Following conversations within our community, here are some of the most Frequently Asked Questions

WHERE ARE WE MOVING TO? We as Mavuno will be moving further down Mombasa Road to an extremely prime property just a few minutes after Mlolongo Town. The property is a 15 minute drive away from our current location at Belle Vue, and just 22.5 km down. It is located right next to the newly constructed interchange that connects Nairobi, Machakos & Kitengela.

It is a 32 acre property, highly visible from the highway, and is surrounded by very rapidly multiplying housing developments. For a map of the location, click Here.

WHEN ARE WE GOING TO MOVE? We are anticipating to move in the course of 2012, most likely in December.

WHAT HAS NECCESITATED THE MOVE? We are moving for a number of reasons:

After much prayer and deliberation, we have come to the realization that our originally planned joint-venture at Belle Vue will not work. Our rent has increased exponentially in the last three and a half years from Ksh. 200,000/= a month to over one a half million, and rising. In addition, we do not have a lease at the current property, an extremely risky situation that could mean we get pushed out at any time with very little notice. This is a situation we were very fortunate to avoid at our last premises (South C Sports Club); where the club was sold one month after our move and all tenants immediately evicted.

In addition, astronomical land costs meant that the longer we delayed purchasing our own property, the longer we would be at the mercy of landlords, and the more expensive it would become in future. Our Development Team (team that handles our property acquisition & development) have scoured the city looking for land, with some of the most prime pieces along Mombasa Road fetching an unbelievably high Ksh. 150 million per acre.

WHAT MADE US CONSIDER THIS PARCEL OF PROPERTY? We are excited because we believe the area we are moving to is going to be at the center of the action in the next few years! Outside of Thika Rd, this is the only area that has significant parcels of land for large-scale residential development – numerous housing estates and factories coming up in that area daily.

The area we’re looking at is on a triangle that connects three important hubs; Nairobi, which is our commercial center, the Kitengela area which is quickly becoming a very significant residential center, and the upcoming Malili Park. (For those who do not know, Malili will be a massive city which will serve as the Silicon Valley of East and Central Africa – a 5,000 acre ultra-modern city that will cost 9 billion Ksh and is anticipated to create over 100,000 jobs.)

HOW WILL WE GET TO THIS NEW PROPERTY? With significant infractructure development already ongoing, we believe Nairobi is going to be completely different in the next year or two! These developments mean that getting to certain areas that once seemed distant will now become very accessible very quickly. These exciting developments include:

1. Mombasa Road – Part of the problem with Mombasa Road has always been traffic. Fortunately God seems to have gome ahead of Mavuno in three particular ways. First, the government is currently upgrading Mombasa Road to a dual carriageway all the way to Athi River and this is foreseen to reach the Machakos turn-off by end of 2012. Secondly, the overpass at Airport North Road just next to City Cabanas now has an overpass that has just been completed – the jams that used to clog that junction will soon be eliminated. Thirdly, the significant bottleneck that is the weigh-bridge near Mlolongo is in the process of being moved off the main highway, again greatly reducing traffic.

2. Southern Bypass – When completed, the Southern Bypass will connect Ngong Rd (from about Lenana School) to Mombasa Rd (near Ole Sereni Hotel), meaning that a large section of Nairobi residents will be able to cris-cros the city and get to Mombasa Road in record time.

3. Train System : The Nairobi train system is going to get a massive upgrade in 2012. An electric powered train system is in the works, one that will connect Nairobi to Syokimau and later all the way to Athi River. (The Syokimau Train Station should be nearing completion in early 2012!)

WHAT ABOUT PUBLIC TRANSPORT? A simple principle of transportation is that public transport always follows people! As the infrastructure develops, the numbers in that area will begin to swell, and on a weekly basis Mavuno will add significantly to those numbers.

For example, when Mavuno began meeting at the South C Sports Club, there was hardly any public transport. But just because we were there, matatus started plying the route. But even more importantly, infrastructure changes everything. When Mavuno was at the club, the terrible roads meant the club was very far. But 3 years later, the road has been fixed and today, no one thinks of it as far! It’s hard to imagine but a few years back, areas like Imara Daima and Mountain View were thought of as very far away, but today no one thinks that way.

