 Happy Sabah, happy day, happy Sabah. Thank you so much for joining us this afternoon. We're so happy to have you. Those who are already in the sanctuary, the Lord bless you for wanting to be in His presence. Those who are joining us online, thank you so much for clicking on the link and wanting to worship with Nairobi Central SDA Church. We are here for our afternoon service. We are live, we are happy to be here and we're happy to be with you. I'd like to request those in the sanctuary to please rise so we can start with an opening prayer. Shall we pray? Our Father who art in heaven, we thank you so much for this day. We thank you so much for the sabbath. We thank you for all the blessings that we have been able to experience because of this sabbath day. I thank you for everybody who is watching, everybody who is here in the sanctuary, all those who are yearning to meet you this sabbath. Lord, I pray that you meet us at our point of need. Lord, I pray even as we continue to worship you that you may open our hearts so that we may receive from you that which you have prepared for us this day. Be with us now and forevermore. Five pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you so much. We are happy to be here. As I said, if there is somebody sitting next to you, give them a smile, give them a happy sabbath. Give them a welcome to the house of God. Those who are seated so far behind, I'm requesting you to please move at least five pews to the front of you. Okay, six pews in front. Yes, you, yes, yes, please move. Please move so that we can feel warm altogether. So we're going to start with song number 524. It is so sweet to trust in Jesus. Amen. It is so sweet to trust in Jesus, 524. It is so sweet to trust in Jesus, just to say His word, just to, just to know the same as Jesus. Oh, for great to trust in Jesus, just to trust His plan for faith to plunge me with us, Jesus, oh, say, be inshallah. Thank you so much for the wonderful song session. And good afternoon, everybody. And we welcome you to the afternoon sabbath. Today, it's a public affairs and religious liberty sabbath, and we are all welcome. Before we start, let's have a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, we come before you this afternoon thanksgiving in our hearts. We thank you for the Father who brought us. We thank you for this beautiful day that has given unto us, our Lord, Father God. We thank you, Almighty Lord, for each and every person, Almighty Lord in this church. We thank you for today's program. We ask that you may be with us. May you guide us and may your Holy Spirit be upon us, Almighty Father. As we're going to start to continue the afternoon presentation, I pray that you may be with us. For it is in Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. Thank you so much, everyone. My name is Eileen Yonamima. I'm a council member of the Public Affairs and Religious Liberty Department. And for the better part of my presentation, you're going to hear Pearl a lot. And Pearl is just an abbreviation of the Public Affairs and Religious Liberty. So I'll start with my presentation. As we all know, or rather today, most people have been asking what is Pearl or what is Public Affairs and Religious Liberty. I am here to take you through what Pearl does, what it is all about. And I hope that you are all going to be blessed. Next slide, please. So for our content today, we are going to do an introduction and then also we'll have a look at the objectives and functions of Pearl and also we'll have a look at the achievements that Pearl has been able to do over the past couple of years or rather since its inception. So Public Affairs and Religious Liberty is a department within the Seventh-day Adventist Church and the main purpose of the department is to bring liberty rather to maintain liberty and in particular to liberty of conscience. And in the department, as per the name, it is divided into two. There's the Public Affairs and Religious Liberty. The Public Affairs can be defined as to work for ongoing relations or presence with government and civic society in all areas. And Religious Liberty is basically an individual's right to freedom of worship and freedom of conscience. So what is Pearl? As I've mentioned before, it is a department within the Seventh-day Adventist Church that focuses on public affairs through working with both public and civic societies whose functions intersect with the mandate and ministry of the church. Pearl is also a department that is public-facing, basically what that means is that most of the times we find that the Pearl Department is the one that faces the public in that we interact with the government officials, we interact with the civic societies, we interact with schools, we interact with institutions. Pearl also, together with other church departments, advocates for policy positions in issues pertaining to health, education, environmental protection, peaceful coexistence, women's and children's issues, the rights of prisoners and aid and development. So we basically champion for freedom of everyone from women to children to religious freedom. It doesn't matter which religion you are in, we are there to champion for that freedom of worship. And what is the mandate of Pearl? Pearl, one of Pearl's mission is it is grounded on the promise made between God and Israel that is to promote God's good repetition among the nations. The great commission Jesus left for us is to be his disciples. We are to tell other people about who Jesus is, who Christ is and what he has done and what he can do, and also we are supposed to share and the characteristics of Christ, and that is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Also Pearl promotes and develops a culture of human rights grounded on human dignity and on the belief in the creation of all humans in God's image free to fellowship with God and fellow human beings through engaging all actors of civil society, primarily people of influence in the political as well as in the religious world, government official, decision makers, law makers, faith based organization and community organizations. So what Pearl does, we interact with all these leaders from the civil society, other religious organizations, including the government when it comes to religious freedom and to champion for the freedom of worship among everybody. What are our objectives? The Department of Pearl is organized for the main purpose of maintaining liberty among men with particular emphasis upon liberty of conscious. The Department seeks to guard against intrusions upon religious liberty, especially in view of the persecution prophesied in Revelation 13. It is our duty to do all in our power to avoid the threatened danger. Testimonies volume five, page four, five two. Freedom of religion, that is another objective, whereby as adventists we believe in the freedom of all religion. And as a department, we champion for everybody to be given the opportunity to worship and also to be able to be able to worship on the days that they want to worship, to be able to go to church on the day that they want to go to church. And also as a department, we work with others to maintain and promote religious liberty. It is important that we work with others who share the same interest. So we don't work alone, we don't work alone. We work with other departments, we work with other people who share the same objectives as we do. And how do we achieve our objectives as a department? One is through diplomacy. And this we do by maintaining a relationship with the international organizations, the UN, and also we build these relationships through interacting with various government officials, through other civic leaders, parliamentarians, we also interact with people from all walks of life, and especially the leaders because they are people of influence. So, and that is why we normally have instances whereby we have meetings with presidents, we have meetings with members of parliaments, we have meetings with the top government officials whereby we are able to drive our agenda of religious freedom. The other thing that we do is how we achieve our objective is through organizing events. And also every five years, the general conference organizes a world congress for religious freedom, an event that brings together hundreds of public officials, government organizations, NGOs, lawyers, and religious leaders from all over the world. The other thing that we do in order to achieve our objectives as a department is through communication. We do regular publishing of articles, reports, books, and also doing annual reports whereby we highlight matters on religious freedom and also ensuring that we keep everyone updated on what has been achieved so far, what is happening within the department, and how we can able to come together and to achieve the objectives of the department. All this information can be found in the website that has just been highlighted. Parl and public affairs. As I said earlier, Parl is divided into two. There's the public affairs and then there's the religious freedom. So, Parl and public affairs. Our primary task is to make known the identity, mission, and message of the Seventh Day Adventist Church to everyone, to everyone all over the world. And we share what we do as Adventists that is health, education, children, ministry, women, ministry, we share all these services that we offer as a church to everybody because in our mission as a department, we endeavor to share what the Seventh Day Adventist Church does to everyone so that we can do away with the misconceptions that most people have about the church. Then through Parl, the Adventist Church has many opportunities to meet and share about the church's prophetic understanding that is the Three Angels message in Revelation chapter 14. And through Parl as well, the church has an opportunity to participate in national and international conversations and gives its voice to discussions while clearing the misconceptions about the church. So through our interactions with all these leaders, we are able to give a voice. We are able to sit at the table and also we are able to voice our opinions in terms of what we would want to see. We want to be the change. So by interacting with these people, we are given an opportunity to tell them about the church, to tell them about our women ministry, our children ministry, because we know for everybody knows SDAs, we are good with our songs. Everybody loves the songs from our church. Most people or other religions, they also, they use our Bible study lessons nowadays because they realize that we are grounded on the Bible and we find that most of the times when you go to buy your quarterly lesson, you might miss to buy one, why? Because the other churches, the other religions and other people are coming to the church to buy the Bible study so that they can go and use it. So through Parl, we are able to continue this discussion. We are able to tell people that we are not selfish. We are there to champion for your freedom to worship. We are there to champion for your freedom, to be able to air out your views. Parl and religious liberty. Religious freedom is a fundamental and compound freedom in that it contains other freedoms. It presupposes the freedom of thought, freedom of conscience, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, freedom to choose or to change religion, philosophy, or belief. Religious liberty also, it is a gift from God to make covenant relationships credible in all justice and peace. Not genuine and lasting peace can be achieved by means of coercion or force. Therefore, the needs for religious freedom is not a favor from a government but a primordial gift from God. So we champion for the freedom of religion. Even from the beginning, God has given us the right to choose and as that, you have the freedom to choose who you want to worship. And as such, religious liberty or religious freedom is, it's not supposed to be forced