Church and Discipleship

Most of the well-established churches in Kenya have their roots in early missionary work, when Europeans first took an interest in the area and they saw an opportunity to preach to a wide new people. There are more than 4,000 registered churches in Kenya, belonging to an innumerable variety of denominations. They can range from very mainstream churches, to lesser-known evangelical and gospel churches. Churches in Kenya are predominately Christian, though many different denominations and congregations exist within the population. Overall, more than three quarters of the population identify themselves as Christian (either Protestant or Roman Catholic) To begin with, Roman Catholic missionary outreach in East Africa was begun by the French Congregation of the Holy Ghost among the ex-slaves of Reunion. The initiative was taken by bishop Maupoint, who established a permanent station in Zanzibar in 1863, with two priests, Anthony Homier and Edward Baur, and two brothers. At the height of the abolition of the slave trade, the Congregation went to the mainland at Bagamoyo, where they established another station that served as a resettlement village for the liberated slaves.