WHO IS CARRYING OUT DUE DILIGECE ON OUR BEHALF? We are extremely fortunate to have a Development Team made up of highly skilled professionals from various disciplines. Chege Waiganjo, our chair, has significant experience as a property agent, valuer and land economist. On the team are people with significant experience in areas like real estate investment, project management, architecture, and finance as well as business people with significant networks and contacts.

WHAT DUE DILIGENCE IS BEING CARRIED OUT? This team has engaged all the necessary processes to ensure that the land has no issues. In addition to verifying the title deed and all other ownership documents, they have tracked the properties past ownership to verify that what the sellers say is the reality on the ground, and have even gone as far as engaging the owners of the neighboring properties. We’ve also engaged one of Nairobi’s top legal firms with great expertise in the area of conveyancy.

IS 32 ACRES OF LAND TOO BIG OR TOO SMALL? In order to fulfill the mandate God has given us as a community, we need to greatly increase our capacity. We have learnt significant lessons from some churches very close to us regarding property. One important one is a church that was offered huge pieces of land at very considerable rates many years ago, but turned it down. Recently, parking needs forced them to purchase half an acre of land for well over Ksh. 100 million. We do not want to end up in a similar situation.

Consider also our vision as Mavuno – “To plant culture-defining churches in all the capital cities of Africa and the gateway cities of the world by 2035″. To do so, what we will need is a facility that will allow us to reach the un-churched not just in this generation but in the ones to come! What we are looking to develop is a facility that will act as the headquarters of a global movement and will be a spring board from which all our operations across Africa and the world will be launched. Our intention is to build a 24/7 Community Center! This will include a convention center with hotel, mall & recreational facilities, as well as facilities for sports, school, media center, business incubator, and a green community space, all of which will have major Commercial, environmental & social value.

HOW MUCH WILL THE LAND COST US? After a two year search for land, we have identified land not too far away from our current location, however the costs have been staggering, with come partcels costing Ksh. 100-150 million per acre! We have been extremely fortunate to identify very prime land which is just a mere 15 minute drive away from here, and the asking price for each acre is 15 million an acre! In total, the whole parcel is going to cost us around Ksh. 500 million to own.

WHAT IS OUR PLAN TO RAISE THIS AMOUNT? When we were starting Mavuno 2.0 at Bellevue, 400 people were challenged to raise over 30 million. It looked gigantic, and totally out of reach for our young congregation, but we made it, and the most important lesson we learned then was that it doesn’t take a large number to make a huge difference! From our experience, we learnt that it’s possible for God to use us to accomplish impossible tasks if we engage in two biblical practices.

(i) The first is Faithful Tithing. It is through our tithe (or giving 10% of our income each month) that we are able to run the ministries of Mavuno Church. This has always been our practice and we are committed that throughout this transition, we will still offer high quality ministry to our children, teens and adults.

(iii) The second practice is Sacrificial Giving, where we challenge each member to commit to give a certain amount as God enables them.

With this said, we have a three-step process of acquisition that can be found here.

HOW CAN I PARTICIPATE? There are two primary ways to participate:

(1) Prayer - A significant move of this magnitude requires significant spiritual cover, and we are inviting as many people as possible to join us in prayer over this evnture.

(2) Giving – As mentioned above, you can get involved through your generous giving. For more information regarding giving avenues, you can contact us via email (CountMeIn@MavunoChurch.org), or you could visit and fill out our online pledge form here.

To contribute by cheque, write it out to “Nairobi Chapel – Mavuno” and indicate “Count Me In” on reverse side of cheque. You could also make a deposit as per below:

Account Name : Nairobi Chapel – Mavuno Church

Account Number : 0102020154202

Bank: Standard Chartered Bank

Branch : Upper Hill

WHERE CAN IS SEND MY COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS? We would be extremely excited to receive feedback on this relocation via email at CountMeIn@MavunoChurch.org. A number of the comments may be posted to our COMMENTS section here.