Nomiya Luo Church:The dynamics of an African Independent Church among the Luo of Siaya District

Abstract

The history of the Christian Church in Africa is a vast field uiai, the moment a lot of work is being done on. The extent of the task grows with the increasing recognition accorded the widespread indigeneous churches new referred to as the African Independent Churches. The very multiplicity of these movements and the peculiar characteristics of many of them present a formidable problem to those who are concerned with or are interested in the study of Christian history in Africa. In the last few decades there have been surveys of some areas or of groups of such churches as indicated in the literature review in the next chapter. These studies have not only provided valuable outlines of the history, the beliefs and the practices of the independent church movement but have also offered a certain amount of interpretation and evaluation. Perhaps, to make these general theories more convincing and refined there is still a great need for more case studies, especially of those movements that have arisen in areas where there are very many independent churches, as the latter may have their own contribution to make towards a general understanding of independency itself. In this present work we seek to make such a contribution by concentrating on a historical description of one representative member of the prdhetic type church known as Nomiya Luo Church in the Nyanza Province of Kenya. Nomiya Luo Church, is little known outside its own membership. Government Sources have only information of the official kind, on this Church. Neighbouring churches and their clergy are astonishingly ignorant, often misinformed and sometimes hostile to the church. Apart from mention in certain books and journals as the first breakaway church in Kenya, little is known about the origin, growth and significance of the church in Nyanza. This is cne significant V factor that necessitates this study. The purpose of this study is to make a survey of all the available information in both primary and secondary sources on the Nomiya Luo Church in an attempt to establish three facts. First, that this church has been existing since 1912 and that the causes of its emergence are very complex. Secondly, that the beliefs and practices of the movement have had to undergo change in order for it to be able to exist until now. And finally, that in a way the church has contributed to the social development in the community. The historical account is confined to an outline of the background of the movement, a narrative of the life and work of the founder, description of the church and the development of the church within a given period, 1907 - 1980. The material is restricted to the immediate story of the church, regarded primarily as a religious movement. As in all religious history other factors, Geographical, economic, social, and political have conditioned the religious development at many points, we have the occasion to refer to some of the more obvious of these in passing; to attempt their full scale study would deflect us from the primary purpose of this work and requires a competence appropriate to other disciplines.