Denominationalism or Protestantism? Mission Strategy and Church in the Kikuyu Conference of 1913 Colin Reed

century ago, in 1913, a conference held in Kikuyu, attracted people from rural areas. Furthermore, European settle- A Kenya, sought to shape the future of Protestant missions ment on farms in the central highlands offered opportunities for there and thus the future of the growing church. The primary employment and drew people from their tribal “reserves.” The question was whether the young church in this African country, newly built railway made new mobility possible. Many people founded by the missionary agencies, should replicate the historic found themselves employed in an area with a denomination denominational churches of the West, or whether there should different from the one in which they had been nurtured. The be a united Protestant church with no organic connections to federation agreement of 1913 was designed to allow Christians outside bodies. Inadvertently, however, the conference opened to participate in church life wherever they lived. a debate within the Anglican Church about its own nature and In their reports of the Kikuyu Conference, the CMS rep- relationship with other churches. resentatives were anxious to point out that they had never The Kikuyu Conference of 1913 gave rise to discussion in intended “an immediate union either of missionary societies church newspapers from India to the United States, yet it has now or of native Churches,” knowing that such a plan would be fallen into relative obscurity.1 Stephen Neill’s History of Christian “open to criticisms of haste and precipitancy” and would cut Missions accords it a brief paragraph, ending with the statement them off from their denominations back home and from the that “the episode was of great value by reason of the education it missionary societies that had sent them.8 They had in mind gave to countless thoughtful people in the Church.”2 The recent that at some future time there would be a united (Protestant) History of Global Anglicanism gives a slightly fuller account.3 In indigenous church, for denominations were not yet entrenched contrast, Frank Weston, bishop of Zanzibar and one of the pro- in Kenya. “No self-governing native Church exists,” Willis tagonists in the debate, saw the Kikuyu Conference as the most stated in his report to CMS,9 a reference to the ideal of the important conference since the Reformation.4 establishment of a self-governing, self-supporting, and self- extending church, which had been a fundamental aim of the The Conference at Kikuyu society.10 But by 1913 in Uganda the Anglican Church already had a formal constitution in which missionaries and African On June 17, 1913, some sixty representatives of Protestant mis- clergy were equally members of the synod and its committees. sionary societies met at the Church of Scotland mission at Kikuyu, Although Willis stated that there was as yet no self-governing not far from Nairobi, Kenya. The population of Kenya was still native church in Kenya, there was a bishop, as well as “native” small—estimated at 4 million in 1913—and widely scattered.5 clergy—the first Africans had been ordained in 1885.11 The Missionaries, too, were few and scattered; John J. Willis, bishop African clergy, though, were not part of the conference that of Uganda, recorded, “There is plenty of room for treble the planned for a future united church. number of men to work and still keep far enough apart to avoid The conference’s immediate aim was “common member- friction.”6 In most areas, the church was still very young. ship,” which they described as allowing members of partici- William Peel, the Anglican bishop of Mombasa, was pating churches “all the privileges of membership as visitors” elected chairman of the conference, and Willis, secretary. Both (italics in original) when in the area of another denomination. were missionaries of the Church Missionary Society (CMS), Such visitors would not have voting rights. The conference an Evangelical Anglican society. The first days were taken up agreed on a common policy of preparation for baptism that with routine matters, but two items on the last day caused involved a two-year period of instruction and probation and the ensuing storm of high feelings: first, a proposal drawn up “a common form of Church organisation,” although churches by the conference for a “federation” of churches that would would not have identical governance structures and patterns lead eventually to a united “native” (i.e., indigenous) church, of ministry. The conference agreed on “Regular Administra- and second, a service of Holy Communion in a Presbyterian tion of the two sacraments, Baptism and Lord’s Supper, by Church at which the Anglicans Peel and