AIPCA and the Kikuyu Nationalist Movements
The origins and development of the AIPCA are closely linked up with the nationalist movements that flourished among the Gikuyu especially from 1921. These developments were part of the wider political reaction among the people of Kenya which was in response to the intensification of various colonialist vexations especially between 1915 and 1921. Similar manifestations were taking place in Western Kenya, as is evidenced by the formation of the Kavirondo Tax Payers' Welfare Association, and later, in the 1940s, that of the Young Buu Association in the Tana River district (cf Okaro- Kojwang and Bonaya in Mclncosh 1969, respectively 113-116 and 163-164).

In the Gikuyu case forced labour, both for men and women, seems to have served as a precipitating factor. Although missionaries had suggested representing the natives in the legislative council in dealing with their complaints, the Africans decided to take matters in their own hands. As Bennett (1973, 129) records:  “Two bodies were formed: The Kikuyu Association in 1920 and the Young Kikuyu Association in 1921”. This latter was renamed the Kikuyu Central Association (KCA) in 1925, when its members, in a bid to camouflage the Association's political nationalism, decided to form an independent church which actually functioned as the religious arm of the Kikuyu Independent Schools Association (KlSA). Although David Kiragu Maina of Fort Hall (Murang'a) had already founded a first independent church among the Kikuyu in 1921, the origin of the AIPCA is usually reckoned to be in 1925 (Barrett et al. 1973, 129).

Secession from the Mainline Missionary Churches

The AIPCA was thus secession from the missions of the mainline churches, motivated by nationalistic and political aspirations towards independence. The Influx of Christian missions into Kikuyuland had begun in 1887, with the coming of the Gospel Missionary Society (GMS), which was followed by the Church of Scotland Mission (CSM) in 1898, the Church Missionary Society (CMS) in 1901 and the African Inland Mission (AIM). These Missions opened stations in different places of Kikuyuland. The African Inland Mission opened theirs at Kijabe; the Church Missionary Society at Limuru, Kambui, and Kabare; the Church of Scotland Mission at Thogoto and Tumu Tumu, and the Gospel Missionary Society at Kanjai near Githunguri.

The missionaries’ activity had various related aims. Over and above the general one of preaching the good news, the missionaries also engaged in educational work and in development enterprises which cumulatively sought to bring in cultural changes. Many Kikuyus joined these missions and a section of them went along with the changing of their traditions and culture. But the nationalist became alarmed at this induced culture change. They saw it as the missionaries attempt to make the Kikuyu’s forget their cultural and national roots, and in conjunction with the colonial government and the settlers policy to rob them of their God-given land, “Igai”.

In protest there was a mass exodus between 1924 and 1929 particularly from the Presbyterian and Anglican churches resulting in the formation of the independent church. Just as at the formation of independent schools, teachers who had trained in the mission education system now took charge of running the independent schools, so also at the formation of the independent church a number of former mission church elders undertook to serve the new church as lay workers and evangelists.

Between the secession and the National Independence

But there was the immediate problem of the absence of ordained church leaders, so that for sometime no sacraments or ordinances could be performed in the new church. The Anglican Bishop of Mombasa was approached by the AIPCA elders to allow their candidates for the ministry to be trained at the Anglican theological college. When in 1932 this request was not successful, the elders approached Bishop Daniel Alexander William, a South African of Mauritian origin, and asked him through James Beuttah to come and train their ministers. Daniel Alexander William had been consecrated bishop on 11th September 1927 by Bishop George Alexander Mcguire, from Antigua, who was Primate in America and Patriarch in the world of the African Orthodox Church. Thus in 1936, after a three-year theological orientation, the first three candidates were ordained, among them Daudi Maina, who later on (in 1940) was to ordain a further 20 (Daudi Maina Kiragu, N.d., 17).

After the secession, relations between che AIPCA and the mission churches, and also with the colonial government, continued to be tense. In the church context, one particularly controversial issue was the question of the circumcision of girls at initiation, a symbolically important traditional custom, which however the missionary churches condemned as being against God's will and as an unhygienic and barbarous custom. Rosberg and Nottingham (1966, l05) have recorded that “the crisis over the circumcision of women (girls) that gripped Kikuyuland from 1928 to 1931 brought about a bitter and enduring division between the forces of Kikuyu nationalism and Protestant missions”.

This issue became an occasion for bitter fights within the community: between those who sided with the missionaries in condemning the custom and those who held on to it. The missionary churches had decided to introduce an oath called the 'kirore'   (‘signature’ or ‘thumb print’) whereby their faithful were required to publicly condemn the custom. Those who refused to take the oath were to be suspended from Holy Communion and other church sacraments, and their children would be refused entry to mission schools". Understandably this caused a split within the community.

