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What was to be a normal church service at PCEA Kiamwathi, Nyeri County turned out chaotic and messy after irate youths staged protests over the move by the church elders to kick out their reverend.

The youthful congregants occupied the church premises as early as 7 am on Sunday, August 18, 2024, and locked themselves inside while chanting and holding placards protesting the removal of the reverend.

The service was disrupted for nearly five hours as hundreds of worshippers drawn from other churches from the Nyeri Joy Parish camped outside hoping the situation could be solved.

The hundreds had convened at PCEA Kiamwathi to attend a parish event for the retirement of one of their elders.

The youth who had placards bearing the church elders’ names claimed that they wanted their reverend out of their way to access the church finances without a hitch.

Peter Kinyua said they had to disrupt their normal church service in order to have their voices heard that they were not ready to lose their reverend.

“We want to tell the elders that they will not make decisions for us. We have faith in our reverend and since she was posted here, a lot has changed and that is why they are not comfortable with her,” Kinyua said.

Kinyua said that the move they took was shameful since the church had never demonstrated, but it was the only way to make their voices heard.

” It is shameful to disrupt church service but that is the only way to be heard. If we stayed at home, they could have thought all was well,” he added.

The youth claimed the elders wrote a letter to the presbytery demanding her removal from the parish without informing them, a move that was not well received by the young congregants and the church at large.

Cecilia Waweru a congregant of Gitathi-ini congregation said that they have to address the challenge at hand before it escalates and that they are not going to allow a few people to destroy their church.

The youth had to be addressed by the Nyeri presbytery moderator Patrick Kimathi and the Nyeri Joy Parish Reverend Lucy Kiriungi for over three hours and convinced them to allow the Parish event that was to take place to continue and later address all the issues they had highlighted.

“I want to assure the youth and the Church that we have listened to all their grievances and they will be addressed. We also want to assure you that your reverend is not going anywhere and she will not be victimized by anyone,” she said.

The service started at noon after an agreement was met between the youth and the moderator to solve all their complaints amicably.

They however threatened to continue blocking church services in all congregations every Sunday until all the elders involved are removed from office.