Willis presided and outward signs” and specified that baptism must be by water non-Anglicans received Communion.7 and in the name of the Trinity.12 It was agreed that the sacra- In previous conferences, starting in 1907, in order to maxi- ments would be administered by “recognised ministers of the mize the use of their slender resources, the Protestant missionary Church occupying the district.”13 There was to be no universal agencies had come to a comity agreement by which the different form for either the services of the Lord’s Supper and baptism missions, denominational and nondenominational, worked in or other services. Each denomination would use its accustomed different geographic areas. As the towns grew, however, they form, and “visitors” would be welcome to participate, but it was hoped that a simple common order would be developed Colin Reed grew up in Africa and worked in Kenya that would be acceptable to all. The overall basis of unity would for twelve years with the Anglican Society Crosslinks, be acceptance of the Holy Scriptures and the historic creeds. then served on the staff of the Church Missionary Agreement to these general proposals was given by representa- Society of Australia for fifteen years before returning tives of the major missionary societies: the (Anglican) Church to Africa to teach in Tanzania. He is the author of Missionary Society, the Church of Scotland Mission, the Africa Founded in Faith: The Early Years of the Anglican Inland Mission (an interdenominational mission, represented Church in Kenya (Uzima, 2003). by an American, Charles Hurlburt), and the United Methodist —[email protected] Mission. The smaller denominations did not sign.14

October 2013 207 Anglican Thinking at Kikuyu ments would be offered by clergy of the denomination active in the relevant area. In his report on the conference, Willis gave details of his thinking The proposals also raised the wider question of the orders of on the issue of non-Anglicans receiving the Holy Communion clergy of other denominations. Willis drew attention to the fact in Anglican churches. Christian converts from other churches that they were clearly used by God and that their ministry was who were not in an area of their own denomination should be fruitful and in that sense was valid. In Willis’s opinion, clergy of admitted to the Anglican service. The responsibility of agreeing nonepiscopal churches could be invited to preach in an Anglican to this practice was great, said Willis, but the responsibility of church, but only on the same basis as a lay reader—by invita- refusing the sacrament to a Christian was greater.15 But Willis tion of the clergy, with the bishop’s approval. Willis accepted ruled out the possibility of a minister who was not episcopally the view that, for Anglicans, ordination of the clergy would ordained offering the sacrament in an Anglican church, for that remain the prerogative of the episcopate. It seemed unlikely would be against the principles laid down in the Lambeth Quad- that the Church of Scotland Mission, for one, would agree to rilateral.16 The controversial possibility that Anglicans would that position, yet they were willing to accept the federation and receive communion in non-Anglican churches from clergy who work toward union.17 were not episcopally ordained was not addressed specifically Then there was the final gathering of the Kikuyu Conference. but was implicitly approved by the agreement that the sacra- According to the account of the two bishops, the Presbyterians had

208 International Bulletin of Missionary Research, Vol. 37, No. 4 kindly offered them the use of a building, and they had invited Weston was a product of the Tractarian search for holiness. all Christian people to share in the Lord’s Supper. He had gone to Oxford in 1890 and to Zanzibar with the UMCA in 1898.20 Peel and Willis were inspired with the vision of holi- Heresy Charges

The response of Frank Weston, the neighboring Anglican bishop of Zanzibar, to news of the conference lit the fire. Weston was a There seems to have been missionary of the Universities Mission to Central Africa (UMCA, an underlying assumption a “Catholic” Anglican Society).18 In an open letter to the bishop that the Anglican form of St. Albans entitled “Ecclesia Anglicana: For What Does She Stand?,” Weston stated that the Anglican Church was not fit to would predominate. send missionaries because of its internal “exceedingly chaotic system of Truth.” The actions of the two CMS bishops, accord- ing to Weston, were symptomatic of this chaos, and he charged ness of the Evangelicals, with its intensity and emphasis on them before the archbishop of Canterbury, Randall Davidson, total commitment to Jesus Christ. Willis and Weston developed with “propagating heresy and committing schism.”19 a relationship of mutual respect despite their theological differ-

