Being Anglican in A Liturgically Ecumenical Setting: A Case Study From Kenya

Abstract

As a newly appointed lecturer at St Paul’s United Theological College, Limuru, an ecumenical seminary in Kenya, my wife and I went to worship at the old College Chapel1. The Kiswahili service is the second after the English service. The congregation was composed of people from the surrounding community, some of whom work with the college and some students. The first service which is an English service is attended mostly by students from the seminary. The seminary also has a midweek service for students and staff conducted in English in addition to the daily Morning Prayer. The Kiswahili service was conducted by an ordained Anglican Priest, a student pursuing his bachelor of Divinity degree. The Chapel was full to capacity and anybody coming in late would be sure to miss a place to sit. The lively singing in the church was accompanied by vigorous dancing led by a youth dance group. Everybody in the church was dancing, save for mothers who had to remain seated and hold their babies. The woman seated next to me gave ululations as the music went on and on. I tried to join in the dance but felt this was an unfamiliar Pentecostal territory as I was not used to it. I had just returned from Europe after my studies where services did not have as much singing. In my earlier theological training, I had been taught to follow the liturgy strictly. We were hardly challenged to consider “other ways”. The service was quite participatory, with young people leading the singing, dancing and involved in other aspects of the service. Having just returned from a context where at a Communion service, the gospel was always read by a priest, it was refreshingly different at this service to see a young girl read the gospel as the rest of the church stood in reverence. The Holy Communion liturgy was familiar, even though the written service was followed with a lot of flexibility. The Priest picked and chose what was, to him, relevant and 1 The origin of St Pauls can be traced back to the early years of missionary activity in East Africa. In 1875, the Church Missionary Society (CMS) founded a settlement for freed slaves at Frere Town, near Mombasa. In 1888, the Rev. E.A Fitch began a Divinity class to offer practical skills and Christian leadership training to these freed slaves. In 1903, the Rev. H.K Binns 2 contextual. The service concluded by the Holy Communion led by the Anglican Priest using the 1662 service but in Kiswahili. The service had lasted three hours in total.