on someone or it's not supposed to be pushed down a particular person just because you are doing it. But you can draw other people to God through what you do, your actions, what you say, and also praying with them, reading the Bible with them and through that, we are able to bring other people close to God and also to the church. A PAHL promotes religious freedom around the world and champions for people who are discriminated against or persecuted for practicing their beliefs. So the religious freedom is not only about the Seventh Day Adventist Church but it is also to help other religions as well. Why religious liberty? One, the Bible itself promotes religious liberty. God is a God of freedom and we are being told, in the Bible, that whoever has the sun is, whoever has the sun, exactly. So the Bible promotes religious liberty. God is a God of freedom. He does not force anything on anyone but he gives us the freedom of choice, the freedom to choose. Also, why we talk about religious liberty is to maintain human dignity. Religious liberty is based on the dignity of the human person and it is an uneniable right. For self-protection, as Seventh Day Adventist Church, we are in the minority and we have much to lose if our religious freedom is denied. So one of the things that we really, really emphasize is because we as the Seventh Day Adventist Church most of the times we find that we are not given the opportunity to go to church on Sabbath, in our workplaces, in our schools and various institutions and that's why the PAL department really, really is about religious liberty. The other thing is for prophetic understanding. As a church having understood great controversy, we have the mandate to share this knowledge with the world and why religious liberty is important. We are students of the Bible, we've been taught about prophecy and having that knowledge, it is our mandate to share that knowledge with the rest of the world knowing very well that what is coming will affect all of us and as a church, as a department, we are implored to share this message with everyone. Why religious liberty? To remove prejudice. Religious liberty is essential in proclaiming the right God to combat religious intolerance. The denial of religious freedom is a frequent cause of conflict and violence. We have seen there are so many countries whereby there's so much conflict not because of anything else but because of the fact that people are not allowed to worship or people don't have that religious freedom to worship on the day that they are supposed to worship. To promote God's values and ideals. By supporting religious liberty, we demonstrate God's values and ideals in practice. It is a highly effective witness for the truth of the gospel and as we do so, we are a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men. Past Corinthians chapter four verse nine. As I mentioned earlier briefly about where religious freedom began. In the Garden of Eden. In Genesis chapter two verse 16 to 17. Freedom of religion, I'll talk about it briefly. The UN declaration of 1948 on human rights and the 1981 declaration on the elimination of all forms of intolerance and discrimination based on religion or belief protects the religious freedom of all. So basically religious freedom was there from the beginning, from creation all through. God gave us that freedom to choose and God gave us that freedom to worship. The Seventh Day Adventist concept of religious freedom is founded on the scripture. Joshua 24 verse 15. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you then choose for yourself this day whom you will serve. Whether the gods of your ancestors serve beyond the Euphrates or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord. So from this scripture we are seeing that there is freedom. The people who are giving the freedom to choose who to worship. Matthew chapter four verse 18 to 22. Jesus calls his first disciples. As Jesus was walking beside the sea of Galilee he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake for they were fishermen. Come follow me, Jesus said and I will send you out to fish for people at once they left their nets and followed them. From this we are seeing that Jesus did not force the two brothers to follow him but he gave them that freedom of choosing whether to follow him or not. I'm going to touch briefly about the achievements that Paul has been able to make in the past years. We are going to have more of the achievements later on in the panel discussions and one of the achievements that the department has been able to achieve is that we had representatives during the drafting of the current Kenyan constitution. And during this period the members of the church who are in the Paul department were able to give up their opinions and their ideas whereby everybody was given the chance or the freedom to vote on an un-church day whereby and that is the reason why we do vote on a Tuesday. The other achievement that the department has been able to do is we have championed for students in various schools to be able to worship on Sabbath. We know very well that most of the schools where our children go to are not being given the opportunity they're not being given the chance to worship on Sabbath whereby you find that on Fridays is when they're supposed to do the exams or they're supposed to do maybe practicals for chemistry, biology and the likes and we find that the schools have made it so difficult for our students to practice Sabbath and that is where Paul comes in. We go to the schools, we talk with the administration, we engage them, we have a conversation in them and also enlighten them the reasons as to why we need religious freedom in our schools. The same applies to our workplaces. Most of us are not allowed to go to church on Saturday. Why? Because Saturday is maybe their busiest day and we find that because of that we have so many members who cannot come to church or we have so many members who fall back because they are not being given that chance, that opportunity to come to worship on Sabbath. And as a department that's where we come in and that's where we champion for the freedom of worship. We champion for the freedom for everybody to be given that opportunity to worship God. And with that, I'll end my presentation there. Just to give a summary of what the presentation is all about, I will welcome the drama band for our presentation in a few. Drama band? Faith, the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen. But do we see? Don't we? Vision as clear as the cloudless sky, like staring into baby blue eyes, mesmerizing, poetic as I think about God's never ending masses and grace. From Ephesians 2 verse 8, it actually says, for by grace you have been saved through faith and this is not your own doing, but it is the gift of God. Drama band with freedom of worship. Hello, sir. What do you mean you're canceling? We have already made the purchases. No, we can renegotiate. You've gotten a new buyer? Mary, Mary, guess what? With all that energy, I hope it's about our raises. If not, I don't want to hear about it. No, it's not. I come bearing good news. Is it about our new supervisor? I really don't like her. Sadly it's not, but guess what? Hey, woo wee, I have the appointment later to become the head asher of our church. Hey, I will be welcoming visitors into the church. I will be wiping the seats, acknowledging guests and guess what? I'm the entire shebang. Oh, okay. So you'll be those people who stand at the door for hours waiting for people to come in. Ha, ha, could never be me. Why not? Imagining welcoming everyone into the church and coming to praise God, the creator of the universe, the one who saved me from all my sins and addictions. It's so wonderful. Okay, sure. All right. In fact, do you know something? Tomorrow is the day. I can't wait for Sabbath. It's going to be my first day to start walking. You'll wait for Sabbath, just like you've waited for your unpaid dues. You see, our new boss over there will never allow you to take a day off on Saturday. It's our peak season. Plus you've just gotten here. Mary, what's wrong? I thought you mentioned that you're an Adventist. What happened? Look, Adventism doesn't pay my bills. I will make sure I pay my bills. I'm also hiring a new promotion in a couple of months. So if it means for going church, then so be it. Even God helps those who help themselves, right? No, God does not help people who help themselves in doing what is wrong. In Deuteronomy 28, verse one to 14, God blesses those who keep His commandments. And if you're faithful, my God shall supply all your needs, acquaintances, richness, and glory in Christ Jesus, Philippians 419. All right, Steve. No, it's Jack. It's Steve. Because you're going to get stoned, get it? Just like the guy in church. Mr. Atari, we have a very serious problem. As I told you, the deal was I was expecting the containers to come from China and to reach here by last week. As you know, I'm a very busy man and there is no need for me to follow up on something that I paid five million in dollars for. So this is what I'm saying. Make sure that the containers reach here latest next week. Otherwise, it's very easy for me to terminate our contract. So make sure it's done and don't bother calling me until it's done. Good day, sir. Hello, sir. Do you have a moment? Ah, well, if it isn't the employee of the month, I see you're here early. As the youth of now, they say, mape man, you're best. Yes, boss. I would like to make a request. Yeah, sure, go ahead. So I would like to move, I would like my off days to be moved from Sunday to Saturday because I'm now an adventist and I want to spend the entire day worshiping my God. Hold on, hold on, hold on. You said you're an adventist. Yes. Okay. There's something I don't quite understand. Why didn't you mention this in the interview? I won't say by then, but I am saved now. In fact, they even appointed me to be the ambassador by the time I get there. Jack, Jack, Jack, Jack, Jack, Jack. If you're not careful, the only thing that you'll be asserting in is the title unemployment. I mean... Jack, do you know how hard it was for me to convince the board to hire you over all the other superior candidates? But I had foregone all of that to hire you and you're here asking me for more days off. What kind of a sick joke is that? But... Uh-uh, but nothing. Listen, I'll break it down for you. We can't start our busiest days, right? Right? And we need all hands on deck, right? And when we do that, we get money, right? But when a certain someone, a certain entitled someone, comes asking for days off on our busiest day, we lose money, right? And when we lose money, I can blame it on you, right? And when I blame it on you, I can fire you, right? If you haven't yet understood, this is what I'm saying. You have a job here. You have a career here. You are one of our best workers. You're successful. So you have two choices. You can either come, continue to work with us and act like this. Little useless meeting never happened. Or you can try your luck out there. Try to be an Asher, wiping seeds and greeting people. You can try your luck out there. But otherwise, think we're done for here. So have a good day and have work to do. Boss, boss, please. Boss, please. I love my job. Think about my kids. How will I support them? My family, my wife needs me. If she realized that I don't have a job right, I don't know how I'm going to take it in that family. Sir, nevertheless, I love Jesus even more. It is God who gave me this job. And even if it means losing it to glorify Him, I'm ready, sir. You will still provide me with a new job. Jack, Jack, Jack. You say God will provide another job for you. Are you sure about that? With the high rate of unemployment in this country that we know, you can't get it to enjoy. Are you sure about that? Check your facts, my friend, because there are so many qualified people who I could have given this job. But I