What happened to the voice of the Kenyan church?

Twenty three years ago Bishop Henry Okullu, an Anglican bishop and one of the most revered of clergymen in Kenya called for introduction of democracy and abolition of one party government. He did this at a time when Kenya was going through a very rough time because of dictatorship. Though some within the house of bishops did not agree with his criticism of the misrule orchestrated by the government of the day he did not mince words.  At times alone and isolated he always had a personal motto that kept him going, “One man with God majority.”

In his words, “…….Power corrupts even a person with the best of intentions in the world. Therefore, power must be limited by fairly acceptable checks and balances.” Today Kenya is thankful for the likes of Bishop Okullu who relentlessly stood their ground in opposing that which was evil. His criticism and critique was not to those in the places of political power only but to church as well for its failure to take it rightful place.

In his book Church and Politics in East Africa he writes the following about the church. “If the church in East Africa is to make its voice effectively heard in the spheres of public life of these nations, then it must speak the language of Africa............The Church's must speak to the people of East Africa here and now in their varied forms and degrees of development. The church must speak to the peasant, the illiterate, the elite, the young, the old, the rich businessman in Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, Kampala and to the poor folk living in the urban slums and rural areas. It must speak to the university lecturer and to the illiterate street cleaner, to the ruler and to the ruled. It must speak to him in today's language, his today's situation and his today's aspiration.”

Though these words were published 30 years ago, they are as useful now as they were then. Today we continue to witness a society that is ravaged by variety of evil; corruption at its epitome, insecurity, grabbing of public resources, lack of proper governance, degradation of good morals just to mention a few. Where is the church as all these issues are happening? Growing up I used to hear of strong men who were never intimidated in saying what they thought was right and some we all know paid dearly with their lives. 

As we continue to yearn for good governance my prayer is that East African Church will lead from the front. Thumbs up to Uncle Zac (Bishop Zac Niringiye) in Uganda for your decision to not only speak against the evils being committed by the government of Uganda but also your step towards taking proper actions. 

The role of the Church is not only to speak to us on issues of spirituality but every other areas of life. Is it possible for the Church to speak to us about farming methods, better water harvesting techniques, how to run our businesses among other things not commonly associated with it? The answer is yes and we all long to hear this voice- loud and clear!