The year 1929 was specially marked by conflicts between those who had refused to take the oath against girls' circumcision (they called themselves the 'Karinga') and the others, the 'Kirore', who had accepted to put it and were faithful to the mission churches. The 'Karinga' are reported to have indulged in ‘Muthirigu’: séances of songs and dances of abuse against the missionaries and their ‘Kirore’ faithful. Parties of young people would come to sing and dance ‘muthirigu’ outside the church while the loyal ‘kirore’ faithful were in full congregation. Such events occasioned a lot of fighting between the two groups resulting in incidents of public disorder and even criminal damages. Eventually ‘muthirigu’ was banned, and heavy penalties were imposed on the singers by the courts. But the practice continued as part of the underground anti- colonialist resistance.

On the political level, the most important issue in the nationalist struggle was evidently the question of land appropriation by the white settlers. But there was also the issue of independent schools. Education first came to the Kikuyu country through the missionaries. The Kikuyus were quick to see the importance of the “magic” of reading and writing and went all the way for it. But they soon realized that both the missionaries and the colonial authorities intended to use education as a means of inducing changes into the people’s customs and traditions.  For different reasons, like the controversy over the circumcision of girls, the conditions on which children could receive education were becoming more and more difficult to accept.

As a result of this conflict and the growing Kikuyu desire for more and better education, there emerged in 1928 - 1929 two independent school movements: the Kikuyu Independent Schools Association and the Kikuyu Karing'a Education Associations, as education was inextricably linked in the minds of the Kikuyus with religion (Barnett and Njama 1966, 38).

The running of these independent schools was always difficult. Understandably both the missionaries and the colonial authorities found it hard to accept or tolerate such unauthorized institutions. The colonial education authorities were reluctant to integrate these schools into the public education system, and there were points of friction, e.g. regarding the curriculum and the programmes, and in agreeing the right point at which to start the teaching of English. When in the 1950s there were more radical changes in the official system of African education, the independent schools were in special trouble.

There were also internal difficulties in the running and management of the independent schools. It was always an uphill struggle for parents to find the necessary financial resources, in spite of generous and imaginative efforts to do so. There were problems too with the accounting and cash flow, and the regular payment of teachers’ salaries; given the fact chat most of those who run the school system had little experience. This caused much dissatisfaction within the community, resulting sometimes in bitter conflicts.

And yet, in spite of all these difficulties, the church and its independent schools managed to continue and to grow.  As the movement of national independence gained momentum.” the AIPCA acquired a position of special significance: as a sort of religious and Christian ‘chaplaincy’ for the nationalist struggle. Quite understandably, when the colonial government organized its fight against the Mau-Mau and other freedom fighters’ movements, the AIPCA was bound to be included on the side of the revolt. And so when the State of Emergency was declared in 1952, whereby the anti-colonial movements were banned, the AIPCA with its system of independent schools was also banned.  It went underground with these movements and shared their fate (Rosberg and Nottingham 1966).

After National Independence: The Present Situation

Quite logically too, when Kenya attained its independence in 1964, the church shared in the triumph, it was reinstated, and its schools became integrated into the new education system. “The church experienced a phenomenal recognition … by the now Independent Kenya” (Barrett et al 1973, 232). There is no doubt that, especially in the early years after independence, AIPCA has been basking in the light of official favour. The question, however, is: how strong is its position now, after more than three decades of national independence?

In terms of numbers of the membership, there has certainly been a tremendous growth.  In the early years of its existence, there were guesses that the church had between 2000 and 2500 members. And then, between 1964 and 1966 the membership was being reckoned at 18,000. By I971 it had shot up to 496,000 (Barrett et al 1973, 232).  In 1979 there were claims that the number had reached 1.5 million (President Moi at a fund-raising event in Nairobi for the cathedral), or even 1.9 (according to Stephen Muturi, the Secretary General). One would assume that today the number has gone up far beyond that.

It should be remembered, though, that a church like the AIPCA does not have a sure method for gathering reliable statistics. Most of the time people go by estimates. Some good observers have the feeling that, at present, the rate of growth has slowed down. There may be several reasons for this. There has been a tendency for members to leave the church and go to join other denominations. At the same time the enthusiasm for recruiting new members has definitely cooled down.   I would tend to chink that the present problems in the leadership has much to do with this state of affairs.