October 2013 209 ences, and on Weston’s death, Willis wrote that he thanked God April 1915.27 The Anglican Church was for the first time dealing for the Kikuyu Conference’s having brought him into contact specifically with the issue of Anglicans seeking intercommunion with this man, “whom one could wholeheartedly honour and with other denominations, a landmark in the history of mission one could not but love.”21 and of Anglicanism.28 To Weston, the proposed federation and the final service were On the matter of federation, the reply of the Consultative a betrayal. He saw his role as building “the Catholic Church in Body emphasized three issues. Africa,” with the Church of England the successor of the ancient church, its bishops in direct line with the apostles. “The Epis- • In regard to clergy of other denominations preach- copate then is essential to the Church’s life and Bishops are the ing in Anglican churches, it took the view that it was organs through which the mystical Body functions,” he stated. the prerogative of the bishop to authorize anyone to Moreover, the “Mass becomes the necessary centre of worship.”22 preach, having considered the preacher’s qualifica- tions. It felt that the Kikuyu statement did not suffi- ciently safeguard this position. For Weston, the conference • Regarding admission of non-Anglicans to Holy Com- munion, it cited the rubric in the Book of Common was a triumph for Pan- Prayer on persons confirmed or desirous of confir- Protestantism and a disaster mation but allowed that “the evidence is abundant to show that exceptions to the rule have been allowed for Pan-Anglicanism. in special cases.”29 Permission was at the discretion of the bishop and would be given only in exceptional circumstances. For Weston, the conference was a triumph for Pan-Protestantism • The Consultative Body was more definite on the issue and a disaster for Pan-Anglicanism.23 of Anglican Christians being allowed to receive Com- Weston’s concern over the implications of the conference, munion in nonepiscopal churches, which it could not and also over the spread of modernism in Britain, led him to regard as “consistent with the principles of the Church write his open letter to the bishop of St. Albans, which received of England.” wide publicity. In the letter he listed his objections to the Kikuyu proposals. Those proposals contained no insistence on the epis- Essentially, while commending the good intent of the two CMS copacy or on the need for a priest to conduct Holy Communion, bishops, the council affirmed the nature of the Anglican Church no mention of confirmation or absolution, which he termed as episcopal in keeping with the Lambeth Quadrilateral and sacraments, or of the Athanasian Creed specifically. Except in a ruled out any scheme of reunion that did not take its episcopal general sense, he protested, “it does not know the Catholic Church character into account. or the Communion of Saints.” Specifically, he accused the two The consultative council was clear that the Communion bishops of heresy “in their teaching of the meaning and value of service held on the final day of the conference should not be seen Episcopacy,” which was to him the very esse of the church, God’s as a precedent. Recognizing the “purity of its motive” and spirit special gift to his body.24 of love, they refrained from making any judgment on Willis and The Kikuyu proposals did not specifically address episcopacy, Peel. The service had surely been “acceptable to Him to Whom but it was certainly not eliminated by them. Weston later admitted it was offered,” even though it did not conform to the principles that he had been misinformed; he had understood that the two of the Church of England. bishops had already agreed to enter into a formal federation.25 The archbishop of Canterbury’s response substantially covered There seems to have been an underlying assumption that the the same ground as the consultative council, which it explicitly Anglican form would predominate, as Willis suggested in his reiterated on specific points.30 His position satisfied neither the report to CMS when he stated that the Anglican Church in Kenya bishop of Zanzibar and his supporters nor the bishops of Uganda had been the first in the field and was the largest denomination and Mombasa and theirs. Davidson did not go as far as Weston and the only one working in the cities. On its western border was would have liked, for he would not regard all non-Episcopalians as the “self-governing” Anglican Church of Uganda. Willis recorded, extra ecclesia, but he clearly reiterated the position that episcopacy “Therefore in any discussion of