In February 2007 Robert Veitch and Rod Frohman traveled to Nairobi, Kenya to explore the possibility of building a mission partnership with a congregation of the Presbyterian Church of East Africa. (PCEA) In October 2008, Ry Foye, MD, Ronna Grimes, Judy Gordon and Rod Frohman took a second exploratory trip to Kenya.
Through connections with Kenyan Pastor, Rev. Timothy Njoya, Rod's Princeton classmate and lifelong friend, connections were made with the Kihumo Presbyterian Parish just 15 miles outside of downtown Nairobi. The congregation has 300 members and is just 1 mile from Kikuyu Hospital, a Presbyterian institution and the Presbyterian University of East Africa, a new institution.
Thus the opportunity is available to establish a multivalent partnership with the Kihumo congregation, the hospital and the developing university. The similarities to Third Church's many connections to the U of R, RIT and Strong Hospital are very obvious.
In September of 2007 Third Church signed a memorandum of understanding with the Session of the Kihumo Church. The World Peacemaking and Mission Team, chaired by Robert Veitch, is the Third Church group monitoring the partnership.
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