Trucks packed high with belongings: a common sight in Kenya where
600,000 people were displaced by the country's post-election violence.

Tribal animosity and violent clashes have intensified in Kenya over the past 20 years. The nation’s leadership has typically responded by resettling tribes, separating victim from aggressor. This has left many squatters, fuelling new violence and nurturing a desire for revenge. The cycle climaxed in the terrifying hostilities following this winter’s presidential elections. 

The response of the Church of Jesus Christ has been to keep quiet and offer humanitarian aid. But it is time for the Church to engage this problem before the next generation of Kenyans drinks the venom of ethnic hatred. The Bible, in Acts 17, calls us to break out of our racial arrogance.

“










Pastor Moses Ng'ang'a is earning his Master's at the Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology.
The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us” (Acts 17:24-27). 

In this passage, the apostle Paul undercuts the superiority complex of the Athenian people. He reminds readers that God himself created human beings, distributing them across the earth and determining their dwelling places. As theologian William Sanford Lasor wrote, “He is stabbing at the heart of Athenian pride…He is putting God at the center of the universe.” 

God’s sovereignty is the source of ethnic diversity and punctures through the human tendency to ‘puff up’ and emphasize differences.  This truth should make Kenyans realize we are not defined by our tribe but by an infinitely higher identity. 

Paul emphasizes that human beings are essentially one; by God’s design we are descended from “one man”. Kenyans should realize that all ethnic communities are valuable in God’s sight, created by Him and for His purpose. This would help us not only respect each other but also the value of human life."The very politicians who fuel ethnic tensions attend Church services and the pastor gives not even a word of godly counsel"

God, says Paul, desired that as people recognized their diversity they would seek him.  God wants us to worship Him together and enter into a living relationship with Him.  Ecclesiastes 12:13 confirms that “this is the whole duty of man”.  That profound truth should evoke awe in us and banish any xenophobia. 

Separation, therefore, is not the answer to Kenya’s problems. People who live together get to know and trust each other. Segregation foments suspicion and hatred.  

This truth should reverberate from our pulpits.  The Church of Jesus Christ should deliberately teach this truth not just on Sunday mornings, but all through the week in Bible studies and in the community groups where Christians meet others.  The Church should realize that people are in a crisis—they are disillusioned both with politics and also with their ethnic heritage.  It is only the transforming Gospel of Christ that can help in such a situation.

The clergy in Kenya go about feeding the displaced and preaching to them.  But it is sad that they do not couple these noble actions with advocacy. The very politicians who fuel ethnic tensions attend Church services and the pastor gives not even a word of godly counsel. 

God’s Church should call to account all reckless talk in the public domain that fuels hatred and incites violence. If the Church is the conscience of the community, it does not help if she keeps quiet in these areas that viciously bruise so many.   

Countless thousands have lost possessions and homes in the skirmishes and are living as squatters—sometimes on the Church’s own property. The Church should look with mercy on these individuals and help resettle them back to their lost homes. This can only happen if Christians are committed to tackling the problems of ethnic hatred as God’s agents of healing and reconciliation. 

Acts 17:24-27 is a gemstone that every Church in Kenya ought to understand, teach and act upon.

Bookmark