Date of Graduation

1995

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

Abstract

This is a study of the impact of the evangelistic approach to western education by the Church of God Mission of Anderson, Indiana, U.S.A. on the Luyia of Western Kenya. It describes the types of schools initiated, their strengths and weaknesses, as a result of this missionary endeavor. The focus of this study also reveals new insights as to the social, religious and political impact of mid-western evangelism and education on the Luyia. Through the use of extensive oral interviews and questionnaires from Western Kenya, this study is able to provide a unique African voice in the assessment of the conversion process and the impact of western education. Besides the oral interviews and questionnaires, the study is based on archival sources in Kenya and in the United States. The western education brought to Kenya by the Church of God fit within the framework of colonial rule and the colonial economy, but it also reflected the views of the mid-western evangelists as to the type of education that would be best for Africans. The missionaries' emphasis on evangelism first and industrial or technical education second within the educational philosophy of adaptation fit well with the views of Kenya's European settlers and the colonial state that saw the production of an efficient labor force for the settler-dominated economy as an important goal of western education. Literary, or academic, education was little emphasized by the Church of God in either its schools for boys or girls as few or the mission's teachers were qualified to teach such subjects. This represented a major shortcoming of the educational efforts of the Church of God in Western Kenya, but this situation caused little concern to the colonial rulers as it meant that Church of God converts were not involved in any serious form of political protest against alien rule. In assessing the impact of the Church of God, it is clear that it was a very minor player in the field of mission education in Western Kenya. Moreover, its schools were characterized by generally poor performance in academic or literary subjects down to 1949. Judged purely from the point of view of evangelism, on the other hand, its efforts were certainly successful for the Christianity took firm root among the Luyia amongst whom the mission established schools.

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