missionary policy it is natural was what “we believe to be the right method of Church govern- that the Church of England should exercise a large influence.”26 ment,” warning that Anglicans had no liberty to contemplate a move away from that position. The statement noted that the two Episcopacy Affirmed bishops concerned believed that they were acting in accord with resolutions of former Lambeth gatherings, and especially those The archbishop of Canterbury corresponded with the three of the 1908 Lambeth Conference. Therefore their intentions, if not bishops and met separately with Weston and Willis in February their actions, were to be commended. He viewed the proposed 1914; Peel, who was in India, was unable to travel to England federation as compromising Anglican unity by placing parts of because of ill health. The archbishop concluded that there were the Anglican Communion under another authority, that of the no grounds to try the two bishops on the twin charges of heresy proposed “Representative Council.” and schism and proposed to refer the matter to a Central Con- On a different note, the archbishop’s statement drew atten- sultative Body set up by Lambeth (a conference of the diocesan tion to a vital missionary principle, namely, that the Gospel was bishops of the whole Anglican Communion every ten years, incarnated in the very fabric of a society: called by the archbishop of Canterbury whose official residence is at Lambeth in London). The unanimous final report of the Con- It is the paramount duty and privilege of those who are already sultative Body and the archbishop’s response were published in Christians to promote the upbuilding of the Church of Christ

210 International Bulletin of Missionary Research, Vol. 37, No. 4 among all nations and kindreds and peoples and tongues. The forming a missionary council, and these councils later became Church so upbuilt must, in every land be, or become, what we national councils of churches. call for shortness sake a Native Church, a Church, that is, into During the 1930s the Anglican, Presbyterian, and Methodist whose structure the characteristics of the people of that land are churches discussed plans for a union. In 1933 a committee drew for the common good of the whole Church of Christ taken up up a proposal that closely followed the South India model and and interwoven. accepted the threefold order of ministry of bishops, priests, and deacons without questioning the validity of the orders of those It is instructive to see that this position was articulated so clearly, presently ordained in nonepiscopal churches. Nor was it obliga- particularly in view of the criticisms often made of missions for tory that the bishops be in the historic apostolic succession.34 The imposing their “home” culture, and of the Anglican Church for Second World War put those plans into abeyance. There were reproducing an English church. further moves in the 1960s, both in Kenya and Tanzania, but The archbishop then referred the matter to the next Lambeth these foundered as denominational loyalties by then were strong. Conference, which, because of the war, did not meet until 1920. Pan-Anglicanism, Pan-Presbyterianism, and Pan-Lutheranism This conference slightly broadened earlier statements but still had won the day. held episcopacy to be essential.31 The proposed federation in Kenya had received a death sentence, and a future united “native Observations church” looked unlikely, at least for the time being. The Kikuyu Conference of 1913 is of contemporary interest for a New Proposals for Federation number of reasons. In addition to the question of mission strategy, it contributed to the long debate on the organic unity of the body A second Kikuyu Conference was held in 1918, after the devas- of Christ. It also had a part in the Anglican Church’s clarifying tation of the Great War, in which many Africans in Kenya and its own parameters and the fundamentals that it believed should Tanzania and a number of missionaries were caught up. Tens of be maintained in any scheme of unity, with the episcopacy as a thousands of Africans died in German East Africa and beyond. prime factor. The Kikuyu conferences contributed to the devel- Weston was invited to attend the 1918 conference, although opment of structures for internal debate within the Anglican not as a voting delegate, as he was from outside Kenya. Peel world. The Anglican Consultative Council, formed only during had died before this conference, and Richard Heywood was the 1968 Lambeth Conference and composed of representatives now bishop of Mombasa. Willis was elected chairman. Weston of all the “provinces” (or national churches) of the Anglican outlined his principles for reunion, stating that any union must Communion, held its