This archive report was first published on 10 July 2020.
Parklands Baptist Church Refuses to Reopen Amid COVID-19 Guidelines ¶
On July 10, 2020, Parklands Baptist Church announced that it would not reopen despite the government allowing places of worship to resume congregational gatherings in phases.
The church's senior pastor, Ambrose Njoroge, explained that the government's directive limiting the number of congregants to 100 per service would not be sufficient for the church's members, who have families with young children.
According to Njoroge, the church had taken note of the guideline that barred persons below 13 and above 58 years of age, which would affect the wholesome family fellowship that the church values.
"We are therefore concerned that the wholesome family fellowship which we greatly value will be affected if we reopen under the current guidelines. Consequently, we shall not have physical gatherings taking place and wish to continue airing our online services," Njoroge stated.
The church had been closed in March when the government announced a ban on all forms of gathering to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
President Uhuru Kenyatta had reviewed guidelines aimed at stemming COVID-19 on July 6, 2020, and allowed places of worship to be reopened but with limited numbers.
Uhuru had directed an inter-faith council to be constituted to give the way forward on reopening places of worship, with the objective of developing protocols that would be adopted to guide a more participatory way of worship.
