Kenya

Ministry Vision Current SIM Ministry SIM's Partner Church History of Christianity National Church Unreached People Topography Climate History Helpful WEB Links

• Establishing the Church among unreached people groups, utilizing a wholistic approach.
  
• Developing leadership and missionary vision within the established church, individual congregations, and like-minded organizations.

SIM desires to provide a gospel witness and to encourage Muslim background believers (MBB) as they mature in the Lord. The team uses one-on-one discipleship, Bible studies, sports, educational ministries (such as teaching English as a second language and computer education) and community development in agriculture, water, and health.

Besides sharing the good news of Jesus with several Muslim groups, SIM is involved in planting churches among the animistic Daasanach people group. They provide community service ministries to the Daasanach, such as literacy and health.

Life Challenge Africa (LCA) operates throughout the continent, promoting Muslim evangelism through training seminars, community-based outreach initiatives, personal evangelism, and the production and distribution of printed and electronic resource materials. LCA team members partner with church groups, theological institutions, parachurch organizations, and individuals to present the gospel to Muslims.

Urban Ministries Serving God (UMSG) is a strategic initiative to help churches in the growing towns and cities of Africa. SIM's goal is to help the urban church to live in surrender to Jesus and accomplishes it through research, training, seminars, information services, networking, prayer, and other supportive and practical means.

Learn more from the SIM Kenya website back

SIM’S Partner Church
SIM has staff working with the Africa Inland Church in the Bible Education by Extension and the Christian Education programs. back

History of Christianity
The first Protestant mission to Kenya was the Church Missionary Society. Its first pioneer, John Krapf, arrived in 1844. He remained after the death of his wife and child to establish a work that over the years has grown to become the Anglican Church of Kenya, with over 1,000,000 adherents. The British Methodists arrived in 1862 and established a work that also continues today. In 1891, the Scottish Presbyterians began work that established the Presbyterian Church of East Africa.

Africa Inland Mission (AIM) began work in 1895 under the direction of the Mission's founder, Peter Cameron Scott. The work began in the coastal city of Mombasa with a party of seven missionaries. Scott and five others died, and the one remaining man returned home. A few years later, a second attempt was made, and an inland station was opened at Nzawi. Out of this labor the Africa Inland Church (AIC) was formed in 1943. Today, the AIC has more than 1,000,000 members.

Much of Kenya is open and receptive to the gospel. The church has complete freedom to evangelize and has experienced rapid growth over the past 20 years. Young people are especially open today. However, there are ethnic groups who have not yet responded to God's love and forgiveness and SIM is reaching out to them. back

The National Church
The Africa Inland Church (AIC) is the largest Protestant body in Kenya and is growing. It has a major emphasis on evangelism. back

Unreached People
Some reports say that 24 Kenyan people groups have less than 20% of the population with any Christian church affiliation. The majority of Kenya's unreached people groups follow Islam or some form of traditional religion. They are dispersed geographically throughout Kenya and vary in their culture, language, and religious orientation.

The areas in which these groups are located are predominantly isolated, hot, and arid with a lack of roads and no clean water. Several groups have no written language. The lifestyle is simple, and comforts will be few and far between.

Three of these unreached people groups are sociological, rather than ethnic.

If you have a heart to work among unreached people, please contact your nearest SIM office.
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Topography
Located on the east coast of Africa, Kenya is situated astride the equator, transected from north to south by the great Rift Valley. It is bounded on the north by Ethiopia and Sudan, the east by the Indian Ocean and Somalia, the south by Tanzania, and the west by Uganda and Lake Victoria.

This striking country is a land of topographical and climatic variety. The northern three-fifths of the land is arid, semi-desert to desert. The south is temperate, dominated by a high, mountainous central plateau which levels out to a series of highlands and plains to the east and west. Mount Kenya, with its snow-capped summit, lies on the equator. back

Climate
Kenya is divided into two almost equal parts by the equator. The region north of the equator is hot and receives comparatively little rain. The southern region falls into three meteorological zones: The coast is humid, the average annual temperature ranging from about 24°C (76°F) in June and July to about 28°C (82°F) in February, March, and April; the highlands are relatively temperate; and the Lake Victoria region is tropical. The rainy seasons occur from October to December and April to June. back

Culture
Livelihood: Most Kenyans farm for a living. However, only 15% of Kenya's total land area is useful for farming, mostly in the Western Highlands around Lake Victoria, Mount Kenya, and along the coast. On traditional farms, Kenyans still use ancient farming methods.