decided to give it to you. And yet you're here asking for more days off. How entitled do you have to be to do that? Ah, my friend. You your case now, I can't deal with it. I really trust in God's promises, sir. In the book of Numbers 23, verse 19, God is not a man that should lie, neither is he a son of man that should repent. Oh, so now you're a Bible student, sindio. Nevertheless, I still don't care and I'm not convinced because just a few moments ago when you came into this office, you said you weren't saved before. So how should I believe that you're saved now? Sir, sir, please. While you were yet seeing us, Christ died for us. Romans 5, verse 8. So because Christ died for you, you're automatically a saint. You have a golden ticket to go to heaven, right? Ah, ah, wrong. I'm still not convinced. Teach me your ways, oh Lord, that I may walk in your ways. Creating me a clean heart that I may be able to do that with your purpose. Psalms 86, 11. Do you know something, sir? Ourself, we can't be Russians, but only look up to God. Christ is abide with me and I in you and you'll forth bear much food, for without me you can do nothing. And God, when God is in you. Jack. Jack, Jack, Jack, Jack. What do I do with it? Ha, ha, ha, ha. But you know what? You sort of turned me around on this because now that I think about it, if we had more men like you, more men who had firm beliefs, deep convictions like you do, our company would flourish with integrity. So this is what I'm going to do. How would you like a promotion in senior management? Are you serious? That's serious. Praise God. I'll even do you one better. Why don't we go and check this church out because your faith has gotten me a bit curious and a bit interested to learn. So we can go and check this church out. Although I do have some inquiries because I hear that you drink soya and amkulangi nyamasu, is it true? No, no, no. Just tell me now. Is it true? Do I put my jacket back now? I don't go there? No, not really. But anyway, let's go and attend. Ha, ha, ha. Thank you so much to the drama band for that illustration. We're going to do a few songs before we welcome the Paul team. The first song we will sing is song number 456 in the Adventist hymnal, 456, My Lord and I. Together, let's sing. I have a friend so fresh first So very dear to me, see, heal me. Nimbus and Christo go for that flame of living fire. Supermoto is gone, is done, the night is gone, was through the sun coming, when my... Katika Nimbus and Christo. Yes, Shappendola. Happy Sabbath. Happy Sabbath to our online viewers. We're glad that you're with us. We've been seeing you online. We've seen your comments. I've seen a few questions. And we're excited to join with you, both our physical colleagues. This afternoon, we are all colleagues and we are all servants of the Lord and also our online colleagues and brothers and sisters. At this moment, I'd like us to pause for a little bit and have a word of prayer. I'll request our elder, Eldorima, please, if you would pray with us. Can we pray? Mighty Father in Heaven, in a special way, we come before your throne of grace, thanking you for the privilege that is ours to be in your house and just to commune with you. You've given your children the opportunity to be able to gather on this beautiful Sabbath afternoon. On that day, that is for public affairs and religious liberty. This is a special day, dear Heavenly Father, when we want to recognize the freedom that you gave to humanity to make choices of their own. You did give us that freedom and we have to recognize that is a freedom we have to give to every one of us and every other person that we deal with. And so today, as we gather here to be able to discuss issues that relate to this, may you open our minds so that we may actually be of the proper disposition to be able to give out the knowledge that your people need to have and open their minds also so that together we may learn from each other and be in a better position. May our work and service enhance the coming back of your Lord Jesus Christ. For all this we ask in the Holy Name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen. Thank you very much. So once again, I welcome you to join us this afternoon. This is going to be, I hope, an interactive session both from the panel and also from you who's in the congregation and also online. And I invite you to ask whatever questions you may have considering the topic we have today. And I will go right into introducing and hopefully we can have a quick round of introduction of the team in front of you. What we have in front of us today is not only a representation, is not the full representation of the PAL departments which is the members of the committee. We have a few members who are seated in the congregation and assisting us in praying with us from there. And I will invite them to waive. So maybe I start with them and then we come up. We have our elder. We have the elder in charge, Elder Opiata. Thank you very much. We have our sister, Aileen Yonah. You saw her earlier on with a wonderful presentation. Thank you and God bless you. Now on to the stage. I am a member of a profession that respects something called seniority. But today I have to put it out there so that some of the members who are here will start wondering what is happening. We'll understand it's the Sabbath day and we can rest today. And part of resting is breaking seniority. And I will start with Achie. So could you please introduce yourself by name? What you do perhaps? And yeah, let's start there. Thank you. Happy Sabbath, everybody. Happy Sabbath. My name is Achie O'Rero. I'm a member of this church. I'm happy to be on this panel. I'm a lawyer by profession. I work specifically in women's rights. And I'm happy to be here once again. Happy Sabbath, Saint. My name is Oria Malkoth. I'm an elder at Nairobi Central Church, which is your church here. When I'm not coming to church elsewhere, I earn my living through doing the work of advocacy. I run a farm called the Kotan Keplagat Advocates, generally dealing with several litigation. And other than that, we've been doing the work for the church, advising church on illegal related matters. And we're just happy to be part of the panel's discussion today. Thank you very much. Happy Sabbath. Happy day. My name is Davis Oderosimo. I'm a member of this church for the last many years. I am the secretary of the public affairs and religious liberty department for the next two years. When I'm not in church, during the week, I am an advocate of the High Court. I run my own law firm, Oderosimo and Company Advocates, which has been in existence for now about 25 or so years. Happy Sabbath. My name is Modesta Nyaga. For the next two years, I'm the leader of public affairs and religious liberty. I'm a teacher by profession. That's what I do, that is the trend. When I'm not here, I teach. And I teach people from all professions, including the lawyers. Amen. Thank you. Amen. And she, you forgot to say you're our leader. I'm saying it. Oh, OK, I missed that point. Sorry. My name is Sharon. Sharon Mora, Bosire Amayo. I say all my names because different people call me different names, whichever combination is right. I am a lawyer by profession and I'm a member of this, humbled actually, to be a member of this department. As you've heard, it has a very long name, but today we will put it to you that it's PAL, so that you remember it's PAL. P-A-R-L, PAL. Must be somewhere up here, maybe not. But that's the acronym, PAL. As we sit here, we want to demystify two things. And as we move along, I hope by the end of this Sabbath, we'll remember that that PAL is not a department that focuses only on lawyers. And I think the beautiful thing is our leader is a mother of lawyers, but a teacher by training, which is wonderful. Because the church in its constitution of PAL was looking to have all members as stakeholders into PAL. And I hope by the time we are done, you'll be able to see how you relate to PAL. As an individual, as an employer, as an employee, as a student, as a professional, whatever trade you do, you need to find yourself in PAL. If you don't come look for us and we will tell you where you're best suited in this beautiful, wonderful ecosystem that we call PAL. So right on to demystifying PAL. PAL has been in existence for a very long time. And a few members of this committee, of this department sitting here with us, have been serving in PAL for longer than just the two years that they'll be serving. So let me ask my brother, Davis, how was your first experience when you got into PAL? What did you think of PAL? Your very first time. Being this is not your first time? Well, the first time I served in PAL, I think, was around 1998 or 1999. They're abouts. Amen. Youth, 1998. OK. I still consider myself a youth. Well, over the years, I had not been there for too long. I was actually the secretary of the Adventist Lawyers Association from around the year 2000 that they're abouts for a number of years. And it's during my tenure as a secretary of the Adventist Lawyers Association that the clamor for writing a new constitution started. And we were a bit concerned. My friend Mr. Rehman was with me in Allah. We still actually have members, I think. We notified the church that as the constitution is being rewritten, we cannot sit back. Because whatever the final outcome of this constitution shall be, it shall impact on us. Now, this is also the period when we had all manner of challenges with general elections and by elections being held on Saturdays or on Fridays. And on a number of occasions, we had to go to court to try and block those elections from taking place on Saturday. Or if it takes place on Friday, you realize that the counting is going to spill over to Saturday. So it doesn't work for us. On a number of occasions, we were successful. On some occasions, we were not. So when the constitution review process started, we notified the church leadership that we had to be represented. Our input had to be taken on board. As a result of sensitizing the church leadership, we were actually represented at BOMAS, right from the first Waco draft. It was a draft which later on was mutilated and called the Waco draft. So we took part in that, and our input was in that document. And lucky for us, our input survived up to the subsequent draft, which was later promulgated into the current constitution. So in a nutshell, I'll say that we played our role in making sure that our interests were captured in the current constitution, as we shall expand as we go along. Thank you very much. That actually goes right into what I was going to move us to, which is the aspect of public affairs. When we talk about public affairs, Eldoriyama, public affairs, where does public, what is the role of Pearl when it comes to advocating for religious liberty, but focusing on public affairs? Thank you. As you realize from the name, it is public affairs and religious liberties. The tendency and the reason why people tend to turn more to the lawyers in this department than the other people is that people seem to have the impression that it has to do with just a legal profession. But public affairs is a very, very pertinent part of this department. Every activity that every individual undertakes actually involves the public. And we are talking of the public administrators. We are talking of the civic leaders. We are talking of the general domestic or municipal leadership. So when we are talking of public affairs, we are talking of those bodies that govern our daily life. They decide how much tax you pay. They decide whether you'll drive on the left side of the road or the right. They will decide who will be jailed. They will decide all manner of things. So public affairs actually impacts the life of everybody here. And that is why the public affairs aspect is very important. And when we are then talking about religious liberty, those liberties are either guaranteed or abused by those same public members of the public service. And that is why the two must go together, because it is either the government departments are going to uphold your religious rights or else. They are the ones that are going to abuse it. So when you are talking of your liberty, it's liberty from who? If it is liberty from your fellow colleagues, even your contemporaries, your church members, your villagemates, it is still the government that will ensure somebody does not abuse it. So there is a lot of intertwined coexistence between the public affairs and the religious liberty aspect. And that's why they must really always go together. So when we talk of public affairs and religious liberty, we must involve the civic leadership. We must involve the public leadership. We must involve the administrations. But with regard to how our freedoms are going to be safeguarded and protected. Great. Wonderful. At Cheng, we have come to a, we are students. We are learning very seriously from at least the kind of work that has been done so far. If you were to describe Pearl to your grandmother at home, of course, in this instance, because we are multicultural, not in Dulu, but in a language we can all, the heavenly language that you can all understand, what would you tell us Pearl is? Let's see if we are learning. OK. Wow, an exam on the first day. So I've just actually been thinking about it as everybody was speaking. And to me, what comes so clearly to my mind, and that I hope to everybody who's listening, is an example of the Israelites when they were in Egypt. Right? So initially they went over because Joseph was there and he invited his family. But eventually the leadership of the day changed and changed and changed to the point. 