6) Missions in Kenya

With Christianity and Catholicism as the top two religions in Kenya, it is no wonder that missionaries of these religions carried out the most mission work in Kenya. During the 1600s, while Portugal had a large influence in Kenya, the main goal of the Portuguese was trade. However, some of the Portuguese believed that Catholicism should be spread throughout Kenya. (1) Plans to build churches were made and some Kenyan people were converted, but their immoral lifestyles and actions of the majority of the Portuguese people reflected negatively on their faith and hindered the conversion of more people. (2) Having mainly motives of profit and power, their evangelism had very little impact on Kenya.

Portuguese Chapel in Malindi, Kenya
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Portuguese_chapel_02.JPG

The first known missionary to Kenya was John Ludwig Krapf of the Church Missionary Society. (3) A German, Protestant Christian missionary, Krapf first came to Mombasa, Kenya in 1844. (3) Krapf translated the New Testament into a local language for the people, and encouraged Methodists to try to evangelize to the people of Kenya. (4)

Route of missionary John Krapf in Kenya
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2c/Routes_of_European_explorers_in_Africa%2C_to_1853.jpg

Other Christian missionary groups to Kenya over the next hundred years included the Presbyterian East African Scottish Mission, the United Methodist Free Churches Mission, the English Society of Friends, the interdenominational Africa Inland Mission, and the Pentecostal Gospel Missionary Society. (5) As for Catholic missionaries, there were two main groups that reached out to Kenya.
The First, the French Congregation of the Holy Ghost, expanded to Kenya in 1899. (6) The Consolata Mission spread to Kenya in 1903 as a result of the Institute Mission Consolata, an institute for training missionaries. (7) Many of these organizations instituted churches in and around Kenya.

A missionary from Church of Scotland teaching a cooking lesson
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cooking_Lesson,_Kenya,_ca.1905-ca.1940_(imp-cswc-GB-237-CSWC47-LS7-033).jpg

When Kenya gained its independence in the 1960s, the churches began to become more autonomous. (8) Churches gained their autonomy at different rates and to different degrees following independence, some gradually and some all at once. (9) The Catholic churches of Kenya, though independent, still answer to the Pope of Rome. (10)

As of 2008, 80% of the population of Kenya identify as Protestant Christian or Roman Catholic. (11) As one can see from this large percentage, the Christian and Catholic missionaries had a large impact of the people of Kenya, whether directly or indirectly through the encouragement of the foundation of indigenous churches. Without the work of these missionaries, the religious make-up of the nation would look much different.

(1) "The Beginning and Development of Christianity in Kenya: A Survey", The Portuguese Period, http://www.dacb.org/history/beginning%20and%20development%20of%20christianity%20in%20kenya.html.
(2) "The Beginning and Development of Christianity in Kenya: A Survey", The Portuguese Period, http://www.dacb.org/history/beginning%20and%20development%20of%20christianity%20in%20kenya.html, ¶ 11-12.
(3) "The Beginning and Development of Christianity in Kenya: A Survey", Modern Missionary Movement: The Protestant Missions, http://www.dacb.org/history/beginning%20and%20development%20of%20christianity%20in%20kenya.html, ¶ 3-4.
(4) "The Beginning and Development of Christianity in Kenya: A Survey", Modern Missionary Movement: The Protestant Missions, http://www.dacb.org/history/beginning%20and%20development%20of%20christianity%20in%20kenya.html, ¶ 5-6.

(5) "The Beginning and Development of Christianity in Kenya: A Survey", Modern Missionary Movement: The Protestant Missions, http://www.dacb.org/history/beginning%20and%20development%20of%20christianity%20in%20kenya.html, ¶ 12-18.
(6) "The Beginning and Development of Christianity in Kenya: A Survey", Modern Missionary Movement: Roman Catholic Missions, http://www.dacb.org/history/beginning%20and%20development%20of%20christianity%20in%20kenya.html, ¶ 1-3.

(7) "The Beginning and Development of Christianity in Kenya: A Survey", Modern Missionary Movement: Roman Catholic Missions, http://www.dacb.org/history/beginning%20and%20development%20of%20christianity%20in%20kenya.html, ¶ 4.
(8) "The Beginning and Development of Christianity in Kenya: A Survey", From Mission to Church,http://www.dacb.org/history/beginning%20and%20development%20of%20christianity%20in%20kenya.html, ¶ 1-2.
(9) "The Beginning and Development of Christianity in Kenya: A Survey", From Mission to Church,http://www.dacb.org/history/beginning%20and%20development%20of%20christianity%20in%20kenya.html, ¶ 1-7.
(10) "The Beginning and Development of Christianity in Kenya: A Survey", From Mission to Church,http://www.dacb.org/history/beginning%20and%20development%20of%20christianity%20in%20kenya.html, ¶ 6.
(11) (1) "International Religious Freedom Report", Section I. Religious Demography, http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/2008/108374.htm, ¶ 1.