NACC Journey

The National Association of Christian Chaplains was registered in 2010 by/among others its founding chairman Rev. Edward Etale. The association was not very active in its first two years. In the year 2010, Rev. John Gatu joined chaplaincy at Alliance High School and was immediately invited to the membership of the association.

One of the signature activities of NACC has been the annual chaplains conference. Alliance High School chaplaincy offered the initial clerical support to the association and also helped to co-host the first chaplaincy conference that took place in the same year at the East Africa School of Aviation. The keynote speaker at that conference was Mr. DG. Kariuki, the principal of Alliance high school then. With the attendance of only 30 delegates, this conference opened the door for the ever-growing national chaplaincy conferences.

In 2011, the conference took place at Milele Beach Hotel and had 47 delegates. During the conference, a Chaplaincy manual was developed and has continued to guide school chaplains to date. By 2017, the conference attendance of the conference had grown to about 200, then 306 in 2019, and 355 in 2022. Since that time, NACC has held annual conferences every year except 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.

Initially, NACC was run by an ad hoc committee formed by members who were handpicked from among the active members. The chairman and the secretary were however retained until the retirement of Rev. Edward Etale in 2022. Other persons who have held leadership positions at national level include Judith Ogweno, Dorcas Waweru, Mark Orwa and Stephen Muange (Treasurers), Johnson Kemboi, and Margaret Nzau (Vice Chairpersons).

The constitution of the National Association of Christian Chaplains was revised and inaugurated during the 2019 Chaplaincy Conference. This was the beginning of the development of structured corporate governance of the association. The first Board of Management was launched the same year. Since then, NACC has embarked on the development of management policies and strategic plan.

NACC has been in the forefront in championing the chaplaincy agenda in the country. NACC Secretary has been the chairman of the chaplaincy committee at the Ministry of Education since 2016.