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I. NAME
- 1. The name of this church body shall be THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH IN KENYA, hereafter referred to as “this Church” or the “ELCK”.
- 2. Her work shall be carried out in Kenya and other countries where she might send missionaries.
- 3. This Church is by confession associated with the Lutheran churches in the world.
II. DOCTRINAL BASES
- 1. This Church believes and professes that the Holy Scriptures contained in the thirty nine (39) canonical books of the Old Testament and the twenty seven (27) canonical books of the New Testament are the inspired Word of God and the only infallible authority in all matters of faith and life.
- 2. This Church professes the Christian doctrine and belief that is founded on the Holy Scriptures, which belief is comprised in each and all of the ecumenical creeds, viz. the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed and the Athanasian Creed, and is also expressed in the Unaltered Augsburg Confession of 1530 as well as in Martin Luther’s Large and Small Catechisms and the other symbolical books of the Lutheran Church.
- 3. This Article II is unalterable.
III. PURPOSE AND AIM
- 1. It is the chief purpose of this Church to make disciples of Jesus Christ by teaching and preaching the Word of God, both the Law and the Gospel, to all people, according to the command of the Lord Jesus in Matt. 28:1820.
- 2. This purpose is fulfilled by the use of the means of grace, that is, by the right administration of the Sacraments, by arranging public services and meetings, prayer meetings, Sunday Schools, Christian meetings for young people, Christian education, by making Bibles available, printing and making available Christian books that are in accordance with its confession (MII), by visiting the sick, by individual care of souls, by looking after orphans and widows in their distress (James 1:27) and other activities which serve its chief purpose. The work of this Church should thus be carried out within the congregations as well as outwardly among non-Christians, aiming at the extension of the Kingdom of God.
- 3. Those eligible as bishops, pastors, evangelists, teachers, deaconesses and elders of this Church are only such persons as who believe and are baptized (MIV.1), who in word and deed confess the doctrines and beliefs stated in MII and who thus preach and/or teach in accordance with the Holy Scriptures and the aforementioned creeds.
- 4. The pastors, evangelists, teachers, deaconesses and elders of the congregations of this Church shall see that children, young people and adults are instructed in the Christian doctrines which we believe and consider to be properly expounded in the Small Catechism with the Table of Duties by Martin Luther. Therefore this book shall be carefully studied by all members of this Church. This Church shall also see that the instruction children receive is in accordance with her confession.
- 5. It is the aim of this Church to be self-supporting, self-propagating, self-governing and self-theologizing within the limits of MII of this Constitution.
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