Deliverance Church International as we know it today is synonymous with Bishop Mark Kariuki. Bishop Mark Kariuki was born in Nakuru, in what used to be called the Rift Valley Province. The Nakuru-born Bishop is the Presiding Bishop and General Overseer of Deliverance Church since November 2000 when he took over from Bishop William Tuimising.
Before taking over as the General Overseer, Bishop Mark Kariuki was the Chairman of the Deliverance Church Ministers Council for several years though stationed in Nakuru. He now chairs the Deliverance Church Council (DCC) which is the governing Council of the entire ministry.
Bishop Mark Kariuki taught for four years in Mombasa and four years in Nakuru before resigning to found Deliverance Church Nakuru, which he called, the Life Celebration Centre, (LCC) in October 1983.
Born in Elburgon, he attended Michinda Primary and Koelel High School before proceeding to Asumbi Teachers College. It was in Asumbi that he got born again and got baptized in the Holy Spirit in 1973.
After completing College, he was posted to Mombasa as a teacher. Mark met and married his first wife, Joyce Nduta, in Mombasa in April 1978. The wedding was held in Nairobi at the Kenya Polytechnic, now Techinical University, conducted by Bishop William Tuimising.
The couple was in the ensuing years blessed with two boys and one girl, who are now all grown and married giving the Bishop five grandkids.
In 1979, Bishop Mark and Joyce moved to Nakuru where they connected with the late Rev. Harun Lihanda of Kenya Assemblies of God and became members at the Nakuru Christian Centre. While working as a teacher in Nakuru Municipality, Mark assisted and served at the Nakuru Christian Centre under Rev. Lihanda for four years.
In July, 1983, Mark Kariuki was invited to attend the Billy Graham Conference for Itinerary Evangelists in Amsterdam as an itinerary Evangelist. It was while there that Mark answered the call to serve God on full-time basis. Upon returning to the home base, Mark graciously resigned from his teaching profession, where he had been promoted to the post of a Deputy Headteacher. After resigning, Mark was led to starting Deliverance Church Nakuru instead of going to Bible School. In the month of October, the same year, Mark started Deliverance Church Nakuru with some six young people having daily prayers in his house before hiring the Old Town Hall for Sunday worship services.
As everyone who knows Bishop Mark will tell you, Mark is a charismatic, God fearing and passionate faith preacher. His church grew in leaps and bounds. At some point, the Deliverance Church Nakuru was referred to as the fastest-growing church in Kenya by those who observed its growth.
Pastor Mark was and still is a vehement courageous preacher. Doing crusades and visiting secondary schools and colleges in Nakuru, he won many followers to his church. After the late Reinhard Bonke’s crusade in Nakuru in August 1988, the membership increased so much that he was forced to have three Sunday worship services in the Old Town Hall.
In 1991, the church acquired its own piece of land in Freehold adjacent to the KAG Church where he used to worship before going full time. By then, the LCC church had a Sunday morning attendance of over 2000.
Pastor Mark was also responsible for the growth of the Deliverance Church in the Central Rift Valley and other parts of the country, stretching as far as Meru, Thika, Limuru and Kisii. All of this can be attributed to his servant- leadership qualities.
The Bishop moved to Nairobi from Nakuru in December 2005 where he started Deliverance Church at the City Centre. His first wife Joyce Nduta was called into glory in 2007 after a long illness. Six years later, Bishop Mark got married to Joyce Wacera on 3rd of May 2013.
Bishop Mark became the President of the Evangelical Alliance of Kenya (EAK) in 2014 and was quite outspoken on issues affecting the Church and the Country. Due to the pressure of work after starting the SuperLife Word Centre and daily ministry of the word through the Social Media, Bishop Mark Kariuki resigned from the leadership of EAK after serving for five years.
Bishop Mark Kariuki runs the Moses & Mary Girls’ Home for orphaned girls in Elburgon, his birth place. He’s also the founder of the East Africa Centre for Law and Justice.
Bishop Mark Kariuki is the Senior Pastor at the Deliverance Church House of Bread at the KPCU Building on Haille Selassie Avenue, Nairobi and runs the International Church Without Boundaries on Social Media ministering the Word on a daily basis. He’s soon launching the Majestic City Worship Centre on Kangundo road.
As the Deliverance Church General Overseer, Bishop Mark initiated the construction of the DC National Headquarters in Ruiru on the outskirts of Nairobi City and is determined to completing the work before the end of 2020.
Bishop Mark is a great teacher of the Word and a spiritual father to many pastors locally and internationally. He has authored several books and has been preaching on national television for the last twenty-five years. He has consecrated many Bishops at home and abroad. Bishop Mark has established Bishop Mark Kariuki Foundation with an aim of bettering the lives of the less fortunate in life.
