Quakers in Kenya
Encyclopedia
There are about 157,000 members of the Religious Society of Friends
, or Quakers, in Africa. African Friends make up around 46% of Friends internationally, the largest proportion in any one continent. Kenya
has the largest number of Quakers in a single nation – about 133,000 in the year 2008 (according to the Friends World Committee for Consultation
).
in 1948. Worship is in the unprogrammed tradition. A meeting was first established in Cape Town in 1728.
to Mombasa, Kenya. They went on behalf of the Cleveland
Friends Meeting. From there they made their way across by rail to Kisumu
and then by foot to Kaimosi
and set up a mission
there on August 17. They came from the programmed tradition of Five Years Meeting (now Friends United Meeting
)
From that small beginning, Quakerism grew and spread throughout Kenya during the twentieth century, although it is still concentrated in the western area. A mission hospital (Kaimosi Hospital) was founded in 1941. The Friends Bible Institute opened in 1942. Friends gradually spread into other areas of Kenya, with another hospital (in Lugulu), an epilepsy colony, an agricultural college and a college of technology all being established, as well as many new churches. It also spread to the neighboring countries of Uganda
and Tanzania
. Due to the size, the original East Africa Yearly Meeting split into several smaller Yearly Meetings, some of these splits have been painful. There is now one umbrella organisation - Friends Church in Kenya (FCK) - which brings together all fourteen Yearly Meetings in Kenya.
in 1973, until the end of his leadership of Uganda in 1979. After this, an independent Uganda Yearly Meeting was formed, separate from East Africa Yearly Meeting.
There is also a second Yearly Meeting in Uganda, Evangelical Friends Church - Uganda. They have applied for affiliation with Evangelical Friends International
Kyela Monthly Meeting of Friends (Southern Tanzania) was founded as a worship group when a local man (Barnabas Mwaihojo) read about Quakers on the internet which led to him setting up meetings in three local villages.
Pemba Yearly Meeting is on the island of Zanzibar
.
. All foreign missionaries to Burundi were expelled in 1980, and Eglise Evangelique des Amis du Burundi (Evangelical Friends Church Burundi) now exists as an independent Yearly Meeting run by Burundians, affiliated to Evangelical Friends International
, formed from missionaries from Burundi in 1981. They still remain a part of Evangelical Friends Church Burundi rather than being a separate Yearly Meeting.
A completely separate, and much smaller, unprogrammed meeting exists in Kinshasa, with a membership of about 50.
s in Kenya are part of the Friends United Meeting
. They include:
Religious Society of Friends
The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...
, or Quakers, in Africa. African Friends make up around 46% of Friends internationally, the largest proportion in any one continent. Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
has the largest number of Quakers in a single nation – about 133,000 in the year 2008 (according to the Friends World Committee for Consultation
Friends World Committee for Consultation
The Friends World Committee for Consultation is a Quaker organization that works to communicate between all parts of Quakerism. FWCC's world headquarters is based in London. It has Consultative NGO status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations...
).
Central and Southern African Yearly Meeting
Was founded by Friends from London Yearly Meeting, with Friends worshipping in South Africa became a separate Yearly MeetingYearly Meeting
Yearly Meeting is a term used by members of the Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers, to refer to an organization composed of a collection of smaller, more frequent constituent meetings within a geographical area. These constituent meetings go by various names such as Quarterly Meetings, which...
in 1948. Worship is in the unprogrammed tradition. A meeting was first established in Cape Town in 1728.
