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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 May 2011
Leadership remains the biggest challenge facing the Church in Africa today. The Anglican Church in Kenya (ACK) was started in 1844, but was it was not until 1888 that the official training of church leaders was commenced with the opening of a Divinity School at Frere Town. Since its inception the ACK has experienced a tremendous growth in membership, growing at the rate of about 6.7 per cent per annum. In spite of this rapid growth, the ACK is in leadership crises due to lack of enough and well-equipped clergy to run it. The Anglican population of about 3,711,890 Christians is served by only about 1555 clergy, translating to clergy per Christians ratio of about 1 : 2400. This affects the Church's mission in that it is impossible for one clergy to effectively provide spiritual care to 2400 Christians. On top of this, the majority of the clergy currently serving in the ACK are not properly trained to match the rapidly changing Kenyan society. About 83 per cent of these clergy have diploma and below theological qualifications. If the ACK has to be successful in its mission in this century, it has to reconsider its training systems.
Dickson Nkonge is an Anglican Priest currently teaching at Chuka University College (Egerton University). Previously, he was the Hospital Chaplain at Kenyatta National Hospital (2005–January 2011) and the Administrative Secretary in the Anglican Diocese of Meru (2003–2005). He holds a PhD degree from the University of South Africa and an MA degree from the University of Nairobi.
2. Revd Ludwig Krapf was the first Anglican Missionary Society (CMS) missionary in Kenya. The statistics of the Catholic Church and the ACK were obtained from their national offices in Nairobi.
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29. See Kenya Vision 2030: Transforming National Development (Nairobi, January 2007). This is Kenya's National Development Plan in which the country plans to be fully developed by the year 2030.
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