The number of congregations shows a similar phenomenal rise over the years. In 1948 it was reported that there were 36 congregations in Fort Hall district (Murang'a),   18 in Kiambu, 8 in Nyeri, 4 in Kirinyaga. 6 in Embu,  3 in Meru,  31 in the Rift valley,  1 in Nairobi, and 2 in Mombasa; totaling 109 congregations, parallel to the independent schools. This was already a sign of great success in spite of the difficulties the church had to undergo.

In subsequent years the number has increased tremendously. Barrett reckons that in 1971 there were 430 congregations, most of them having arisen since 1963 and 1964, after the National Independence at which the AIPCA was legally recognized (Barrett et al 1973, 232).  In 1979 the Secretary General was giving 750 as the number of congregations. One bishop suggested to me that the number could, by now (1989), be over 1000; but he added significantly that it could have been even higher but for the leadership conflicts in the church.

When AIPCA first started, the church's administrative units were called "branches", and they used to coincide with the boundaries of the colonial districts. At that time the branches were: Nyeri,  Kiambu,  Murang'a,  Kirinyaga,  Embu,  Meru, Nairobi and Mombasa.  But by 1971 the administration units were being called Dioceses,  each one headed by a bishop; and there were 4 of them:  the Northern Diocese  (Nyeri),   the Central Diocese  (Kiambu,  Kirinyaga,  Mombasa and Nairobi),   the Eastern Diocese  (Embu and Meru),  and the Rift Valley Diocese  (Nakuru, Nyahururu,  Laikipia,   Kericho,  Eldoret,  Narok and Baringo) (Barrett,   ibid).

In the three-quarters of a decade to 1979,   the tendency set in of increasing the number of dioceses by splitting them up.  In 1982 the number had officially come down to 7; but the tendency must have continued,   for I understand that the number has now (1989) reached 16.

The AIPCA has a peculiar hierarchy system for its leadership. In the official standing orders of the church, the clergy is ranked in descending order in this way:
The Patriarch
Archbishop
Bishops
Arch-deacons
Priests
Deacons
Sub-deacons
Lay Leaders
Church Leaders
Acolytes (Constitutions and Standing Orders, 23)

This does not, however, reflect the reality on the ground. For example, the post of Patriarch has not, to my knowledge, been filled in till now, and one wonders what the reasons are. The experience is that the posts one hears about are, besides the one of bishops, those of High Priests,   Priests, Deacons, and Lay Preachers.  Barrett et al, (232) were reporting that in 1971 there were 6 high priests, 70 priests, 60 deacons and 450 lay preachers.  This is quite a multitude of leaders.  But do such numbers make for an effective and efficient leadership?

Problems with the Clergy and the Leadership
The present problems in the leadership can be traced back to the special circumstances of the church's origins. As we pointed out above, the AIPCA was, from its very beginning, largely a lay oriented and led initiative, with almost its total responsibility for leadership and administration in the hands of lay people and elders who had not previously attended any special training in church management and leadership. Such leaders may have been able to manage somehow in the early stages of the church. But with the passing of years, and as things get more complicated with modern developments, such a leadership soon becomes inadequate.

The recruitment of the clergy is through an ad-hoc and informal process, and ordination is usually not conditional on any previous formal theological, biblical, or professional training.  It is true that in the 1930s there was a period when a group of ministers was trained and ordained by the African Orthodox Church.  But the general trend has been to co-opt leaders without such previous training.  Clergy are usually not paid salaries, nor expected to work as full-time pastors however, the AIPCA clergy are full-time because of working elsewhere, which enables them to serve the church. This does not make for an enlightened leadership with vision for long-range planning as regards, for example, projects for development or investments in view of future self-sufficiency. Moreover quite a number of the clergy are elderly people.   In 1979,   for instance, of the 720 members of the clergy, 6% had already reached an age suitable for retirement. And yet many hang on to their positions long after such an age. One often observes narrow-mindedness and a tendency for leadership struggles between untrained lay leaders and equally untrained clergymen, struggles which sometimes land the litigants into the hands of the police, or into hospital. (1983-1990 was specially marked by such controversies).
The main source for these problems is the lack of proper theological training.  In 1979, for example, of the 720 clergy only about 0.01% were theologically trained.  Presently the church does not have its own theological or biblical training institution.  There seems to have been an attempt in 1965 to start one at Kiriti in Nyeri; but the experiment failed due to intra-church conflicts. Those who get trained do so in institutions of other denominations e.g. The Church of God in East Africa,   the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania, or the Anglican Church, and most of them later leave the AIPCA to join other denominations.

