. DISCUSS THE REASONS FOR THE RISE OF INDEPENDENT CHURCHES IN EAST AFRICA

6. DISCUSS THE REASONS FOR THE RISE OF INDEPENDENT CHURCHES IN EAST AFRICA.

These were movements in which Africans either founded their own churches independent of the missionaries or in which Africans broke away from the missionary churches and founded their own.
Examples of independent churches in Uganda
1. The African reek Orthodox Church founded by Mukasa Reuben Spartus.It broke away from the Anglican church of the missionaries. It started in 1926 as an orthodox church.
2. African Judaism (Abayudaya) founded by Semei Kakungulu in Mbale after he had been dropped by the British. Local followers were known as Abayudaya; they practiced circumcision and observed the Sabbath day.
3. The Bamalaki movement founded by Joshua Kate (the Mugerna-Ieader of the monkey clan) founded in 1917, they originally called the movement Ekibiina kyakatonda ayinza byonna (meaning God can manage everything.) They were nicknamed Diini ya layisi meaning religion of the cheap as they baptized people for free.
4. The seventh day Adventist church founded in 1927, this strictly observed the Jewish laws of the Old Testament.
5. The Mengo gospel church founded by marble Ensor, she established it because she could not fit well within the main stream structure of the missionary male dominated churches.
Examples of independent churches in Kenya.
1. The Nomiya Luo mission of John Owolo who promised followers to end colonial oppression and exploitation.
2. DiinayaRoho (religion of the spirit) founded in 1916.
3. African independent church founded by four kikuyu ministers.
4. The people of god's church formed in 1920.
5. The African brother hood church.
Examples of independent churches in Tanganyika.
1. Chief Mavit's church.
2. The church of the Holy Spirit.
N B: Independent churches were not so much pronounced in Tanganyika due to strong Islamic influence which limited Christian missionary activities in the region
Reasons for the rise of independent churches in East Africa.
1. Mistreatment done by White Christians annoyed African converts. Africans detested this because it did not comply with the equality principle emphasized by the Bible i.e. forced labour, low payments of Africans in churches yet over worked.
2. Social discrimination as a result of influx of Europeans like administrators, traders, settlers. European missionaries began to relate more with people of their race than Africans as they had done before.
3. Discrimination of African cultures norms, and values such as polygamy forced them to form independent churches and revive their cultural values, they referred to African names as being ungodly, they stressed monogamy for polygamy, and this angered the Africans.
4. There was a need to prove their ability to rule and manage their own theology since they were banned from top administrative posts.
5. Africans wanted to use their churches as their platform to fight against European colonialism.
6. The influence of World War 1 and World War 11 in which Africans were taken to fight, after the wars Africans were still oppressed and as a result Africans used their experience in these wars to fight for both religious and political independence.
7. Over ambitiousness of educated converts, they blamed European missionaries for preaching things which they could not do themselves like equality, for instance Semei Kakungulu capitalized on European injustices to form African Judaism.
8. Need to unite Africans under the same umbrella Led to the formation of independent churches.
9. The delayed ordination of African students in mission schools.
10. Church dues, admission to church needed one to undergo length growth of catechism and those who had paid church dues. Those who could not afford such dues formed their churches.
11. The exploitation and oppression by the Europeans towards Africans forced them to form their own churches. They emphasized that torture was justifiable if civilization and Christianity was to take root.
12. The pathetic process of converting Africans in to Christianity under missionary churches was too long for them e.g. one had to be of good conduct, educated first, must have served In the colonial security, be monogamously married and a good tithe payer, this forced Africans to form their own churches. :
13. Educational segregation the Africans could not access education; this forced them to form their own churches.
14. The growth of Pan Africanism in America led to the formation of independent churches; Pan Africanism was developed by black American Negroes under Marcus Garvey in Jamaica.
15. Failure by Africans to get charity which they had anticipated from the white missionary station.
16. The influence of independent churches elsewhere in Africa e.g. the Zionist church, the Ethiopian church, the watch tower society of Rev John Chi 1embwe and Mokalapa in central Africa.
17. The hope and belief of a black messiah to rescue African from continuous suffering forced them to form their churches. Many Africans believed that Jesus Christ was a Jew the, a white and therefore a messiah for the whites not blacks.
I8. Inspiration from Ethiopian success at Adowa in 1896 where the church was used to fight and defeat Italians, other Africans picked a leaf from there and formed churches to fight against Africans.
19. Conflicts among the missionary groups
20. The general practice of colour bias syndrome on the Africans especially by the Dutch reformed church, in southern Africa the white church supported apartheid.
21. Protest of introduction of school fees yet they regarded the church as charity organization.
22. The sympathetic activities and lamentation of some whites on holidays in East Africa, they advocated for better treatment of Africans. Such positive talk from the Europeans made Africans obliged to form their own churches
23. Some missionaries gave financial assistance to Africans to establish independent churches e.g. The Abayudaya used to get financial support from Israel which facilitated their rise.
24. The impact of training and education given to Africans by white missionaries encouraged the former to oppose the latter by establishing their own churches.
25. Some Africans leaders and clergy had been frustrated by colonial powers who failed to reward them the way they expected e.g. Kakungulu was disappointed and formed Katonda Ayinza Byonna
26. Translation of the bible into local languages like Kiswahili, Luganda, this eased the work of African evangelists and their followers.
27. The introduction of boarding schools, Africans accused the missionaries for putting their children in an enclosure (A Fence) where they could not be easily accessed; Africans became suspicious that the missionaries could be teaching their children bad western cultures in such schools, as result Africans founded their own churches and schools to teach their children.
28. Emphasis on education as a pre-requisite for baptism forced Africans to form their own churches; this is why the African Orthodox church of Mucosal Spartas was formed.