430 years later, they find themselves in a position where there are slaves. Right? Hold on. I'm going to make the point. The point here is Moses and Aaron were the ones who were sent by God to speak on behalf of the Israelites. To me, that is Pearl. These people who are speaking on behalf of the entire church. And the assignment here is that we don't need Moses and Aaron. All of us now are Moses and Aaron speaking on behalf of the entire congregation in whatever sphere we find ourselves. Right? So that at the end of the day, we are all achieving the religious liberty. We are free worshiping. We are freely associating. We are freely giving to Caesar what belongs to Caesar in accordance with our beliefs. I hope I distilled it well. Thank you. Thank you very much. I knew you would do very well because you teach children. And it is a special gift when you teach children, you have to crystallize things to the point of maybe, oh, you're old, five-year-old, and you've done it. And I think that's the way we need to understand departments and poor items that the church is focusing on. Take it to the simplest and understand it in a way that you can replicate it to your child. Then that way, it will make sense not only to you, but it will also tell you whether it makes sense for the church to have it as a department. If you cannot explain it, they are saying as explained it, then we might as well just petition the general conference to go away with this department because it makes no sense. But thank you, Achyeng. I think you've confirmed it makes sense. And our sister, Modesta, has worked for the next two years. So now coming to you, Modesta is the leader and the chair of this wonderful department. What's your vision? What is your vision for not on, for Pearl from the global perspective? We've had the presentation today from Eileen. She gave us a global perspective of what Pearl is. And now how have you crystallized that for this church, for Nairobi Central Church in the Kenyan context? I'll say Kenyan because we are not limited to Nairobi only. OK, thank you very much, Sharon. Now, the vision I have, one before I come to that, for me, this is the first time to be in this department. So I'm learning and we are learning together with the support of those who have been there. And it is a very interesting department. So from what I have picked, first and foremost, and that is why we started with the sensitization program, is to demystify Pearl. What it is all about and the fact that it is not just inclined to one area or profession, Pearl is about all of us. So my vision or the vision I have is that at the end of it all, it should involve all members of the church. And if you look at, there's a pamphlet which we put on the pews or in the pews in the morning. And by chance, if you are not in and you don't have this pamphlet, we still have some copies, kindly. You can see us so that you get just a summary of what Pearl is all about. And on the second page, there's something on the pillars of Pearl. And those pillars of Pearl sort of summarize what Pearl involves. So the vision, one of the visions here or the pillars is to train every seven-day adventures to become an ambassador of freedom and truth. So the vision we have is to ensure that we empower each and every member so that you become an ambassador, you become a champion of freedom so that it is not just something which appears to be very far from us, I mean from the reach of many, but total member involvement. That is one thing as we liars with the public, as we fight for the rights of others, my wish or my plea or our plea is, are we free ourselves? And that is what the pastor was, I mean the preacher talked about today, being free in Christ. Now remember, religious freedom is about worship. And the first conflict in heaven where Satan rebelled was about worship. He complained, he accused God of being a dictator and he didn't want to submit, he wanted to rise above God. So the issue was about worship, it came down to us and we have to make a choice between who to worship, towards the end of time. The same concern will be on worship. The final conflict is about worship. Will we be worshiping the true God, the three angels message and how are we preparing for the final conflict? So Pearl, I believe should also be able to make a contribution in that because according to some of the guidelines, as Pearl, we are supposed to give a quarterly update of the issues which are taking place in the world, how they affect us and therefore to help us prepare for the final conflict. So as we journey on, it should come down to an individual level. How are we preparing for the final conflict? And with that, then we will all be on board and we'll be all involved, all geared to being champions of freedom headed to heaven. Thank you. Amen, I told you, I've already started finding myself. I've seen a few people nodding, meaning they are finding themselves in Pearl. Let's do a quick quiz. So I would have said you stand up, but I will not put you through that now. So how many people, maybe this is not the right audience members to address on this issue, but how many people, how many of us brothers and sisters have actually gotten to a point where you have had a freedom of yours taken away or threatened, whether in school, at your places of work or possible places of work. Because there are people we know who may have left places of work because of freedom being taken away by a show of hands. I'll start by mine because I think I have. Let me see, part of being a champion and being free is your bold, so your hand goes straight up. Let me see. Wow, wow. I think in the physical audience, that should be about two thirds. That's two thirds, meaning we're in the right place and we're having the right conversations. So now, let's segue on to champions of freedom. We have seen that a good number of us have faced, in one way or another, I wish we'd be able to take the different cases, but in one way or another, a good number of us have faced challenges with religious freedom or just freedom generally. I would also like to make mention of the fact that when we're considering this day and how to prepare, I realize two things or rather three things. When you're looking at freedoms, there are three, we are talking about religious freedom, which would be freedom of worship, but there are those other freedoms that are associated or linked, freedom of association and conscience. And I would like to ask Eldor Iyema, talking of freedoms, yes, and also provisions in the constitution and the laws of the land and also international principles, all those things that are foundations for this. Have you been able to, in your interactions, maybe cite a case or two, maybe not the details that would expose them, but come across one of these and was there a way that Pearl came in to assist or to guide in the outcome because we know that these are challenges that we have and now we'd like to know the practical aspect. How has Pearl interacted with these cases? Thank you very much, Sharon. The department has been very instrumental in trying to intervene when there are cases of breach of religious rights or rights of worship. Now, Davis told you earlier on about the involvement of members of the church in the process of constitution making. Prior to that, he had told you about the instances when we had to go to court to be able to challenge decisions to hold elections or buy elections either on a Friday preceding the Sabbath so that the counting will spill onto the Sabbath or holding the election itself on the Sabbath so that members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church are automatically disenfranchised. Now, those cases went ahead, some succeeded, some did not succeed because the law as it stood then was not very clear, it was a real gray area as to whether the government should respect certain rights of people which are not entrenched in the law and this then led to the need to be involved in the constitution making so that we could have provisions in the constitution that would then be protective of the rights of worship. And that is, I think, the part that Davis did refer to earlier on when our people had representation and as even as the people in the front line who are representing the church and the relevant committees were there, we had continuous meetings. But then the union leader, Pastor Peter Buona, was the one coordinating the things and the Department of Religious Liberty, especially of Central Church, but again with a few other members from other churches continued to involve in discussions to try and analyze the law and decide on provisions that if included in the constitution would then protect the rights adequately. And this, happily to say, led to the framing of chapter 32 of the constitution, not chapter but article 32, we talks of the freedom of worship and specifically, I remember that there were lots of debate for a long time with each denomination trying to protect what was their right until a solution was found with a proposal that had come from one of our members here or that had come from our group that the protection of the right of worship and the freedom to worship should be extended to a freedom to choose a day of worship. So we were not saying that you put it in the constitution that you should not vote on Saturday because we worship on that day, but we put it in the constitution that the freedom of worship should be a freedom that guarantees you to have the right to choose a day when you want to worship with the result that if Adventists chose or Adventists worship on Sabbath as they do, then automatically that right to worship on the Sabbath had to be respected. And then it was entrenched in the constitution. This thing had an up and down and this is where I think prayers also help and God was on our side because when this thing had been done and the draft was now left for the parliamentarians to go and have the final debate in Naibasha, you know, those people I think went and mutilated everything. They removed literally all the provisions that were good to us and then it came back to the committee of experts where we had friends, these people told us, look, we had co-opted your needs as best we