Our Partnership with Nyeri Presbytery

The Presbytery of West Virginia entered into partnership with The Presbytery of Nyeri, of the Presbyterian Church of East Africa, through a Covenant of Understanding.  This agreement was the result of several years of discussion, visitation, planning and prayer by both parties.  The partnership alive and well, and the partners engage in continual communication and interaction.  
    

Visitors from Nyeri Presbytery, 2^nd Presbyterian Church, Huntington, Sept. 23, 1997: John Mark Ndungu, David Nguyo, Mary Ann Gitonga and Margaret Wairimu Ngunju.

Helen Dickson, Bonnie Morrison, and Gay Mothershed, holding the wall hanging sent to the Presbytery of West Virginia by Nyeri Presbytery.

First Presbyterian Church of Huntington welcomed delegates from Nyeri Presbytery at the November 2006 meeting of Presbytery.  The Rev. Bildad Wmathail, Elder Daniel Ndirangu, Mrs. Zipporah Ngari and the Rev. Charles Ndanyu (Moderator of Nyeri Presbytery) received gifts, sang for the Presbytery and presented a beautiful gift of their own to the Presbytery.  

Eleven delegates from the Presbytery of West Virginia went to Nyeri, Kenya.  We had three college professors, two clergy, one Christian Educator, two elders, and three teenagers. In an official ceremony at their Presbytery meeting, the Presbytery of Nyeri signed a Covenant of Agreement with the Presbytery of West Virginia; and we traded gifts, and we presented them a check for $5,000.00 for various mission projects.  The ten days were filled with visiting four clinics, five elementary schools, a school for the mentally challenged, two orphanages, a home for the elderly, and more than thirty churches. We especially spent time with children, except when we were eating.  On Sunday each of us had preaching or worship leadership responsibilities. We visited the slums of Nyeri and the site for a proposed church in the middle of the slums. Also, we visited the marketplace of Nairobi and a wildlife reserve. Over the ten days, each of us was housed in three different homes. This gave each member of the team some intimate time with at least three Kenyan families. In each place we shared our experiences and witnessed to the good news of Christ, and in turn they shared with us life in Kenya and how the church is making a difference.  The pictures show the main purpose of trip: the forming of friendships. Upon our return to the West Virginia, each of us has been promoting the mission projects of Nyeri.
                                                                                                                                                    Gary McGrew

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