Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua will act as a peace ambassador and help end the perennial rifts that have rocked the African Independent Pentecostal Churches of Africa (AIPCA) for the last 17 years.
Currently, the church has three centres of unified power, led by archbishops Julius Njoroge, Samson Muthuri and Frederick Wang'ombe.
The three have expressed optimism that they will bury the hatchet, with the government’s intervention through DP Gachagua, pursue unity and end violence.
"We are for peace, and cohesion is our portion. We want to serve the living God and offer spiritual nourishment to our members in an environment of stability that can give us prosperity," Archbishop Wang'ombe said.
Mr Muthuri is the overall leader, who will this year handover to Mr Wang'ombe, since Mr Njoroge has served his rotational year of leadership and hit retirement age.
Mr Gachagua said: "I will heal the warring factions and ensure sustainable peace prevails among the brethren.”
He added that he will soon meet the warring camps and strike a deal with them that will be witnessed by President William Ruto.
"We will come up with an agreement that will settle the differences that breed acrimony," he said.
Mr Gachagua noted that the AIPCA is an integral part of Kenya Kwanza, which is the ruling political alliance. He described it as a true representative of the hustlers in the country.
"This is our church. It came to our rescue when politics were tough for us ahead of the August 9 General Election. We had been pushed to the corner and things were not looking up for us," he said.
“But the AIPCA came to our rescue, gave us hope, faith and optimism. For that support, we treat this church as our shareholder, so I will personally lead the arbitration talks that will heal the rifts once and for all.”
Mr Gachagua announced his acceptance to be the church's peace negotiator as it marked the Holy Oil Salvation, an event presided over by Archbishop Wang'ombe and attended by bishops from across the country.
The DP said that besides the peace initiative, "soon we will put AIPCA faithful into government positions since the importance we attach to you is profound".
Assuring the church of protection, he said: “The vigilance we have for this faith is maximum, like the way we do at the process of boiling milk … and your things will only go astray if we are in the bathtub. But even if we get your distress call while in that bathtub, we will come out wearing only the soap foams to rescue you [sic].”
The church hopes it will regain cohesiveness in 2024, when it goes to the ballot to pick a unifying leader. It does now want its factions roaring back into conflict.