could. These MPs, wherever they went, they went and brought it. Now you'd better go and talk to your parliamentary representative so that when this thing goes to parliament, they may reinstate those provisions. But now where God was working is that the thing went to parliament for a final debate and politicians being the people they were, were focused on political powers and the debate started raging on the issue of the powers of the president and, you know, it went on disagreement back and forth until, and there was a fixed deadline when they had to agree on the zero draft. Either they had to agree on their own drafts or they had to go with the drafts that went to Naibasha and these people reached the deadline before they could touch on other issues and that is how the Naibasha draft went and was passed wholesale with all the provisions that we wanted inside the constitution. Once that happened, we said now we are home and dry, but as things, as, you know, faith would have it, you know, the institutions and the powers that be were used to doing things their own way. They were not going to start respecting certain provisions because they have suddenly appeared in the constitution. So what happened is that prohibition or limitations of the rights of worship continued and people were finding themselves in difficulties in schools, in workplaces, and in other places and, you know, by the way, once a matter has gone to court, it becomes an issue of public domain. So when you asked whether without mentioning, I think when it has gone to court there is really no secret about it. One of our members here, I'm glad to say, I think, I don't know whether Gekara is in the house. Gekara actually became the first person who took up the thing on the new constitution when there was a breach of the child's daughter's rights to do certain things on Sabbath. And the matter went to court, there were, you know, the judges being the way they were, they had their own views. The decision was made that wasn't very good for us and several other cases, individual cases went to court and, you know, the judges were, you know, they were going in a limping way. But what happened is at some point as members again of religious public affairs and religious liberty, we figured out we were not going to be able to defend all cases country-wide and we decided to go under the umbrella of the East Central Africa Union, East Africa Union at that time. And that is when we brought the case, that went, we brought a petition to the High Court with an umbrella of the union so that everybody who would be affected within the union would be covered by the decision that was made. And again, we went to the High Court and unfortunately for us, the High Court made a decision. You know, it was like they were overruling us on literally everything. And by the way, this is where you need to be very, very careful because among the things a judge said is that he knows members of the big church in Nairobi called Maxwell, actually worship on Saturday and before they go to worship, they actually pass by, they fill their cars and they drop their other kids to school and then they come to church to worship. So the idea of saying that these people of alliance cannot deny our children the right to worship that their children have to go to class doesn't wash. And there was also a member, a purported member of the Seventh Day Adventist Church who testified to that effect and said, you know, the children going to classes on Sabbath has always been there. That's how these big schools maintain their standards. So this is pettiness. And very sadly, we did not carry the day there though the judge again at the end of it made recommendations that the Ministers of Education should actually make regulations that would give clear guidelines on how those freedoms in the Constitution can be protected. But he did not grant the orders we wanted. And this is what led to the civil appeal number 22 of 2015. I think it was civil, I can't remember the exact, civil appeal number 172 of 2014. We appealed that decision and very happily in the highest court that had jurisdiction over that matter at the time, the court now became very emphatic and said these are rights contained in the Constitution and the institutions did not have a choice over it. So that decision also ordered the Ministry to make regulations and to issue circulars directing the various heads of institution to tell them Adventists are entitled to their right of worship, right from sunset Friday to sunset Sabbath. And that decision stands to date. So to that risk where I think Pearl in this part of the world has really done quite a bit in terms of dealing with the actual practical issues. We also have cases that involve workplace decisions which have also been taken to court, not by us here but we were involved in facilitating other members elsewhere and they have actually been upheld. So I think in terms of establishing the law towards protection of religious rights, the department has been very instrumental. Thank you. Amen. Members, very big amen. And you're looking at him like he's, it was just a normal day of drinking tea and mandazi and going into the office. This was days and hours of work put in, a lot of prayers put in, a lot of also you can imagine the fear that is there from the petitioner, you know? Because you don't know, your child is in a school and your members, amen? And maybe also part of why I'm trying to put this across is for us to appreciate that not just that, it's not by human effort but how the Lord works through men to fight for issues which may be considered as basic but very important. Online. I'm seeing some good comments online and maybe I read two of them. We have some of our members saying it is interesting to know that the Kenya SDHR contributed to the constitutional review process. That's something I'm sure is a new tidbit for a lot of us. We may not have known that. Someone else is saying happy Sabbath to everyone. A good and timely topic indeed it is. Thank you very much and God bless you. And someone else is, God is always working on his people's behalf. Amen. Amen. God is always working on his people's behalf but we need more people to be bold, to stand out, to be what? To be what? To be champions of freedom. Now I want you to say this. Nairobi Central Church, champions of freedom. Okay, champions of freedom. Let's say that. Nairobi Central Church? Champions of freedom. Nairobi Central Church? Champions of freedom. I want to hear both champions of freedom. Let's go. Nairobi Central Church? Champions of freedom. Thank you very much. So now, champions of freedom, here we are. I want to hear some examples of champions of freedom. Then I'll give to our members who are present here. present here. If you have questions online, we'll take a few questions. So, champions of freedom, Modesta, champion of freedom, Memoan. Champion of freedom, a person or an institution, I know parents. They are parents who have championed the freedom of worship in school, especially in school. Of course, I'll easily talk about a school institution and maybe I'll be selfish, maybe to talk about ourselves, because the issue of freedom of worship, given that our children have gone through institutions, public institutions, there have been a lot of restrictions, but we stood and many schools, like the school where we were, the children were in for primary school, they were able to allow them to go to church, because we insisted and said, you know, they would say like what elder was saying, maintaining standards, but you tell them, church first, then work next. And of course, they allowed our children and then later on, the school gave freedom of worship to some of, I mean, the preceding or the students who came after. And maybe I can mention El Danyaga also, during the time when they were, the union was fighting, he was one of the parents who saw an affidavit on behalf of the parents, so that the case would carry weight. And of course, even in some institutions, by the way, where we say that we should collaborate with the public, I know of some secondary schools whereby the people who are fought for Adventists are not SDS. They are teachers who have admired because the students have presented a positive image about Adventism, they perform well, they are disciplined. Then the teachers say, no, these students, because of their behavior and their good performance, let's allow them, they plead even with the administration. Their institutions were in fact, the chaplains of some of those schools are not Adventists. They are just Christians and Adventists and they champion the freedom of those students. Amen. Amen. Thank you very much. And they meant to the champions of freedom. Davis, champion of freedom. Well, in this journey, we've had support from many quarters. Let me go back to the constitutional, constitutional making process. For the older folks, they will recall that there was a few row about the Cadiz courts. Most Christians felt that there was no justification for the Muslims to have their Cadiz courts when they can get justice in our normal courts. And as Adventists, we decided to be strategic and we helped them to fight for that Cadiz courts to be included. I've never heard of any Adventists being taken to a Cadiz court. And actually, the jurisdiction is very limited to family laws, family and succession. And it is to people who profess that believing. If one of the parties opts not to go to that court, the court lacks jurisdiction from there. Now, when we were now fighting to have our interests included in that constitution, do you know the people who stood by us? It is the Muslims. The Muslims are the ones who helped us push in all those articles, article 32 and even the one on the elections or the elections to be held specifically on Tuesdays so that we are not prejudiced by having this election either on a Saturday or on Friday and then the counting spills over to Saturday. The Muslims are the ones who helped us to fight this. So when you are fighting for this religious freedoms, let us remember that we stand a better chance when we fight for the rights of everybody. Don't limit it to Adventist rights alone. Remember, in the biggest scheme of things, we are a minority. And I think Eileen captured that in her presentation. So we fight for everybody's rights, not only Adventist rights. If rights of a Muslim or a Catholic are being infringed upon, we've always stood for them. And as a result, some of them have ended up being champions for our own freedoms as well. Amen. Amen. Wow. That's a twist. So don't go around beating up your Muslim brothers and sisters aimlessly because you're an Adventist and you think you have the right to worship yourself only on this world. There is a lot of... who have only placed Adventists in this world? Can I comment? Yes, please do comment. Okay, now one of the aspects which comes out in PAL is for us church members to learn how to work with other churches. What should be our attitude towards them? Are there situations where we are also prejudiced against other churches? So that is some of the areas which we will be highlighting, capacity building, so that out there we learn how to relate with the community, with the public, and especially other churches. Thank you. All right. Thank you very much. Achieving one champion and then we go to the questions. A champion of freedom? Yes, I wanted to just speak about, you know, ourselves being champions in the institutions where we work. And I think one of us has given the example, I think it was Elder, who was speaking about how we are the ones who prejudiced ourselves sometimes when we don't stand up for our day of worship from the beginning. So there's an elder who used to worship here. He was a pilot where he was in the institution where he was working and he's the only pilot at the time who said he can't fly on the Sabbath. And they had to rearrange their schedule. You know, I can