Education, whether secular or theological, has very little place in the church. Not that there are no educated members; but even when such exist, their resourcefulness is not utilized for the spiritual, material, or institutional development and strengthening of the church.
This state of affairs is particularly evident in the area of ecumenical relationships.  For a long time the AIPCA remained without affiliation to any ecumenical movement, preferring to maintain a stance of isolation so as to preserve its identity as an independent church,  understood as consisting in remaining "un-influenced by any un-related irrelevant religion".

In 1978, for the first time in its history, the AIPCA got affiliated to the National Christian Council of Kenya (NCCK), even if there had been objections from some leaders and individual congregations.  Through the NCCK it also got affiliated to the World Council of Churches   (WCC) and World Vision. In 1983 it registered its affiliation with the newly-formed Organization of African Instituted Churches (OAIC). And yet the church has benefited very little from all these formal links. There are several reasons for that.

Many efforts were put into teaching leaders and lay Christians the importance of affiliating with other churches, especially because the church's associations can profit a lot by sharing in the projects and programmes of other churches and institutions. Notwithstanding, the space such affiliations create for sharing experiences. But there was much resistance in some congregations to this idea. Another drawback is that, after registering its membership in these affiliations,   the church does not employ qualified personnel to follow them up and make sure the church gets the assistance, inspiration or encouragement that are available. And so, membership in such affiliations remains dormant.

If lack of training (theology and capacity building) is the main problem for the development of the church, it may be hoped that AIPCA will make efforts to address it. There is much potential in the church for future progress, as is demonstrated by its having survived hitherto in spite of tremendous difficulties.

Theology, Beliefs and Practices of the AIPCA
The AIPCA is, by its very origins, a largely oral traditional church. Its theology, beliefs, customs and practices are determined by and expressed through non-written traditions rather than through written documents. Nevertheless the church does possess several written texts which, at least officially and in theory, are meant to serve as guidelines and points of reference.

There is first of all the Constitution and Standing Orders of the A.I.P.C.A. (n.d.), and then the Catechism by Daudi M. Kiragu, which is in Kikuyu: Gategithimo Gakirira kia A.I.P.C.A (1970). One finds also other literature: Hymn books, rituals and handbooks for divine service, which are originally from other churches, but which some church congregations make use of.  There is,   for example, the Divine Liturgy, which is in Kikuyu and passes for the AIPCA's service manual, but is in fact a take-over from the Orthodox Church.  Unlike the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania's Tumwabudu Mungu Wetu, it does not have the Psalms (Zaburi), but has the Litanies instead.

There are signs that various elements in AIPCA's theology or belief system and in its liturgical practices or church customs are not all of its own creation; quite a few have been borrowed from the traditions of other churches. And that is quite understandable. As we said earlier, many of those who first set up the church in the 1920s had been members of missionary instituted churches: Anglican,   Presbyterian or others.   It is not surprising that they would carry into their new church some elements with which they were already familiar. We remember too that the first properly ordained ministers had been trained within the African Orthodox Church tradition. No wonder, then, that in AIPCA's official theology and liturgy there are still traces of Orthodox traditions.

But this is not to say that AIPCA's theology and church polity is simply an imitation of those other churches.  Even when it takes over such outside elements,  it still feels free to do with them what it wants, and manages to develop a church identity of its own, in much the same way as other African independent churches.  What is found,   for instance,   in its written documents is not always an indication of what really takes place in the congregations. There, under a leadership that has not been trained to follow written directives, one often finds that actual practice is quite different from what is found in the official documents.  The interpretations of doctrines and practices tend to differ among the leaders and are often a source of controversies; and understandably so, since most members of the clergy are not in a position to be guided effectively by what is written in books. What we shall describe below is what the official texts lay down; but what is actually done is often quite different.

Principles and Aims

This is how the AIPCA Constitution describes the church's Principles and Aims: Rule No 2

