Seeds of Freedom: Growing Orthodoxy and Freedom in East Africa

Chapter 7 charts the African Orthodox Church's growth from its headquarters in South Africa to Kenya between 1928 and 1944. Kikuyu Christians hoped that the church would support their anticolonial agenda to reclaim their ancestral land while advocating for educational sites that would position them as elites. This chapter relies on church documents, personal correspondence, and newspaper clippings to point to the ways church expansion conformed to the theological and political needs of the Kikuyus. South African leaders equipped Kikuyu Christians by sharing church documents, visiting, and even setting up seminaries. This chapter analyzes the shared colonial struggles of African Christians connected to the church and also shows the connective projects of African-initiated churches and Black nationalism as Kikuyu-based congregations intensified into the Mau Mau Revolution.