Us

We are one church in Loresho, Nairobi. About fifty adults on a Sunday, and a great many children. We began in November 2020, and we did not begin from nothing.

Our story

Before there was a Christ Church

Some of us were together long before this church existed. There was Kyuna Christian Fellowship. Then Koinonia Church, from 2017 to 2020, where much of what we now hold was worked out in practice rather than on paper.

When Christ Church was planted at the end of November 2020, roughly half the congregation came from Koinonia. That is worth saying plainly, because people in Nairobi sometimes still confuse the two. It is not a mix-up. It is family history.

Why we started

Kenya reports that 60 to 80 percent of us are Christian. The country we actually live in does not look like that number. We did not think the answer was another church with more energy. We thought the answer was a church that teaches the Bible carefully and then refuses to leave it on Sunday, where money, marriage, children, work and honesty are concerned.

Where we are now

We meet in Loresho South, off Kaptagat Road, a short drive from Kitisuru. There is a garden. There is food after the service most weeks. On Fridays a team from this church walks the neighbourhood and sits with the families we know.

One church

The people here come from different nations, tribes, schools and incomes. That is unusual in Nairobi and we do not treat it as a project. It is simply who turns up.

There is one service, one Table and one Sunday School. The children who fill this place are our children. Nobody here is a guest of anybody else.

The people who lead

Kip and Rachel ChelashawKip and Rachel Chelashaw standing together in the gardenPhotography still to come . 3:2 mobile, 16:9 from 768

Kip Chelashaw, pastor

Kip studied Town and Country Planning at Bristol, then spent time in two church apprenticeships in London, then four years at Oak Hill College, where he took a Masters in Theology. He was ordained on 27 June 2010, two weeks after he married Rachel. He remains an ordained Anglican minister.

He preaches most Sundays, meets each of the church’s leaders one to one every month, and would rather talk to you over tea than from a stage.
Rachel Chelashaw, children’s ministry

Rachel oversees the whole of the children’s ministry, which on a good week is the largest thing this church does. She was born in South Africa to missionary parents and worked for seven years as a nurse. She also hosts an informal gathering for the women of this church on Thursdays.

The rest of the team

The work here is not carried by two people. Peter, Isabella, Ephraim and Amisi each carry part of it, teaching, leading, visiting and organising, and each of them meets with Kip every month for at least two hours. Those conversations are not about tasks. They are about how a person is actually doing.

We need something from you

We are holding four surnames: Peter Mukungi, Isabella Gicheru, Ephraim Kironji and Amisi Kiarie. None of them is printed above, and no role is given for any of them, because nothing has been confirmed. Tell us the names and the roles you want shown and we will put them in. Six people is the most this page will carry.

The mark on our door

Two blocks, one black and one red, with a cross cut out of the space between them.

Black is us as we are. Fallen, in the dark, and unable to fix it. Red is the blood of Christ, shed to buy us back. White is what happens next. Light, cleanness, a life that was not there before.

Death to life, through the blood of Christ. That is the whole of it, and it is on our door because it is the whole of what we have to say.

Read the longer piece on our mark (not built yet)

Where to go next

What we believe What a Sunday looks like (not built yet)Children and youth (not built yet)Visit us (not built yet)