DNK International By Our Reporter,Mombasa
Pastor Wilfred Lai was born on April 11, 1956, in Machakos County.
He’s one of Kenya’s most influential Pentecostal leaders and a pioneer of Christian television ministry.
Lai’s journey into ministry began far from the pulpit, after working in the banking sector with Standard Chartered Bank, before answering what he has often described as a divine calling to preach in the early 1980s.
During a chat with Daily News Kenya-International in Mombasa recently,he said that he formally joined Christian ministry in 1982, training and serving under Life Ministry (Campus Crusade for Christ) and later working with the Redeemed Gospel Church in Mombasa.
It’s at Redeemed Gospel Church,Mombasa that he gained pastoral and evangelistic experience.
Motivated by a strong passion for evangelism and leadership development, Lai founded Jesus Celebration Centre (JCC) in 1986 in Bamburi, Mombasa.
He started with a small fellowship that later grew into one of Kenya’s largest churches, with thousands of congregants and branches locally and abroad.
Though his formal theological qualifications are not widely documented, Lai is known for extensive practical ministry training and for establishing leadership and ministry training institutions under JCC.
In the early 1990’s, Lai broke new ground by taking the gospel to television, becoming one of Kenya’s earliest televangelists through broadcasts on KBC and later KTN.
He later launched Jesus Celebrations Centre Television (JCCTV), a Christian satellite channel broadcasting across Africa.
His media ministry significantly expanded Christian outreach at the Coast and nationally.
Married to Rita Lai and a father of two sons, Lai has played a key role in shaping modern Christianity in Kenya through church planting, Christian education, media evangelism and large leadership conferences such as Word Explosion, which attracts pastors from across Africa.
His relationship with successive governments has been marked by both access and boldness, while he has prayed for national leaders, including the current administration, he has also drawn public attention for sermons openly condemning corruption and calling leaders to moral accountability.
Known for his forthright preaching, Pastor Wilfred Lai remains a prominent religious voice whose influence extends beyond the church into Kenya’s social and civic discourse, cementing his legacy as both a spiritual leader and a national conscience.
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🗓️ [DNK-International@January 11,2026]
