view of the lush green hills of southeastern Kenya. The view includes some
impressive peaks bordering Lake Victoria 40 miles to the west, and the hills
of the Maasai region about the same distance to the south. It was a fitting way
to cap an event that raised everyone’s minds to another beautiful and hopeful
view: the prospect of the spread of the New Church in East Africa.
(See photos on page 75.)
The Rev. Grant H. Odhner teaches Theology in the Bryn Athyn
College Theological School. He is visiting pastor of the New
York City Circle and chairs the General Church Publication
Committee. He and his wife, Sarah (Bruell), live in Huntingdon
Valley, Pennsylvania. [email protected]
student speech at the graduation of the first class
from the keugata theological school
Brother George Omosu Magero
The Lord’s coming is for forming a new heaven of those who have believed in
Him. … This Second Coming of the Lord is not in person but in the Word,
which is from Him and is Himself. (True Christian Religion 773, 776)
T
he Theological School in Kenya opened its gates in 2009, when a group
of 15 men began training for the New Church ministry. The Theological
School’s name is Keugata – which is a combination of three countries of East
Africa: Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.
The Theological School here is run from the directives of the Theological
School in Bryn Athyn through its Dean, the Rev. Dr. Andrew M. T. Dibb. As
the school progressed the enrollment dropped from the initial number of
students due to personal reasons.
The Writings say that every man receives faith and charity “according to
his form. Form here means the state of man as to love and wisdom together,
and hence as to his affection for the good of charity and his perception of the
truth of faith. … God is one, indivisible, and the same from eternity to eternity;
… all variation arising from the subject in which He dwells.” (Ibid. 366)
The vision of beginning an on-going Theological School here started from
conversations between brother Duncan Smith, brother Isaac Synnestvedt, and
the Rev. Samson Mogusu Abuga in 2009 at the Etora New Church Society.
Mr. Abuga has given leadership to instituting the training program and
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