He was Gatua’s most beloved minister. The departure of Gatua’s most prominent cleric.
Reverend Douglas Muchina who was the parish minister for Gatua parish has bid them goodbye to relinquish service for another parish as dictated by the rules and guidelines of the Presbyterian Church. With a record of five years as the parishe's head, the reverend has broke the record for being exceptional in his clerical work making him the congregants most beloved.
With his clock ticking at extra time the great bond that had started forming between the congregants and the minister was brought to an abrupt stop. Despite the preference of the churches to the minister the farewell ceremony marked the end yet beginning of service for a new reverend. After a lengthened period of familiarity the people of Gatua parish begin another journey of acceptance and familiarizing. The new parish minister will hereby take over the lead from wherever Muchina left. With the fear of a new face and a new body, the tension and anxiety of performance is palpable with most people with most people with seeing whether the incoming minister will maintain a heat similar to that of the outgoing minister.
Members of the parish seemed weary at the farewell function tending not to believe the departure of their closest reverend. The people were however hopeful and yearned that the minister would extend his term but to the facts that he had already overstayed and the strict guidelines of the church there was no otherwise but to let him go. Blessings were showered back to him just like he spent years showering blessing to the people.
In the records of the parish and in the eyes of the people, the achievements of the reverend were countless. From uniting Gatua sub-location which is highly susceptible to wrangles to building the parishes multimillion parish offices the reverend will be remembered for his aggressiveness towards work and service. During his short period in the parish, he oversaw the sprouting of a new church; PCEA Ebenezer Gaketha , completed the parish halls that had stalled and the acquisition of a funeral hearse functioning under the posession woman’s guild.
Serving under the Presbyterian Church of East Africa, Douglas Muchina did work selflessly for the good of not just the Presbyterians but to the gain of the entire society. Having made physical appearances in both funeral gatherings and weddings his magnitude of work left an indelible mark of fascination in the crowds he ministered to.
The farewell of reverend Douglas Muchina begot an extremely emotional mood with members vividly recalling the gone days when their churches enjoyed spiritual nourishment. Through quotations and deep studying of the scriptures the reverend preached unity, stability in homesteads and the dire need for religion in a changing global society.
Yesterday the 9th of January 2022 saw the happenstance of a huge ceremony in Kiini church grounds with congregants from all parishes meeting to bid goodbye to their longest serving reverend. Reverend Douglas Muchina who oversaw the completion and success of major projects under his region of service got to the finale of his extended service term after considerably offering his best .
However Reverend Muchina was not just the most beloved but also the most prominent in the records of the parishes list of ministers. According to the Presbyterian church guidelines a reverend is reserved an exclusive period of not more than three years in a given parish but in Gatua, it went beyond with an additional two years. This extension of period of service acts as a sign that told of the coercion and intimacy between the members and the Reverend.
He was a leader of not just words but great deeds. In his period of service, all the gender groups in the realm of the parish were dealt with appropriately with the reverend putting into consideration the problems of the youth, men, women and the elderly through empowerment seminars and workshops. Still during his reign, the elderly were offered visits and showered with gifts.