imagine, like there are so many planes leaving, going, coming, you know, but he said I'm not working on the Sabbath. And then when he stood up and said, I can't fly from Friday evening to Saturday evening from Saturday evening, you can router me any other day. Then other pilots started to say, actually, I've been flying, but I am also not supposed to be flying, right? So we are the ones who sometimes prejudice ourselves. And I just wanted to bring this back to, you know, my example of the Israelites. I found this verse this week, so this is why they are just on my mind. In Exodus 4 verse 11 and 12, we see Moses negotiating with God. God is sending him. Moses is there. Oh no. I don't know how to talk well. I even, you know, he's thinking about all the things he doesn't have. And then God said, who do you think made that mouth? Who made your lips? It is me. I will be with your mouth. Literally, God says, I will be with your mouth and I will put the words that you will speak in it. So sometimes I truly realize it is out of the spirit of fear, you know, of if I stand up and I speak for myself and I speak for my right to worship, you know, I might lose my job, my livelihood depends on this and the other and the other. So, you know, it is our perception of God. In Psalms 8 verse 4, it says that God created the heaven and the earth, right? He puts you in these institutions that you're in for a reason. The example that you are now to your children, when they are by themselves in school, will they be, you know, going with the crowd or standing up even if they are by themselves? So, the champion I wanted to highlight was the elder who's a pilot and stood for his day of worship and challenged us also to be champions in all the institutions where we frequent. Amen. Adoryama, first I consider you a champion of freedom. Thank you. So, that is my answer. No, you can give your... Thank you. You know, our church, the leadership of our church are now involved in the interfaith group negotiations and they've got seminars and conferences that decide on various issues. Before that, there was a general tendency to believe that Adventists should not involve in certain of those other things. And that helped us to isolate ourselves and not fight effectively. But since they went there, they have been able to even sell our faith better by raising these people's curiosity. So, I think that is something that is very important. And one thing I wanted to add is this is literally for everybody. You know, for us who have been in the court corridors and have tried cases for close to 40 years, we've known that every time you go, the fact that you lost today doesn't mean you have a bad case. It just means the judge's understanding of your case as of that day, that particular judge is, you know, you are not at par. But next time around, you come back and somebody sees it in a different angle. So, when you take up a matter and challenge a decision and you even lose, you have actually made a mark and you have shaken that tree. Next time you're going around, whether in the next level or in a different court, you go with a different approach and that first attempt you made will count a lot. And that is why for persons who had taken the initiatives, even at a time when the law was not that clear, I think those, in my view, are real champions. And in my view, somebody like Kara Nyakamba was one of them. Amen, amen. Champions of freedom. Nairobi Central Church. Thank you very much, Elda Nyakamba, champion of freedom. I think we should celebrate them more because a lot of what they do is passion, is bold, is the Lord speaking through them. And eventually, if indeed it's the Lord's, the Lord's will will prevail and we will see it and we will testify about it. Now, questions. I would like to invite some questions. I see a hand from the back there. I see one in front here and I see a third one, a gentleman in the middle. And the last one I will take for now is Elda Nyaga. There is someone at the back. I'm sorry, I can't see, but I will request that you move closer for me to consider that hand. So, can we take it in that order? Thank you very much. I will request, okay, the mic is there. Thank you. Please do ask your question. Okay, thanks. Mine is not a question. I just wanted to remind us of one more champion of freedom that we and the world have seen during our lifetime. Elda Nyaga retired CJ. When he refused to listen to a presentation petition on Sabbath, the world noticed. Even the CJ, I mean our world president who went to the church, he actually sent a congratulatory message for him. So, that is my champion of freedom. Thank you. Amen. Champion of freedom. There we go. You can also give us your champions of freedom. Yes, at the back there. I wish you would move closer. It was farther behind. I'd request you go to the one, yes, because that hand was up earlier. Thank you. I will, given time, I will see whether to consider. Yes, please, you can stand up and ask your question. Thank you. Sorry, I'm holding a baby. Okay, okay. Happy Sabbath. Happy day. Okay, I would like to question this. In our church, in this spirit of maybe liberty, religious liberty, our church institutions, we have a tendency of only employing the Sabbath keepers. And as as church members, we are not all of us employed by the church. We are employed by people of other religions. So, I normally keep on asking, how will we spread this gospel if you're not accept others to come into our institutions and they learn how we do things differently? That's my question. It's not very clear. The sound is not so clear. I think I got up. Okay, I will attempt to say back what you said. So, you're saying, how will we reach out when as a church, we are only employing in most of our institutions, Adventists only. Is that the case? Yes. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. One more question or comment. There was a gentleman, yes, in the middle there. Thank you. I wish you could say your name so that we can also capture it, but. Happy Sabbath. Thank you. My name is Edwin Mandere. First of all, I want to thank Paul. My question is, I heard a comment from Brother Davis, like when you are putting forth your petition, you are the assistant from our brothers, the Muslims. And even you when you are doing the same, they supported you. My question is, as Paul, we know that when you talk of freedom, we have people advocating for the LGBT movement or you talk of the atheists. Can you still support those kind of movements to champion their freedoms? Or we should have some check and balance. Okay. Wow. I can see some laughs and smiles. Eldan Yaga, I request that you take it. I know you're taking another forum with the young professionals. Thank you. And I hope you sit in for the response, but we can. Thank you. I'm not asking a question. I wanted to make a comment, but allow me just to respond, although I was not able to respond to an issue that has come about employing people. Please do. You know, institutions. Yes. The badge I'm wearing is written and event is education. Our education institutions are a vagalistic sentence. Let us not confuse public support and institutions of adventists. There are some institutions where we are sponsors, but they are not private. They are run by the government. Just like the other churches, schools like ACK, whatever supported by their, sponsored by their churches, but they are public. But adventist schools are a vagalistic sentence meant to preach the gospel as we teach. It is like a pastor. A teacher there is a pastor, expectant as he is passing the knowledge also and calculating adventism. You cannot employ a pastor of another faith to come and preach to us. If you do, you are not an adventist, you have no business teaching in our schools. Hit the door. And I'm saying that with a lot of bitterness because we have suffered a lot because of that. The problem we have in our schools is because we are not taking our children to those schools. But when our children are adventists in public schools, they are supposed to be protected. These are public schools. We pay taxes. But the private school is like my business. You cannot come and tell me you have to employ somebody. It is my discretion to know who I'm going to employ. I'm saying this because I listened one time to a speaker from the general about our schools. We have these problems, but sometimes we employ them when we have no option. But when they come, we have to adhere to what we are talking about. Because this is a private institution, a vagalistic center. We are not discriminating against them. It's when you bring that teacher. What is he coming to teach? Anyway, my comment was this. Syriac say, you know elder there knows or Yema, the problem we have been fighting. Our main problem are not outsiders. We are the problem. That was my comment. We are the problem. And I wanted to say this without your respect. Freedom is not free. It's very expensive. If the son they have or shall set you free, you are free. It costed Jesus life. One of the three heads to die for our freedom. You cannot just go to a school and expect to be given a freedom of worship. If you are denied, fight for it. But the problem we have elder under the moderator, it is as was the problem. Where parents go and tell their children, don't worry about me. Go to school on Saturday. You know after the exam, you come back to chat. She will never come. She will go forever. We are messing up our children. We are our own problems. Freedom is not free. We have to fight for our right as adventists. And I like the champions like Koryema and Osiyema and others. Because what they do not for this, we'll be having a problem in this church. We have to protect our freedom. The other problem as I sit, please, I have seen even comments in the what are they called these social media. Like when there was a case of a pastor in a wedding there. Without even having facts, people start commenting, you know, I've been an adventist. You know, sometimes the way we do things is not right. Please, if you have nothing else to say about adventism, shut up. If you have nothing good to say, shut up. Thank you. That is one of our champions of. He really is a champion. Thank you elder. