Biographical Study of a Christian Worker: The Life Story of Bishop Ezekiel K. Birech, Leader of Africa Inland Church

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the life of Bishop Ezekiel K. Birech in order to write his biography. A Christian biography serves as a means of storing the contributions of model Christian servants for the future generations to learn from what these "heroes of faith" did or have done in their lives. A biographical research involves the collection of data from lives of model people which are reconstructed into life histories that can be read. Interview method as a tool for collecting data for the project was used. The author constructed open ended questionnaires which he administered personally to the respondents. Purposive or judgmental sampling method was used to select the number of people to be interviewed. The interviewer administered questionnaires to twenty six people who had known Ezekiel Birech for more than ten years. The people interviewed were drawn from Nairobi, Baringo, Keiyo, Uasin Gishu and Nandi districts. Ezekiel Birech was born in 1916. He worked as a herdsboy, and spanner boy before going to school. He became bishop of African Inland Church in 1980 after completing theological training at the age of sixty years.