1. 0 BACKGROUND

1.1 NCCK History

The National Council of Churches of Kenya was founded in 1913 during the United Missionary Conference held at the Church of the Torch, Thogoto (near Nairobi), when four missionary organizations signed a constitution that established the Federation of Missions. In 1918, the name of the federation was changed to Alliance of Protestant Missions. A more representative body was created in 1924 to take over the work of the Alliance, which was called the Kenya Missionary Council (KMC). Later, in 1943, KMC changed its name to Christian Council of Kenya (CCK) so as to accommodate non-missionary organizations.

After independence, the CCK changed its name to National Christian Council of Kenya in 1966. The current name of the organization, National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK), was adopted in 1984 to reflect the fact that membership of the Council is by churches, not individual Christians.

As such, NCCK is the oldest ecumenical organization in Kenya, and continues to carry forward the goal of promoting unity of the church in Kenya. This legacy extends to the entire continent, where NCCK is the oldest and most consistently operational Church Council.

Though the name and strategies have evolved over the years, the goal and focus of the Council has remained the same. She provides a forum for member churches and organisations to ecumenically act on common issues through capacity building, advocacy and service delivery to promote the attainment of a just, peaceful, resilient and sustainable society.

1.2 NCCK Corporate Plans

1.2.1 Past Corporate Plans

The Council adopted the concept of developing Corporate Plans in 1995 as a way of systematically analyzing the prevailing community and church needs as well as the operating environment and then developing appropriate strategies and interventions. This has enabled the Council to remain relevant in terms of issues addressed, strategic in the interventions adopted, and effective in attainment of goals and objectives.

The Council appreciates that a well formulated Corporate Plan establishes a foundation on which the organization can create, monitor and measure its success.

Historically, the First Corporate Plan January 1996 to June 1998, focused on the establishment of the regional structure that decentralized NCCK work, enabling her to reach the grassroots and integrate with local communities in her approach to implementation.

The Second Corporate Plan, July 1998 to December 2000, guided the strengthening and consolidating of the Council’s restructuring process at administrative and constitutional structures at both national and regional levels.

The Third Corporate Plan, 2001 – 2004, institutionalized the restructured organs and key levels of decision making, and shifted NCCK strategic focus from implementation to facilitation.

The Fourth Corporate Plan, 2005 – 2008, under the theme “Civic Competence”, sought to entrench facilitation as the strategic approach and introduced capacity building for the membership to address limitations some churches faced in internal governance and programme implementation.

The Fifth Corporate Plan, 2009 – 2013, sought to enhance unity and oneness within the membership of the Council, in the wider Christian family, and in the entire nation. It was guided by the theme “Better Together”.

The Sixth Corporate Plan, 2014 – 2018, under the theme “Shining the Light of Christ (Matthew 5: 14 – 15)”, sought to enhance the capacities of the church to transform the community holistically. Notably, the plan was the first after the establishment of devolved governance in the country, and thus provided strategies for working in the changed political environment.

1.2.2 The 7th Corporate Plan

Guided by the theme “That We May Be One (Jeremiah 32: 38 – 39)”, the 7th Corporate Plan, 2019 – 2023, was developed after an extensively consultative process in 2018. A unique characteristic of this Corporate Plan is that it was developed exactly 100 years after the formation of the Alliance of Protestant Missions in 1918.

The development was preceded by a review of the 6th Corporate Plan between May and August 2017. The review entailed review meetings with representatives from the Council’s member churches and organisations, national and regional governance organs, staff, beneficiaries and partners.

Broadly, this Plan seeks to articulate NCCK’s Theological Mandate and Theory of Change and integrates them in the attainment of the organisation’s goals, objectives and outcomes.