Nr 1-2008-2:08 19-02-08 22:15 Side 43 NORSK TIDSSKRIFT FOR MISJONSVITENSKAP 1/2008 43 Structural Tensions and New Strategies Trends in Evangelical Luther - an Church of Kenya in the period 1990-2005 ERLING LUNDEBY The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya (ELCK) has its origin in the mission efforts of Swedish Lutherans, later strengthened by other Scandinavian and American Lutherans. Since the start in 1948 the church for many years was limited to two-three ethnic communities in Western Kenya and Nairobi, but determined evan - gelistic efforts in the 1980s and 1990s has made ELCK of today to be a nationwide church with congregations in nearly all provinces. In many communities the church has opened up the future, provided the door to the world outside. Through its gospel message on Sundays and various community development insti - tutions it has brought temporal and eternal hope and strength for living to thousands of people. But the church has also experienced growth pains – needless to say. Missionaries played a major role in the initial stages, with varying success. Then came a period of transition with greater national participation in leadership. Although leadership was now nationalized, it was not always easy to build consensus and unity Nr 1-2008-2:08 19-02-08 22:15 Side 44 44 NORSK TIDSSKRIFT FOR MISJONSVITENSKAP 1/2008 behind the church policies and strategies. Some problems could be dealt with immediately, others were too complicated to enter into – and were postponed. As the church entered the 1990s it had reached a point where certain conflicts and financial prob - lems could no longer be ignored. Others have described well the history of ELCK up to 1990. 1 To document and explain key issues in the period after 1990 is the aim of this article. Towards the end we shall introduce a theoret - ical model which can be helpful in the analysis of present lead - ership and administration aspects of ELCK. Christian mission work in Kenya – a brief overview The arrival of German J.L. Krapf to Mombasa 1844 in the service of Church Missionary Society (CMS) is generally considered to be the start of modern missions to East Africa 2. In the Portuguese period in the 16th-17th century there were converts. 23 were put to death for refusing to submit to Islam. But there is no trace of a surviving church. 3 Krapf established himself and was able to con - tinue despite the loss of his wife and little girl. Through extensive travels, translation work and publishing he laid a foundation and alerted the larger mission community to the needs of East Africa. It was, however, close to impossible to penetrate the inland because of hostile tribes. Up to 1890 mission work, i.e. CMS and since 1860 the Methodists, was largely limited to the coast, chiefly among freed slaves 4. But Kenya was caught up in the “scramble for Africa”, and the European powers decided that the territory should be under British supervision together with Uganda. In order to facilitate administration and encourage economic activity a railroad was built from Mombasa to Lake Victoria, followed by large-scale immigration from India and England. The construction teams reached Nairobi in 1899, and in 1901 they reached the Lake. This created of course new opportunities for mission work as well. The Anglican and Catholic missions were strengthened, as well as new societies like Scottish Presbyterians, Baptists, Quak - ers, Adventists and, somewhat later, Pentecostals. Most of them targeted the central, densely populated regions in Taita, Ukam - bani, Kikuyu and Western Kenya. The evangelistic efforts were largely successful, but the issues of local culture (e.g. circumci - sion) and politics (missions in a colonial setting) play a dominant role in the history of the church in Kenya. Large numbers of Nr 1-2008-2:08 19-02-08 22:15 Side 45 NORSK TIDSSKRIFT FOR MISJONSVITENSKAP 1/2008 45 Kikuyu Christians withdrew from the mission churches on the cir - cumcision issue in the 1930’s and formed independent churches. The political issue also split the church and missions community. Most missions wanted to see an educated and liberated African church. This was fundamentally at odds with the goals of the set - tler community who primarily wanted a subordinate and obedi - ent work force on the farms and in public service. Other missions and missionaries were all too comfortable with the settler mind- set, provided they could preach true religion to the people 5. The growth of the church in Kenya has been uneven, both in terms of depth and numbers. The densely populated regions of central and western Kenya has experienced extensive numerical growth, while the economically poorer regions with nomadic peoples in the North, North-East and South have seen less or even no growth 6. The area stretching from the North Coast along the Somali and Ethiopian border is hardly reached at all, and you will find most people there are still Muslims or adherents of tradition - al religion.