THE INITIAL STAGES
The Ziwani SDA Church was born in 1948. The church as a Sabbath School under Changamwe SDA Church was started after the construction of the then Pastor's house under Evangelist Israel Okoth. During this time, Pastor V.K. Mansker was the Director of Kenya Coast Mission of the Seventh-day Adventist church of Central Kenya Mission Field.
Earlier on in 1947, Pastor V.K Mansker had purchased the land that the pastors' house was build that stands to date. This building was the only permanent house around the area then.
The lounge in the pastor's house served as the place of worship for the Sabbath School members on Saturdays. This was a group of people between six and ten. During those days it was difficult to get converts within a short time. We never conducted crusades and the only way to increase in number was only through personal evangelism by every member.
In 1950, Pastor V.K Mansker was succeeded by Pr. J Schoeman who also handed leadership to Pastor B.D Brown in 1951. Pastor B.D Brown was succeeded by Pastor Zephania Oyier in 1953. Then pastor Hosea Ngumano took over in 1955 until 1960 when he was succeeded by Pastor Paul Saburi Kilonzo who served the church between 1960 and 1962. During this period the membership had increased significantly. This forced us into holding services outside the house and we used to join the mother church Changamwe every first Sabbath of the month for services.
Pastor P.D Bakker took over from Pr Paul Saburi Kilonzo in 1962 and served as the Director of Kenya Coast Mission from 1962-1964. It was during this period that the 1st Church building was constructed and was completed by the end of 1964. Pastor Bakker sourced the funding of the church construction from outside the church occasionally the local congregation could support but in a minimal way. Pastor Bakker’s technical knowledge in building came in handy as he supervised the work himself.
When the church was ready for use, Pr. Bakker requested one of his friends a Mr. Adams, who was not originally an Adventist and who was then a contractor at Kenya Ports Authority (KPA), to furnish the church with furniture.
THE CHURCH ORGANISATION
Mombasa Sabbath School, as it was known then was organized into a fully fledged church on 8th August 1964 by Pastor W. Brandt who was the President of the East African Union of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and was named MOMBASA SDA CHURCH.
The nucleus member of the church were the late Mr. Jeremiah Kalu (1st Elder), Mr.John Njore (assistant), the late William Mbui (treasurer/clerk), Yusto Otuoma (deacon) and Hannah Njore (deaconess).
The original Members of Ziwani membership was between 70 and 74. The church offered her services mainly in Kiswahili which is a practice to date.
The church was dedicated later in the same year.
During this time it was the only Seventh-day Adventist church in the Mombasa Island. In later years we established other churches starting with Kongowea in North Coast and Likoni, Mtongwe in the South Coast. Other churches were thereafter started being Coast Central Church, Kizingo, Family life, Majengo, Tudor and Tudor Cliff all within the Island.
Apart from those mentioned above, the following served the church and were part of and played a role in the origin and progress of Mombasa SDA Church. Pr. Maobe, who played a big role in looking for a piece of land, where the church now stands. The plot then covered a bigger area than it is now. This has significantly reduced by the increase in population of the city. Others persons include Pr. Ben Wheeler, Pr. Josiah Mwaringa, Pr. J.C Mwatsuma, Pr. Reuben K. Yeri, Pr. Reuben Kamundi and many others.
In 1986 Kenya Coast Field was started and its offices were at Ziwani Church. It occupied the then pastor’s house up to 1989 when the offices moved to Changamwe.
THE DEVELOPMENT AND GROWTH
In the over 50 years the Ziwani Church has existed, more investments have been made in planting churches whereby more than 22 have been fully organized through the effort of this church. The Church has also been expanded to the current building from the former that was small.
For about 15 years now a nursery school has been running and is gradually growing to a Primary School.
Other ministries have been started like Ministry for People with Disability, the Welfare Ministry not to forget the vibrant Church Choir among others.
Since its inception the Mombasa SDA church which was later in 1998 re-named Ziwani SDA church grew from a miniature family gathering to a big membership of over 1,000 members currently.
That is the humble beginning of Ziwani Church and how God has brought us this far.
