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Rev. Dr John Gachango Gatu, the first Kenyan to serve as secretary general of the Presbyterian Church in East Africa and a former moderator of the General Assembly of that denomination, died in Nairobi at the age of 92 on 11 May 2017.
Gatu had been a member of both the central committee and the executive committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and was a vice-moderator of the WCC's Faith and Order Commission. Active in support of the WCC Programme to Combat Racism, he also served in high offices of the National Council of Churches in Kenya and the All Africa Conference of Churches.
He was one of the key organizers of the 5th Assembly of the World Council of Churches when it was held at Nairobi in 1975.
Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the WCC, recognized John Gatu as "one of the pillars of African and world ecumenism over the past sixty years, a faithful and courageous champion of the East African Revival Movement" as well as "an agent of justice and peace."
A sergeant in the colonial army prior to Kenya's independence, Gatu became a fierce advocate for liberation from western domination. In 1971, he advocated a "missionary moratorium" as proposed years before by German missiologist Walter Freytag.
Writing in the Dictionary of the Ecumenical Movement, John S. Pobee explained that the prososed moratorium called for a "complete halt in the sending of missionaries and funds from European and American churches to the churches of Africa, in order to enable African churches to develop their own identity and to define their mission for their time and place. Moratorium, as expounded by Gatu, was a challenge to the assumption that without the large-scale presence of western missionaries, Christianity could not survive in Africa."
Gatu encouraged the philosophy of Jitegemea (a Kiswahili word for "self-reliance") in the Presbyterian Church of East Africa (PCEA). As a leader of the PCEA, Gatu was instrumental in dialogue leading to the ordination of women, approved by the General Assembly in 1976.
Noted as an author of hymns as well as journal articles and sermons, and an accomplished translator, his books included Joyfully Christian: Truly African and his recent autobiography Fan into Flame. The Daily Nation newspaper of Kenya calls the latter memoir "explosive" and observes that the church leader was never reluctant to apply Christian ethics to politics: "Dr Gatu will be remembered for speaking out against excesses of previous governments, especially that of President Daniel Moi."
John G. Gatu was born on 3 March 1925 in Kianbu, Kenya. He was educated at St Paul's United Theological College, Limuru (1951-55), New College, Edinburgh UK (1958), Pittsburgh Theological Seminary USA (1963) and Princeton Theological Seminary USA (1970-71). His wife, Rahabu Gatu, died in 2016.
See "Gatu, John" in the Dictionary of the Ecumenical Movement, and learn more via the Daily Nation