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Espoir. I have a short question. Actually, I'm hearing this organization for the first time. I don't know whether it's only existing in Aroby Central Estee Church, but Ignorance not a defense will excuse me for that. I just want to know whether power has any legal structure. Whether it, I mean, I would like to know its organogram, how it is being run. Thank you. Okay. We'll take that as the last question for now or comment and then we respond to the few that are remaining. Yes, please. Thank you. Happy Sabbath. God is good. All the time. God is good. Okay. My name is Olivia and my champion is first is Eldar Irma and brother Davis for the journey that they did for us during the new constitution dispensation. It's a sterling effort for us to be where we are, isn't it? And they're not our champions and they're not our champions of freedom. Yes. We need to recognize our own. Now, my other question is to the panel, we thank you so much for this fact that you have appealed so that this in the schools, there's that freedom being experienced. However, in certain schools, which are also within the East Kenya Conference, our jurisdiction, we still have students having challenges, whether that is they're doing cuts or whatever. And this, and sometimes as parents, it's difficult to pick up your child to fight on your own because the child may be victimized. So the question is like, I think when last last academic year, I remember we were praying for a child of an elder was going through a very difficult, the same same freedoms was being infringed upon. So the question is the panel, do you have any mechanism for monitoring if the the Ministry of Education have given their regulations? Is there any arm of monitoring so that you can collectively go and say, okay fine, Minister of Education. These also schools are now infringing on this so that victimization is not done on individual individuals. The truth is there's still a number of schools that students are still suffering, their rights are being infringed upon. So that's one question. The second one for PAL, yes, you've been doing an excellent work. However, I felt that you'd have been the first people to fight to champion our challenge here in the church when we've been sitting in very tough, tough benches because that's our rights or freedom of feeling nice when we are worshiping is being curtailed, you know. So you know, we've been like happy slaves, Eldar Uyema and the team out there, we've been happy slaves just sitting but really having a rough time. That is one. Second, third and final, when we come to worship every morning and you are late, then maybe the city council is harassing us out there, we don't know what to do and we're looking for parking, then maybe we pay something for, you know, all that also is successful under your jurisdiction so that you can help us so that you can ask the church to build for us a nice parking basement so that we can have something, our rights again there, we're happy slaves. Please, PAL, do something. Thank you. Wow, I think let's hold it at that for now. Let's hold it at that for now. Thank you very much. I think there's the experience of free people has to be really good. So we've picked some of those and maybe we'll add it on to our work, our work for the for the next two years and see how that goes. So I'll go with brother Davis. There's a question directed at you and then I'll ask Eldar Uyema to answer the question on mechanisms perhaps or Modesta, you could you could also take that mechanisms. The mechanisms of monitoring the activities that we're doing in terms of with the schools, those that we're able to reach to and those who we are here to reach to. Okay. We can answer that. Yes. So the question that was directed to me was the one of the rights of the LGBTQ. And and and the atheist. I think a chain goal so you're in that sphere if you would as far as as far as the rights of an atheist goes if you look at article 32 your right to profess your religion that by extension means you've got a right not to profess any religion you cannot force your religion on anybody right so the right to believe includes the right not to believe so you should not feel obligated to force your beliefs on anybody. Now as far as the LGBT question goes that's more of a theological a charge position than a legal position. To the best of my knowledge I don't know if as a charge institution we support LGBTQ perhaps Pastanyaga would tell me because if it is not in line with our beliefs then I'll have a bit of a problem going to court to fight for somebody's LGBTQ rights but perhaps Pastanyaga will be able to expound on that as like I said it's more of a theological question than a legal question. So that was the question that was directed to me. That was the question. A chain is in single society perhaps you'll tell us. So the comment that I had on this issue is usually when we talk about LGBTQIA all the letters it mostly relates to their agitating for their rights to be recognized as the you know the sexuality that they want to be recognized for to engage in marriage to adopt children and all of that right and our laws don't allow that and neither do our beliefs as far as Christian beliefs. One of our fundamental beliefs actually is about marriage in the family and on that it's one man one woman right. So in terms of the other rights you know like their right to I don't know worship their right to move their right to assemble you know those accrue to everybody as a human being you know so we shouldn't be violent we shouldn't discriminate we shouldn't you know we should just love them as human beings just as what has asked us to love everybody as your neighbor as yourself and all of that but now we shouldn't go to the extent of now we are the ones advocating for them to be married to adopt to you know and so on and so forth I hope that was clear. I think today's thank you Aching and thank you for the those responses today someone was very very pertinent to answering not only that question and others that Jesus actually was the sample example of what a champion is. Jesus chose to love each of us and to die for all of us while we were sinners I leave it at that because if he's our example and he loved and he chose to do that and to die for us we can only look at Christ's example looking at any other example and trying to demystify and say is it right is it wrong well what if one day a church decides to to to or people look at different churches which are you doing things which may not be biblically correct and saying the church has said it is good has Christ said it is good so Christ let Christ be our example because Christ is our champion okay sister Modesta okay now if I've gotten it right the question is about structures or mechanisms of monitoring issues of religious liberty now um note we are less than one month in office and what I can pick already or what has been done in the past the reason why we started with this topic of sensitization is to talk about what PAL is all about and how to be for all members to be involved and one to start with if you look at this leaflet or pamphlet at the back at the far tail end there is there is the contact or your contact for the leader and the secretary just the two of course there are more other members such that if you have a concern and the concern must not be about you it can also be about a friend what you've heard what so that you raise the issues so that they can be dealt with because I believe like the issue of denial of worship in schools or where students who are being forced to worship this issue must have come through the sub the branch sub at school elder or the case was reported to to the pastor by the way PAL is a multifaceted it has a multifaceted approach whereby all the departments are involved so that is why we are having this session to make us all aware such that if you have a concern you can report to the pastor you can report to the members of PAL then the issue can be taken up so it is through that collaboration and then other issues also come through the press through the media like now in social media what's up there are many issues which come up like there is a comment in one of the guidebooks which says that to be a leader in PAL and yet you don't listen to news you don't read the newspapers you are not part of what is happening in social media you miss out a lot so those are some of the monitoring mechanisms or how we get feedback on issues which should be dealt with and of course the structure is this is a department in the church and of course there is a council and there is a way in which it is supposed to work that's what I thank you thank you very much the council is not only unique to this church Nairobi central church it's actually stemmed right off from the general conference and I think there's a site there's a link that was shared there I'm sure if you just google and look out for PAL general conference you'll see there's wonderful work that's been done there by one of the great champions for freedom that should be a little job he's done a wonderful job an ambassador of change and of freedom I'd like to read some comments here as we close there's a hand that is up yes allow me to read and then I will give it to to that hand as one of the last ones there's some comments here so that we don't look like we're forgetting our online audience there's also with the the church has posted a link to some of the cases that have been cited here and I wish that we go there and be able to draw from from those wonderful examples there's a comment here I think I want to read from Sally and she says I thank god that I was a champion of freedom in my high school last year before finishing my national examination the school had imposed examinations on Sabbath and I remember we gathered in the evening in the eve of Sabbath to discuss a solution because it weighed so much on us so everyone agreed for the exams apart from me and one of my faithful friend who was a form three who helped me become more prayerful and it wasn't easy to stand up against every person and even my friends but I thank god he was faithful and after I was done with my school my friend also stood for Sabbath and others joined her who are not joined other friends joined her who are non-adventists and who eventually became Adventists and I'm just grateful that god had showed his mercy and faithful to them till now this Sally has earned you a star in heaven Sally is a champion of what of freedom thank you very much Sally may god bless you I've seen someone say my champion of freedom is retired Justice Maragha champion of freedom and seeing someone else saying amen to Sally and okay my champion is elder Kennedy he's done a great he's done great with students negotiating with different administrations for students to have their freedom of worship amen god bless you all there's so many comments coming in and we appreciate you all for joining us and for being with us and for shouting out your champions of freedom and we bless the Lord for that so elder Gokara I think thank you for the opportunity I'm just reading chapter 32 of the Kenyan constitution in relation to what our brother said and having been aware of the lack of freedom of worship in our church some years back someone asked me why do SDS ask for freedom of worship or for freedom when they don't give it to anybody who comes to institutions so I'm asking a pair as I read this to see which way they can assist the laymen who run our church they are laymen in law to understand the constitutional requirement of Kenya as far as freedom of worship is a is a freedom freedom of rights is concerned let me read it every person has the right freedom of conscience religion thought belief and opinion to every person has the right either individually or in community with others in public or in private to manifest any religion or belief through worship practice teaching or observation including observance of a day of worship three a person may not be denied access to any institution employment or facility or the enjoyment of any light because of the person's belief or religion and number four a person shall not be compelled to act or engage in any act that is controlled the person's belief or religion all of those three or four are frequently are used to word frequently broken by our church institutions start with paraton if you it doesn't matter where you go to church you must go to church on saturday and you must be checked erorco you are a muslim but you must attend church as a requirement our improvement requirement if you see an adivat one of the requirements is you must be an adventist in good and legal standing to be a doctor in a hospital to be a teacher of maths and physics so what i'm requesting the bar is to assist our church to understand what the kenyan constitution stands for you can't demand what you can't give and you cannot force people to worship the god whom they have not learned through you that has been my major concern even as i fought for freedom of worship i fought for it because of this constitution but this same constitution demands that your muslim move comes to this church should not be forced to come to church to worship a muslim move comes to always a doctor surgeon should not be forced to be an adventist before it becomes a surgeon i should not have students who are now going freely by job to paraton to be attending class every every weekday on a particular day and be attending church on saturday morning as a rollercoaster so they can get a degree in geography it is not constitutional it's not the crusts we are working this man's way of working just like the Jews used to be