Behind the scenes, this development alarmed church elders. They understood the potential for the church to end up being divided amid the nation’s polarised politics.
So work began to find consensus between the candidates and when a pre-election deal could not be struck, according to reporters who were tracking the poll and were in touch with delegates, word was quietly sent out to delegates that they should pick a compromise candidate.
That is how Jackson Nasoore ole Sapit, the Bishop of Kericho and a member of the Maasai community, which is not directly implicated in the major tussle of Kenya’s “high politics,” emerged as favourite and eventually took the main seat.
[i]Like all major competitions in the country, a sub-text soon emerged, with the leading candidates hailing from the Luo and Kikuyu communities.[/i]
While this may simply be the case of an outsider looking in, if true it is a further reminder (along with Rwanda) that the Global South isn’t free from the extra-ecclesiological strife that plagues the older churches simply because it holds to “the faith once delivered.” Their problems are different because their context is different, but they still have the potential to yield problematic outcomes. Happily for the Kenyan Church this seems to have been averted for now.
I can’t help wondering why there isn’t greater readiness for bishops to be chosen according to the formula originally proposed in Acts 1:26, by drawing lots from among the names of every eligible clergyman in a diocese or every eligible bishop in a province. A nominee could still decline election, but the need to electioneer would cease and nobody could allege undue influence.