Kenya
On April 23, 1902 three Friends — Arthur Chilson, Edgar Hole, and Willis Hotchkiss — set sail from New YorkNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to Mombasa, Kenya. They went on behalf of the Cleveland
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
Friends Meeting. From there they made their way across by rail to Kisumu
Kisumu
Kisumu is a port city in western Kenya at , with a population of 355,024 . It is the third largest city in Kenya, the principal city of western Kenya, the immediate former capital of Nyanza Province and the headquarters of Kisumu County. It has a municipal charter but no city charter...
and then by foot to Kaimosi
Kaimosi
Kaimosi is a town in western Kenya, heavily influenced by Quakers.It is located along the C39 road, 10 kilometres east of Chavakali and 30 kilometres west of Kapsabet...
and set up a mission
Mission (Christian)
Christian missionary activities often involve sending individuals and groups , to foreign countries and to places in their own homeland. This has frequently involved not only evangelization , but also humanitarian work, especially among the poor and disadvantaged...
there on August 17. They came from the programmed tradition of Five Years Meeting (now Friends United Meeting
Friends United Meeting
Friends United Meeting is an association of twenty-six yearly meetings of the Religious Society of Friends in North America, Africa, and the Caribbean. In addition there are several individual Monthly meetings and organizations that are members of FUM...
)
From that small beginning, Quakerism grew and spread throughout Kenya during the twentieth century, although it is still concentrated in the western area. A mission hospital (Kaimosi Hospital) was founded in 1941. The Friends Bible Institute opened in 1942. Friends gradually spread into other areas of Kenya, with another hospital (in Lugulu), an epilepsy colony, an agricultural college and a college of technology all being established, as well as many new churches. It also spread to the neighboring countries of Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
and Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
. Due to the size, the original East Africa Yearly Meeting split into several smaller Yearly Meetings, some of these splits have been painful. There is now one umbrella organisation - Friends Church in Kenya (FCK) - which brings together all fourteen Yearly Meetings in Kenya.
Uganda
The Friends Church spread to Uganda from Kenyan Friends, under the auspices of East Africa Yearly Meeting. By 1945, there were Friends Churches in Sibuse, Nabiswa, Kigumba, Nang’oma and Kampala. However, the Friends Church was banned by Idi AminIdi Amin
Idi Amin Dada was a military leader and President of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. Amin joined the British colonial regiment, the King's African Rifles in 1946. Eventually he held the rank of Major General in the post-colonial Ugandan Army and became its Commander before seizing power in the military...
in 1973, until the end of his leadership of Uganda in 1979. After this, an independent Uganda Yearly Meeting was formed, separate from East Africa Yearly Meeting.
There is also a second Yearly Meeting in Uganda, Evangelical Friends Church - Uganda. They have applied for affiliation with Evangelical Friends International
Evangelical Friends International
Evangelical Friends Church International is a branch of Quaker yearly meetings around the world that profess evangelical Christian beliefs.- History :...
Tanzania
The first Quakers moved to Tanzania from Kenya to look for land, which they found on the border of the Serengeti Game Reserve. Subsequent missionary activity from East Africa Yearly Meeting increased membership, with service projects aimed at agricultural training - popularly known as the “Lord’s acre plan”. Due to political pressures, many Kenyans left Tanzania in 1978, with Tanzania Yearly Meeting of Friends being founded as a separate organisation in 1980.Kyela Monthly Meeting of Friends (Southern Tanzania) was founded as a worship group when a local man (Barnabas Mwaihojo) read about Quakers on the internet which led to him setting up meetings in three local villages.
Pemba Yearly Meeting is on the island of Zanzibar
Zanzibar
Zanzibar ,Persian: زنگبار, from suffix bār: "coast" and Zangi: "bruin" ; is a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania, in East Africa. It comprises the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of numerous small islands and two large ones: Unguja , and Pemba...
.
Burundi
One of the original missionaries from the USA who first planted the Friends Church in Kenya, Arthur Chilson, and his wife Edna, left Kenya to found the Evangelical Friends Church in Burundi in 1934, which was to be run on more evangelical theology, in line with Evangelical Friends InternationalEvangelical Friends International
Evangelical Friends Church International is a branch of Quaker yearly meetings around the world that profess evangelical Christian beliefs.- History :...
. All foreign missionaries to Burundi were expelled in 1980, and Eglise Evangelique des Amis du Burundi (Evangelical Friends Church Burundi) now exists as an independent Yearly Meeting run by Burundians, affiliated to Evangelical Friends International
Evangelical Friends International
Evangelical Friends Church International is a branch of Quaker yearly meetings around the world that profess evangelical Christian beliefs.- History :...