The largest farm crops include maize and legumes. Millet, cassava, and sorghum also have high production. Tea has become one of Kenya's most important crops after many years of competition with coffee. Kenya is now the third highest producer of tea, following India and China. Coffee continues to be an important export. Other crops include cashew nuts, fruits, and vegetables. Agriculture is one of Kenya's prime exports.

Education: With its independence, Kenya expanded the education system to enable more Kenyans to shape the economy. They restructured the system of education to an 8- 4 - 4 system of formal education. The new system was intended to meet the increasing demands for technically and professionally qualified people. Today, more than 6 million Kenyans are enrolled in schools throughout the country, and adult literacy rates are about 60 percent for men and 40 percent for women.

Since 1970 there has been a tremendous expansion in universities in response to the high demand for university education in Kenya. The country now has five public universities. The most recently established universities give greater emphasis to technology and science-oriented degrees. In addition to the four public universities there are ten private universities in the country offering a range of degrees.

Recreation: Many things of interest are available to visitors to Kenya. They include wildlife safaris, mountain climbing, adventure travel, and bird watching. Kenya's national wildlife parks and conservational botanical sanctuaries are sources for many hours of pleasure.

Economy: Agriculture is a major part of Kenya's economy. It is considered to be among the few African countries whose food production has been consistent with its population growth. More than half of Kenya's export income comes from tea, coffee, sisal, pyrethrum, sugar cane, wheat, and cotton.

Beef and dairy cattle are also important to Kenya's agricultural economy. Kenya has one of the most developed dairy industries in Sub-Saharan Africa. The fishing industry handled over 100,000 tons of fish in 1987, mostly fresh water fish caught in Lake Victoria.

Kenya's additional resources include fishing, forestry and ranching. Irrigation projects are mainly located in the Yala Swamp and Kano Plain in the lower Tana River basins. Kenya's sisal production ranks second in the world, and the export of cut flowers ranks fourth. Kenya also provides about 70% of the world's demand for pyrethrum. back

At the same time, Portuguese made contact with the Kenyan coast in the person of Vasco da Gama, who obtained a guide to take him to India. In the ensuing years, the Portuguese gained increasing control of the coast and were in full control by 1589.Their control, however, didn’t go beyond the coast. The inland tribes remained independent. In 1698 the Portuguese were driven out by Arabs from Oman, and for the next century the Mazuri Dynasty ruled the coast. It was replaced by the Sultan of Oman and Zanzibar in 1837.

The British government took an interest in Kenya in the late nineteenth century because Kenya straddled a proposed railway route to Uganda, already a British colony. After signing a number of treaties with various chiefs and tribes, Kenya was declared a British protectorate in 1895. Soon after, British settlers began to move inland and take control of the extremely fertile highlands. By 1920, Kenya was declared an English colony.

Political control of Kenya remained exclusively in the hands of the British until 1944. By the time blacks were allowed to participate, the concessions of the British were too few and too slow to stem the growing unrest with British rule. Jomo Kenyatta, later to become the first president of Kenya, was a predominant figure in the struggle for freedom.

In 1946, as the first president of the Pan-African Federation, Kenyatta returned to Kenya after a 15-year absence. He established the Kenya African Union in an attempt to curb exploitative colonial policies. He introduced a number of changes in government policies governing land ownership. When the policy of reserving land for white settlers was legally ended, much desirable farmland was transferred to Africans.

By 1952 unrest reached the point that the Mau Mau revolt broke out to remove the white settlers from the highlands. Kenyatta took control of this movement and was soon arrested and jailed by the British. The revolt made it clear to the British that Kenya must have self-government. Kenyatta was freed in 1961 after seven years in jail, and became the first president in 1963. He surprised and pleased the British and religious leaders by being moderate and by allowing freedom of religion. In fact, he asked the white settlers of the highlands to remain, for he saw their strategic value in managing this valuable agricultural resource.

In 1963 Kenya was declared an independent republic. Kenyatta presided as president until his death in 1978. Throughout his tenure he encouraged foreign investment and stronger ties with the West.

Kenyatta was succeeded in 1978 by Daniel arap Moi. President Moi managed to curb some of the dissent between people groups caused by Kenyatta's preference of the Kikuyus (his own people). Moi was not without his detractors and was accused of resisting the African trend to greater political freedom. In December 2002, President Mwai Kibaki came to power. back

Helpful WEB Links

• Health Tips: www.cdc.gov
• Embassy Information: www.embassyworld.com
• SIM Kenya Website: http://simkenya.org
• General Country Information: www.lonelyplanet.com
• Life Challenge Africa: www.lifechallenge.de
• Urban Ministries Serving God: www.UMSG.org