in Kenya, the administration asked him to do famine relief work in the Kisumu area among the Kavirondo tribe (Luo today). He got to know the different tribes in the Kisumu district and, a gifted linguist; he soon became fluent in five of the local languages. As he was not attached to any mission, he often filled in while a missionary was on leave.

When Otto heard that a sick woman was arriving on a ship from Mwanza and thinking that it might be his friend's widow, he met the ship. He immediately took her to a mission hospital where she slowly recuperated. During his frequent visits to the hospital he fell in love with her and asked her to marry him. Needing time, she went home to think it over.

In the meantime, Otto purchased a seventy-five acre piece of land in the hills of Kisumu from a man named Claude Miller who had come to Kenya about ten years earlier to begin a mission among the Nyang'oris, a small branch of the Kalenjin tribe. When Miller fell into disfavor with the government and had to leave the country he sold the property to Otto Keller.

Marion returned to Kenya and they were married in 1918. The newlywed couple settled down in Kisumu to begin their work. The following year, Otto was ordained by the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada.

Starting from scratch they built three main stations which grew to over 200 branch churches staffed by approximately 500 pastors, teachers and evangelists. They had an only child, Weldon Philip Keller, born in 1920 in Kisumu, Kenya, who later became a well-known Christian author.

After nearly 32 years in Africa, Otto died at the age of 54 from an infection following an appendix operation. He was buried at the Nyang'ori Mission in Kisumu. Marion carried on the work until other missionaries came to take over. Then she returned to Victoria in British Columbia until her death in 1953.

After the demise of Otto Keller and the return of Marion to Victoria in British Columbia, Missionaries from Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada took over the management of Nyang’ori Mission Station headed by Rev. Morrison. Various Canadian Missionaries were seconded to Nyang’ori until the year 1965 when leadership of the church was handed over to a local indigenous member Rev. Matia Lanogwa.

PAG Kenya has continued to maintain a working relationship with Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada with their partnership in various ministry functions. This includes the establishment of Pentecostal Bible College, Goibei Mission Station, Pan Africa Christian College (present day Pan Africa Christian University) among other affiliates.

At the exit of the Canadian Missionaries from active day to day management of the church, the leadership role was handed over the natives who were trained with the first leader being Rev. Matia Elanogwa from 1965 to 1969.

Since inception, the church has had 8 Superintendents including the current head of church who is Rev. Kenneth Adiara.

Vision

To establish self-propagating churches and believers who obey the great commission as inspired through power of the Holy Spirit.

Mission

To provide sound Christian teachings through preaching of the Gospel to the nations with signs following

Core Values

  1. 1. Ministry: We are committed to living, preaching and teaching the word of God. Our love for God and His calling shall be our driving force. The power and influence of the Holy Spirit is the key agent of transformation. We value, appreciate and recognize the diversity of gifts in the Body of Christ.
  2. 2. Leadership: We are committed to a Godly transformation leadership in church and society that equip believers so that they can fully participate in the Great Commission. People are our great assets within and without the church.
  3. 3. Community: We exist and work in the community. We believe that it is our responsibility to impact them in a holistic manner. We stand in solidarity with those who are vulnerable in society.
  4. 4. Integrity: We are committed to personal integrity and Holiness. We are committed to teaching and practicing sound biblical doctrine.
  5. 5. Accountability: We are committed to a culture of transparency and accountability with our members and general public.
  6. 6. Excellence: In keeping with our identity and ministry target, we are committed to the culture of excellence in all our service delivery and ministries.
  7. 7. Family: We are committed to building strong and effective families that serve the purpose that God ordained for them. We believe that the family contains of a union between a man and a woman and their offspring’s.
  8. 8. The sanctity of life: We uphold and respect the sanctity of life from conception to death.
  9. 9. Partnership: We are committed to partnering with like – minded ministries, churches para – church organizations and other agencies that subscribe to our philosophy of ministry.

Statement of Faith

This statement of fundamental truths is intended as a basis of fellowship. This statement does not claim to hold all the available truth but the irreducible minimum of all gospel ministries. We believe that the scriptures both old and New Testament, are verbally inspired of God and are the infallible revelation of God to man, serving as our own sufficient rule for faith and practice. We believe in one God eternally existing in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We believe that Jesus Christ was sent of God, begotten of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, and came into the world as savior for man’s redemption. In the coming of Christ to the earth, in the incarnation, Gods life was housed in a body developed in Mary. He was tested by the devil in every aspect of the human life, crucified, resurrected ascended to the father, and was glorified as the incorruptible seed, the Word God (1 Peter 1: 23). This seed of life is what is planted into the dead spirits of men by the miracle of the new Birth.