A study of some Asian converts to Christianity in Kenya with particular reference to their response to Christian evangelistic efforts: a case study of those residing in Nairobi

Abstract

This study set out to establish the extent to which Christian evangelisation has influenced the Asian community in Kenya. The Asian community has for long remained largely unpenetrated by Christian evangelisation, not only in Kenya but also throughout the world where there is an Asian community. In Kenya most of the evangelistic efforts are concentrated on the indigenous African communities, most of whom already practise some form of Christianity. It was felt that there is need to find out why the Asians in Kenya have not been evangelised to the same extent as the indigenous Kenyans. The study had four objectives, which are: (1) To find out the extent to which the Asian immigrants in Kenya have responded to Christian evangelisation. (2) To find out the extent to which the Asian converts have been integrated into the larger Kenyan Christian community. (3) To determine- the methods used in Christian evangelisation, especially among the Asian immigrants in Kenya. (4) To determine the views of the Asian converts on the evangelisation of Asians in Kenya. The study had four hypotheses. It was assumed that the poor response among the Asians in Kenya can be explained by various factors which were broadly categorised as socio-political, economic and religio-cultural factors; that the Asian converts to Christianity in Kenya have not been integrated into the larger Kenyan Christian community, that the methods used in Christian evangelisation in Kenya are not appropriate to the Asian immigrants and that the converts have various views which can be utilized to make Christian evangelisation more appealing to the Asian non-Christians. The methods this study applied in the collection of data included literary research whereby books and journals relevant to this study were reviewed in depth. This formed the secondary data. Other methods included interviews, whereby informants were given an opportunity to express their views freely, the questionnaire method and participant observation method. All these methods assisted in the collection of the desired information which formed the primary data. After a critical appraisal of the data collected, the stufly confirmed that the Asian community still remains largely unpenetrated by Christian evangelisarion. In total only about 0.2% of the Asian immigrants in Kenya have converted to Christianity from the different Asian religions in Kenya.