first meeting in 1971 at Limuru in Kenya, be predicated on acceptance of episcopacy and episcopal ordina- not far from Kikuyu. tion. His own recollections of the speech were that he started In East Africa after 1913, Pan-Protestantism lost. Overall, by laying down that the “existence of the Catholic Church of the Kikuyu conferences helped to strengthen the concept of Christ, which he intended to be one universal brotherhood, must worldwide denominations at the expense of freestanding “mis- be acknowledged by all.” He then explained that episcopacy was of the essence and “the only form of ministry that can be historically justified.”32 In East Africa, a national At the 1918 conference the nonepiscopal missions recorded their concern that a united church would be too broad to be church with historic and united in heart and mind and might include some “who were emotional connections to really tending towards at least some doubt of the integrity of Scripture and the deity of our Lord.”33 Nor were they willing a wider fellowship has to accept a system that “failed to honour the authority con- perhaps proved to be of ferred by their own Churches.” They were, however, willing to form a body in which different missionary organizations strategic benefit. would cooperate in certain activities. In anticipation of such a suggestion, Willis and Heywood had prepared proposals for formation of a body that would allow common representation sion church” federations. This outcome was largely a result of to government and united activity in providing educational the internal disagreement in the Anglican Church, but other and health services. denominations shared the same fears of being severed from their On the last day of the 1918 conference, the group formed roots. In the Indian subcontinent, in a different context, as is well the Missionary Alliance for Kenya, which included the Africa known, the Church of South India followed a different path. A Inland Mission, the Church Missionary Society, the Church case can be argued for the value of each of these forms of church of Scotland Mission, the United Methodist Mission, and the development, with God being sovereign over all. British and Foreign Bible Society. The Bible society, however, In East Africa, a national church with historic and emotional subsequently withdrew, since it was not a church-founding connections to a wider fellowship has perhaps proved strategi- organization. Hope for a future united church was dimmed but cally of more benefit than a local church with no structural ties not lost. Perhaps the most influential activity of the Missionary to a wider body. Surely it is greatly to the benefit of Anglicanism Alliance in Kenya, and later in Tanganyika, was to establish that it has retained the God-given gifts of the East African church schools that became significant in the education of African lead- within the worldwide communion, alongside the contributions ers and were an important factor in the preparation of Africa for of other national churches. Other denominations would probably independence from colonial rule. In 1926 the alliance became express the same feeling. May God continue to guide the search the Missionary Council for Kenya. Tanganyika followed suit in for unity among the people of God!

October 2013 211 Notes 1. The Church Missionary Review (CMR) covered the conference and its 20. Herbert Maynard Smith, Frank, Bishop of Zanzibar (London: SPCK, aftermath in great depth and published many of the documents. 1926), 15–23. Articles from various journals are cited in CMR, April 1914, pp. 21. Ibid., 153. Arthur Gordon Blood also speaks of the two “being on 236–40. terms of friendship” (The History of the Universities Mission to Central 2. Stephen Neill, The Pelican History of the Church, vol. 6, A History of Africa, vol. 2, 1907–1932 [London: UMCA, 1957], 75). Weston and Christian Missions (Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1964), 550–51. Peel did not enjoy a similar relationship. 3. Kevin Ward, A History of Global Anglicanism (Cambridge: Cambridge 22. Weston, The Fullness of Christ, quoted in Maynard Smith, Frank, Univ. Press, 2006), 170–71. Bishop of Zanzibar, 165–66. Weston’s book was “an apologia for 4. Frank Weston, bishop of Zanzibar, open letter to the bishop of St. my attitude in the recent Kikuyu controversy, and the kernel of the Albans, quoted in “The Controversy Arising from the Kikuyu Con- Gospel which I have myself received and now try to deliver to my ference,” CMR, February 1914, p. 97. Diocese.” 