Rwanda
Eglise Evangelique des Amis au Rwanda was founded by three missionaries, George Morris, Willard Ferguson and Dorice Ferguson, who had been serving in Burundi. Unusually amongst Friends, the Friends Church in Rwanda practices water baptismBaptism
In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...
Democratic Republic of Congo
There are two groups of Friends worshipping in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Communaute des Eglise Evangelique au Congo (Community of Evangelical Church of Congo) are evangelical, programmed Friends affiliated to Evangelical Friends InternationalEvangelical Friends International
Evangelical Friends Church International is a branch of Quaker yearly meetings around the world that profess evangelical Christian beliefs.- History :...
, formed from missionaries from Burundi in 1981. They still remain a part of Evangelical Friends Church Burundi rather than being a separate Yearly Meeting.
A completely separate, and much smaller, unprogrammed meeting exists in Kinshasa, with a membership of about 50.
Ghana
Since 1925, there has been one unprogrammed Friends' meeting, Hill House Meeting, in the tradition of London Yearly Meeting, attached to Achimota School and college.Yearly Meetings
Yearly meetingYearly Meeting
Yearly Meeting is a term used by members of the Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers, to refer to an organization composed of a collection of smaller, more frequent constituent meetings within a geographical area. These constituent meetings go by various names such as Quarterly Meetings, which...
s in Kenya are part of the Friends United Meeting
Friends United Meeting
Friends United Meeting is an association of twenty-six yearly meetings of the Religious Society of Friends in North America, Africa, and the Caribbean. In addition there are several individual Monthly meetings and organizations that are members of FUM...
. They include:
- Bware Yearly Meeting, based in Suna in southern Nyanza Province
- Central Yearly Meeting, based in Lirhanda, just east of KakamegaKakamegaKakamega is a town in western Kenya lying about 30 km north of the Equator. It is the headquarters of . The town has a population of 73,607 ....
- Chavakali Yearly Meeting, based in Chavakali, just behind the Boys Secondary School
- Chwele Yearly Meeting, based in Chwele, on the southern slopes of Mt Elgon
- East Africa Yearly Meeting (Kaimosi), based in Tiriki on the Kaimosi mission compound
- East Africa Yearly Meeting (North), based in KitaleKitaleKitale is an agricultural town in western Kenya situated between Mount Elgon and the Cherengani Hills at an elevation of around . Its urban population was estimated at 220,000 in 2007....
town - Elgon East Yearly Meeting, based in KitaleKitaleKitale is an agricultural town in western Kenya situated between Mount Elgon and the Cherengani Hills at an elevation of around . Its urban population was estimated at 220,000 in 2007....
town - Elgon Religious Society of Friends, based in Lugulu, just north of WebuyeWebuyeWebuye is an industrial town in Bungoma District in the Western Province of Kenya. Located on the main road to Uganda, the town is home to the Pan African Paper Mills, the largest paper factory in the region, as well as a number of heavy-chemical and sugar manufacturers. It has a tropical climate,...
on the Kitale road - Kakamega Yearly Meeting, based in KakamegaKakamegaKakamega is a town in western Kenya lying about 30 km north of the Equator. It is the headquarters of . The town has a population of 73,607 ....
at the Amalemba Friends Center - Lugari Yearly Meeting, based in Turbo
- Malava Yearly Meeting, based in Malava, just west of the market center
- Nairobi Yearly Meeting, based at the Friends International Center, Ngong Rd, Nairobi
- Tuloi Yearly Meeting, based in KapsabetKapsabetKapsabet is a town in the Rift Valley Province, Kenya. It is the capital of Nandi Central District. Kapsabet hosts a municipal council and divisional headquarters of Kapsabet administrative division...
- Vihiga Yearly Meeting, based in Vihiga, just west of Majengo
- Vokoli Yearly Meeting, based in Wodanga, behind the Moi Girls High School