•  Earlier Diocesan Development Structures

The Anglican initiatives started at the coast, and gained momentum with the beginning of the Kenya-Uganda railway in 1899. Mission stations were established across the hinterland that is Kenya today. The formal structures of ACK date back to 1844.

Working with other Churches (in the Alliance consortium), the Anglican Church started promoting education and advancement while at the same time carrying out advocacy work.

As is usual, early missionary work and Church planting included formal education, healthcare services, agricultural extension services and youth vocational training. Dioceses established structures to coordinate these services. For example, in 1967, development activities in Nakuru Diocese were grouped under the name ‘Christian Rural Service', which later changed name to ‘Christian Rural Extension Service' and, in 1992 it was again renamed ‘Nakuru Diocesan Christian Community Services'. ‘Mt. Kenya East Christian Community Services' was registered in 1982. In most other dioceses, they were simply referred to as ‘Diocesan Development Department'. These formed the nuclei of the current inter-diocesan Regional Christian Community Services (RCCS).

•  The Provincial-level Organs

In 1981, the Provincial Board of Christian Community Services was established to guide the Church's role and strategies for the development component of its holistic ministry.

In 1986, the Provincial Development Desk was started in the Provincial Office to accentuate the intentions of the ACK Development Philosophy launched in 1983 and to bring about a cohesive approach to the development work of the Church. At that time, most of the 8 dioceses in ACK at that time had established Development Departments.

In 1991, the Provincial Development Desk was constituted into a distinct office and called the Provincial Development Office (PDO) to consolidate, facilitate and develop capacity of the Diocesan Development Departments.

In 1993, discussions and consultations on regionalization commenced. This meant grouping together of diocesan development initiatives of related dioceses for synergy and ease of development focus and administration.

In 1996, PDO started the programmatic approach by establishing specific programme desks with specialized programme officers. By this time the number of Dioceses had grown to 24. In June 1997, the regionalization process being backstopped by PDO was evaluated, and the report of the evaluation highlighted the importance of reviewing the functions and performance of PDO. In November 2002, the PDO itself was specifically evaluated. The Evaluation Report recommended a major restructuring and strengthening of this provincial-level organ of ACK's social development ministry. The restructuring process involved a series of discussions, which culminated in the emergence of the Directorate of Social Services (DOSS), with fresh mandate.

•  The Regional Christian Community Services (RCCS)

The Roundtable Consultation held in Limuru in 1983 resulted in formulation of the ACK Development Philosophy and gave impetus to the various dioceses to start engaging in systematic development work.

In 1993, another major Consultation was held in Limuru involving the Bishops, the Diocesan Development Coordinators and the funding partners of ACK to agree on the best way forward in view of the high rate of increase in the number of dioceses; the dioceses were 9 in 1983 and 21 in 1993. The main outcome of the Consultation was a decision to amalgamate the several CCS units into stronger administrative units for greater effectiveness in the management of community development programmes. Then, the process of regionalization began, with a series of workshops and discussions among the bishops, the clergy, and Diocesan and CCS workers, spanning the period 1993 to 1997, facilitated by leading local and foreign consultants.

As from 1995, inter-diocesan regional CCS started to be formed. In February 1996, there was consultancy work to study progress; its findings were reported under the title “Regionalization and Harmonization of the CCS of the Church of the Province of Kenya ”.

In June 1997, there was an evaluation of the regionalization process, as well as of the PDO. Later that year (1997), the Bishops held a forum in Lake Baringo to discuss the Report of the evaluation. There, they took a decision to have 9 CCS regions, with the grouping composed around the diocesan units that existed in 1992, with the exception of a few. In January 1998, to further discuss the evaluation report, a wider forum was held in Limuru (now commonly referred to as Limuru I), with another in January 1999 in the same venue (Limuru II) as a follow-up workshop.

Each RCCS targets specifically the most-needy parts of the region and works on the most pressing problems, serving whole communities without discrimination. It is obvious that in the midst of mass poverty, demand for service far outstrips supply.

Although ACK is generally not the only development actor in the region, there are numerous underserved places, and, as one of the dominant Churches, expectations on ACK are high.

An account of ACK's community services have been given in a booklet, ‘ Ministry of Abundant Life: How the ACK is reaching out to Poor Communities through Christian Community Services ' and a video, with the title ‘ Towards fullness of lif e'.