5. In 1900 missionary Ruth B. Fisher wrote of passing through large 23. Writing of tensions in Australia, Stuart Piggin uses similar terms: areas of uninhabited forest near Nairobi (On the Borders of Pygmy- “Pan-Anglicanism” and “Pan-Evangelicalism.” See his “Australian Land [London: Marshall Brothers (ca. 1935)], 7). Anglicanism in a World-Wide Context,” in Anglicanism in Australia, 6. Report by John J. Willis, “The Kikuyu Conference,” CMR, January ed. Bruce Norman Kaye (Carlton South, Victoria, Australia: Mel- 1914, p. 26. CMR carried reports on the conference by both Walter bourne Univ. Press, 2002), 201. Weston’s biographer speaks of the Chadwick and Willis. The first part, “How It Arose and What It bishop’s dismay at the triumph of Pan-Protestantism, a phrase in Did,” was by Chadwick; the second part, “The Proposed Scheme use already at the beginning of the twentieth century. See Maynard of Federation,” by Willis. Smith, Frank, Bishop of Zanzibar, 149. 7. Chadwick, “How It Arose and What It Did,” CMR, January 1914, 24. Weston, open letter, quoted in “The Controversy Arising from the p. 26. Kikuyu Conference,” CMR, February 1914, p. 98. 8. Ibid. 25. Weston conceded that he might have been able to change his charge 9. Willis, “The Proposed Scheme of Federation,” CMR, January 1914, to “grave irregularities” but saw that concession as now irrelevant p. 30. (Blood, History of the Universities Mission to Central Africa, 72). 10. Prebendary Henry Venn, CMS clerical secretary 1841–71, papers 26. Willis, report, “The Proposed Scheme of Federation,” CMR, January “The Native Pastorate and the Organisation of Native Churches,” 1914, p. 29. no. 1, 1851; no. 2, 1861; no. 3, 1866. These three papers are reprinted 27. Archbishop of Canterbury, “Statement,” and “Answer of the in Wilbert R. Shenk, Henry Venn, Missionary Statesman (Maryknoll, Central Consultative Body to the Questions submitted to them N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1983), 118–29. by the Archbishop” were published in full in CMR, July 1915, 11. For the history of the earliest Kenyan Anglican clergy, see Colin pp. 423–440. Reed, Pastors, Partners, and Paternalists: African Church Leaders and 28. The archbishop of Canterbury stated, “We instinctively look for Western Missionaries in the Anglican Church in Kenya, 1850–1900 precedents in the history of the Church of Christ. There are none. (Leiden: Brill, 1997). In the nineteen Christian centuries we find nothing which can fairly 12. The Quakers (Society of Friends), who had a mission in western be called a precedent” (the archbishop of Canterbury’s Statement Kenya, did not accept this policy. on the conference, quoted in CMR, July 1915, p. 427). 13. Chadwick, “How It Arose and What It Did,” CMR, January 1914, 29. Quoted in Eugene Stock, History of the Church Missionary Society, p. 27. vol. 4 (London: CMS, 1916), 417. The 1662 Book of Common Prayer 14. These smaller denominations were the Seventh-day Adventist Mis- stated, “And there shall none be admitted to the holy Communion sion, the Gospel Mission Society, the German Lutheran Mission, and until such time as he be confirmed or be ready and desirous of being the Friends Africa Mission (Quakers). German Lutheran mission confirmed.” societies worked principally in Tanzania, which was a German 30. “Archbishop of Canterbury Statement,” CMR, July 1915, pp. 423–38. colony until World War I, and had little work in Kenya. 31. The 1888 Lambeth Quadrilateral had laid down as one of the four 15. Willis, “The Proposed Scheme of Federation,” CMR, January 1914, foundations of Anglicanism, “the Historic Episcopate, locally adapted p. 34. in the methods of its administration to the varying needs of the 16. The four guiding principles of the Lambeth Quadrilateral can be nations and peoples called of God into the unity of his Church.” In found at www.anglican.ca/about/beliefs/lambeth-quadrilateral. 1920 Lambeth changed the wording to state that the “visible unity 17. The churches of North India, South India, and Pakistan found ways of the church” involved the acceptance of a ministry accepted by of overcoming this restriction; their pattern would later be discussed the whole Church, with “the commission of Christ and the authority in East Africa. of the whole body.” It concluded that the “Episcopate is the only 18. Zanzibar was at that time an independent state ruled by Arab sultans means of providing such a ministry.” under a British protectorate. The bishop was also responsible for 32. Blood, History of the Universities Mission to Central Africa, 75. work in the UMCA areas of the mainland of what was then German 33. AIM spokesman Charles Hurlburt, quoted in Gordon Hewitt, East Africa. The Problems of Success: A History of the Church Missionary Society, 19. Weston, open letter, quoted in the editorial of CMR, February 1914, 1910–1942, vol. 1 (London: SCM Press, 1971), 150. p. 96. 34. Ibid., 154.

212 International Bulletin of Missionary Research, Vol. 37, No. 4