fairly energetic in forcing people to do what they think is right thank you very much thank you very much that has been noted there's one question that i'll request elder reama to respond to this was a question that was asked online and that will bring us to a close today i'm sorry for those who are not able to take your questions kindly you can come to us after this so look at the contacts and bring them there will be here again this is not the last time we are doing this so there was a question does the church promote internal religious liberty and freedom of conscience and do we allow divergent opinions as a church elder reama okay i suppose whoever is asking is a member of the adventist church and therefore aware of the regulations and rules that we have in the church yes there are internal mechanisms of dealing with opinions divergent opinions the issue is how the approach is made but if you have a divergent opinion there are ways of channeling your opinion to i don't know whether it is something doctrinal or it is if it is something on account of some administrative issue but depending on what it is you can it can be done through airing your view through the pass rate through the eldership through whoever and then even if it is an issue that is coming for the first time and you know it's a controversial issue it can usually find its way if the church cannot deal with it now because the rules as they exist do not allow it they will let you know but there are ways of filtering the emerging issues all the way to the general conference they have a department where they actually study various controversial issues these are the same you know the issues such as how do you are we is it fair to continue treating somebody who was converted when he had four wives and asking him to throw away his wives and thereby make the other children illegitimate or something like that those are very tough doctrinal issues that are being dealt with at the general conference and if you have a different opinion from what your pass rate will tell you here they would not be able to make a final decision on that but if it is something that the church has a position on then simply the church manual will guide us and there are other policy documents that will guide what is in issue so that what may appear to be contradictory may actually be found in the policy but if it is something that you can't resolve at the church level there is still a way of channeling it all the way to the GC so that even if a decision cannot be made now and that's the reason why you see the church manual gets revised every five years when people go to the general conference the proposed changes are made out of researches and readings of the bible and meetings that people have and they have convergence of views and then the the these are put on the floor of the general conference the opinions are taken and votes are taken if they are passed then a new edition of the church manual comes in and that is how changes come in so yes there are avenues for divergent opinions there are ways of dealing with it the question is the approach all right thank you very much i'd like to thank my whole moderators because i do not want to see one of these you have made this a wonderful experience i would have wished that we go longer but time is also a constraint and i'd like to thank all the brothers and sisters who have sat with us through this session both online and physically and i pray that the lord may help us learn what it is to be free and to be a champion for so Nairobi central church Nairobi central church champions of freedom amen so i will then go ahead and invite our pastor who has also helped us conceptualize what this day would be we had to have a crash course as one of the first departments to have our Sabbath early in the year i'd invite him to say a word and pray with us as we close this day Lord is good all the time Lord is good and that's his nature we thank the Lord for this very informative session that we've heard through this department thank you so much panelists you've been very very a big blessing to the people who have been watching and listening to you very insightful we ask you to come again so that we can be enlightened now before we pray there is a concern that was pushed to me my friend here and in system that i needed to mention something on it but i wonder whether there's an issue i mean as a pastor and as a christian there are some things that don't waste time debating on anything that has an express authority from the bible it should be a basis of discussion not unless we are enlightening people the bible is very clear and you see the argument that we get from the lgbt and q you know there is we need to laugh people show them god laughs them and that's the argument that's okay and actually it's because of that love that christ came to die he says i came to seek and to find the laws of israel so we are not saying that those guys do not deserve the love of god but we are telling them this love of god comes to tell us how god is this love of god reveals to us who god is and once you know who god is then we start behaving like god and see jesus said if you love me that is john 1415 you've loved me keep my commandment and the very first commandment that god gave the book of genesis the garden of eden in the context of family was a man leaving his father's and mother's home and cleaving to his wife and the same bible in that chapter defines who is a man and who is a wife okay so um he says god created man in his own image he created he in his own image male and female okay that's where things begin and that is where we find the foundations of marriage so any relationship within the context of marriage should be understood from male and female these are things we're telling us about john and john mary and jane no musulete musulete musulete those ones you keep them where they belong not here you see let me say this way we love you we love you so much those are struggling that kind of lifestyle that's seen and we are all seen as we are struggling but we see even as you're sitting here today those are watching us online I don't want to believe there's anyone here who is struggling this scene and want all of us to engage in that scene I think we come to just because we are these struggles we have yet we want to have enough grace to know how to live come out of these struggles of life but when we have a situation where people are telling us now accept this scene and does it justify it make it righteous I think something is wrong there something is wrong there and I think for the advent of church I have no authority to speak on behalf of the advent of church but I have authority to speak on behalf of Nairobi central church where I've been assigned I will say on this full beat any relationship within the context of marriage and family is between male and female and our young people here should get that very well if anyone is struggling we just come to us we'll pray for you the way we pray for drunkards and we pray for thieves and we pray for other sinners we're just struggling don't don't put it on us that what you're doing is okay it's not okay it is seen and you need to overcome that scene it's as simple as that so the crusaders of this thing because I and I appreciate you know the campaign is not very intense no one is having its way on our platform here the campaign is very intense and I've expect it's going to intensify more and more but let me tell them here the doors and the gates into this church is closed is closed can we do anything again is the truth members can we do anything again is the truth do we have even any power no so it doesn't matter who said I love the Bible because somewhere Paul says if any other person even an angel comes and preaches a different gospel than this one okay so it doesn't matter what church leader will say what or what government will say what or what power will say what this book that I read does not change and let me tell you members of Nairobi central church this Bible is not about to change okay so make yourself comfortable with the things which are here at least for the next days coming I'm not seeing it changing and so let's remain here they stand here if it is in the Bible is for us if it's not in the Bible is not for us and I think that's where the Adventist church stands if you know anyone there who is struggling with same-sex marriage or anything like that one just pray for them ask them to come to us we guide them it's a sin they're struggling with they need to come now to our baptism you see there's baptism pool we'll just dip them there and we lay our hands on them and all that power of sin will disappear there is no sin that cannot overcome but let us not be told by anyone to accept sin even though it's an angel who has come we can't do anything against the truth but we must behave ourselves for the truth having said that let me wish you a very blessed week next week next Sabbath we are having our official launch for our strategic focus for the next two years and I want to invite you please don't miss because this this foundation of what we'll be engaging ourselves in for the next two years it will be an official launch and thereafter in the afternoon we'll kick off workout seminar of course that is meant to be appreciated by every church member and to go on even on Sunday I want to invite each one of you that we may come in big numbers on Sabbath that we may receive what the Lord is impressing upon us as a church to do in the next two years God bless you I hope I've done my part thank you so much we pray okay let's all stand for prayer our gracious for the heaven we thank you so much for the worship moment that we had today talking about being champions of freedom and indeed you are the champion you came and you were anointed to speak freedom to speak liberty to everyone who is oppressed to break the chains of bondage of every kind a lord with faith because indeed you have set us free and we will continue speaking of freedom as you have taught us through the scriptures I call to worship you and specifically to worship you on the seventh day of the week which is Sabbath it is not a request it is a command an imperative from you and everyone who loves you will find sense in worshiping you and respecting you on this particular day and so we pray for the church we know it is not well because we have a lot of pressure from every side to compromise to agree with the haters of truth but Lord help us to be steadfast and to stand for the truth even though the world shall be collapsing upon us we have nothing to fear even going forward unless you can forget that you have been so faithful leading your church and at every age you've had a remnant who has always stood for what is right and truth no wonder you have said you're looking for men and women who shall stand to be counted men and women who shall be so true to the calling and the truth of the scriptures even as a needle to the poor and so Lord we thank you even as a church in arabic central church may we reposition us to be that voice this age that calls christians to order reviving the altars of primitive godliness that we will teach this generation the generation to come that all those who love you keep your commandment Lord bless us as a church and bless every single member and today those who participate and bring out this message meet each one of them at the very point of needs fill them more with your spirit and equip them more with wisdom insight understanding of this subject that they can be sent elsewhere and other places to share the same message to your people these are prayer in Jesus name amen may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us now and forever more amen okay thank you so much we are going to sing the closing song song number 335 in our Adventist hymnals what a wonderful saviour Jesus my Jesus who save what a wonderful saviour is Jesus my Jesus what a wonderful