- And all churches have been painfully aware of the need to teach and disciple new converts, but given the large num - bers one has often been unable to follow up properly. Many pro - fessing Christians have received little or only the most basic instruction with obvious consequences for daily Christian life. 7 Lutheran mission work in Kenya up to 1990 – briefly explained 8 Lutheran missions were quite early established in Kenya, but were fully permanent and rooted only on the third attempt. Firstly, Ger - man Lutherans were engaged among the Kamba and on the North coast of Kenya from the late 1880s 9. When the governments in Berlin and London agreed that Kenya should become British- dominated territory and Tanganyika German 10 , the German Leipzig Mission withdrew and relocated in Tanganyika after hand - ing over to the newly arrived British Africa Inland Mission, while the Neukirchener Mission handed over to Scots and Swedes to carry on whatever they had started 11 . The second attempt was made by the Swedish Evangelical Mis - sion 12 . For quite some years their missionaries were established in what is now Somalia and Kenya North coast, but after World War 1 all their personnel were transferred to Tanganyika to take over the German fields that were left vacant as a consequence of the war. 13 Nr 1-2008-2:08 19-02-08 22:15 Side 46 46 NORSK TIDSSKRIFT FOR MISJONSVITENSKAP 1/2008 On the third attempt, however, the Swedish Lutheran Mission (SLM) 14 successfully established a mission in 1948 at Itierio in Western Kenya among the Kisii. This project had been long in the making as envoys from Sweden had visited the area around 1938, but the project was held up by WW2 15 . From Itierio and Matongo stations the missionaries in due time established congregations all over Kisii as well as in neighbouring Luo-land. At Ogango, near Nyamira, a women’s work centre was later established, while at Itierio and Matongo one had a secondary school and a health cen - tre besides the evangelistic work. The school and the health facil - ities answered a real need and were held in high esteem by the local people.- From 1957 a Bible school was established at Maton - go to educate the evangelistic workers of the church. It developed into Matongo Lutheran Theological College (MLTC) which was opened in 1977. In the 1970s the SLM extended their work also eastwards to the Kipsigis area and established a new centre at Chesinendet. The different congregations in this Lutheran network formed in 1963 the Lutheran Church of Kenya 16 . Later the name was changed to Evangelical Lutheran Church of Kenya (ELCK). In 1964 another Lutheran mission came to join hands, namely Swedish-Lutheran Evangelical Association of Finland (SLEAF) 17 . Their original plan was to start new work north of Kisumu among the Maragoli. They ran into serious difficulty, however, with the former owner of the church plot. The missionaries had to leave, and the owner later formed a Lutheran church all of his own 18 . The missionaries turned their attention to the Luo and established a blossoming work from Atemo and Rukongo church centres. The US-based World Mission Prayer League 19 joined ELCK in 1969. They had personnel for new evangelistic work in Nairobi, for the health centres and for what later became theological edu - cation at Matongo. In the early 1980s this mission also pioneered Lutheran evangelistic and health work among the Samburu 20 . Another Finnish Lutheran mission organization 21 came on board in 1970, i.e. Lutheran Evangelical Association of Finland (LEAF). They built up an extensive evangelistic and social work in Kisumu, opened up evangelistic and health outreach to the Masaii, contributed in congregational work in Nairobi, and occu - pied key positions at Itierio as well as at MLTC. Norwegian Lutheran Mission 22 became part of the team in 1977, but NLM was determined to target unevangelized areas. They Nr 1-2008-2:08 19-02-08 22:15 Side 47 NORSK TIDSSKRIFT FOR MISJONSVITENSKAP 1/2008 47 started out in West Pokot District and built up four church centres from which they have run an extensive evangelistic and Bible teaching ministry, besides health, school and community devel - opment work in the area. In the early 1980s they extended their outreach to include also the nomadic Borana and Gabbra of Northern Province as well as the Muslim Digo along the South coast 23 . Since 1971 NLM had been running a media ministry at Voi 24 besides having a number of missionaries serving the church - es in Ethiopia and Tanzania.