• To sanctify and devoutly observe the principles of salvation,   sacredness and redemption as construed by the foundation beliefs in the synoptic Gospels of Jesus Christ and his apostles,   revelation now adopted wholeheartedly.
• To foster and serve only religious with doctrines specifically preached by Christian Pentecostal prelates with the spiritual guidance and the invocation of the Christendom in the hearts of all,  through the Holy Ghost in the Old and in the New Testaments.
• To establish and uphold the doctrines of the AIPCA as proclaimed in the rites of the Coptic graceful worship of God within the communion of churches of Africa and maintain the faith of world spiritual covenants dedicated to our non-political devotions entirely free from prophets that preach abnormality to the masses.
• To believe in the Holy Bible in all its sanctions and material particulars as the only genuine source of information about the Deity, whose supernatural co­ordination surpasses any contradictory wish-thinking that need godly conversion in the right path-ways. The AIPCA converts shall have ample opportunity to study the Bible directly in accordance, in acceptance to justice that we all desire to uphold in our daily lives.
• To promise to be good Samaritans by helping our national government by academic,   commercial and technical colleges  ...
• The AIPCA shall be a non-political organization which will try to seek closer co-operation and collaboration with other philanthropical societies and churches in all the other African countries and republics including East African countries of Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania.
• Our church will be free to lay down its methods of worship rules to be followed by our members and the way of performing and taking ceremonial rituals, holy orders, apart from sticking to Christian Holy Communion, Holy Matrimony, and Holy Baptism.    All these fundamentals shall be punctiliously followed in conformity with the furtherance of the members' interests to safeguard the hegemony and preserving the principles relating to the spiritual,  social and economic upliftment within our bounds (Constitution,  pp 1-2)

If we tried to check whether all these principles of the AIPCA are followed or put into practice, we might find out that not all of them are.  For example, in the case of "helping our national government by academic, commercial and technical colleges", we see that most of the institutions formerly-managed by the AIPCA have been neglected and have not progressed.  Similarly the recommendation to maintain communion with other churches of Africa does not seem to be followed: the AIPCA prefers to maintain a separatist stance and is not keen on ecumenism.

Doctrine and Creeds
Like other christian churches,  the AIPCA has adopted and professes the Apostles'  Creed and the Nicene Creed,  and in her catechism there are traces of the Athanasian one. Otherwise, the church seems to be unaware of other,  more recent, professions of faith,   such as the Augsburg Confession. but in practice the most observed sacraments are Holy Eucharist, Baptism and Holy Matrimony. Some people's view, however,   is that there are seven or six sacraments.  Here again,   the problem is that the written documents,  where the higher number of sacraments is taught,  do not necessarily reflect the actual practice in the congregations.

In the Catechism, Mugnai has put down that there are six major sacraments.  From the traditional Roman Catholic and Orthodox sevenfold number, he seems to have omitted the Sacrament of Holy Orders.  The other sacraments are explained as follows:

• Baptism:  The mode of baptism is by sprinkling water and making the sign of the cross on the forehead of the baptized with the forefinger of the priest which has been dipped in holy oil.  Infants are also baptized, their sponsors   (god parents)   standing surety to their profession of faith and Christian living. Adults are baptized after they have completed a catechism class.
• Confirmation: This sacrament entitles the church member to participate in Holy Communion.  It is conferred only by the bishop, who lays his hands on every candidate.  The conferring of this sacrament is also preceded by a catechism class. Hence, AIPCA practice closed communion and not open communion.

• Holy Communion: This sacrament is just like in other Christian churches. The bread that is used is the wafer, and the wine is the ordinary altar wine. The understanding of this sacrament is more in line with the Lutheran idea of consubstantiation. By partaking of the Eucharist the believers partake spiritually of the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. In so doing they receive the remission of past sins. When receiving the sacrament,   the communicant kneels down prayerfully and in a spirit of repentance; and the distribution starts with the bread followed with the wine. During the Holy Communion service the bell is rung, as the congregation recite:   “Holy, holy, holy”.  The priest then turns to the congregation and says three times: "The Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world have mercy on us".  The rest of the ceremony is very much like in service of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania.
• Confession: Confessions were heard by the priest, usually prior to Holy Communion, although not always.  In the past members were expected to confess their sins to the priest in the vestry before Holy Communion, as is the custom with Roman Catholics. But since the church adopted the new liturgy,   this practice has ceased. As a way of preparing for the service there is now one congregational confession which is said by all members together after the call to worship as in the liturgical order. The priest, archdeacon or the bishop declares the forgiveness of sins to the congregation after confession.
• Marriage (or Holy Matrimony):  The church also conducts Holy Matrimony as one of its sacraments.  The marriage takes the form of common weddings as conducted by other Protestant churches. Announcements (banns) are announced three Sundays (three times) before the wedding day. These are usually done at the churches where the marriage candidates belong.
• Unction: This consists of anointing with holy oil a person who is very sick in view of purifying him/her even if death comes.

The seventh sacrament, as found in the catechism which is of Orthodox origin, is

• Holy Orders or Ordination:  It is a sacrament through which men who receive the call from God, and are recognized by the church, are set apart by the laying on of hands signifying the giving of the Holy Spirit. By this ceremony these men become
  clergy and are distinguished from the laity.

These sacraments, as found in the written texts, are not all celebrated everywhere.  Some priests are unable to explain to the laity their biblical basis or their significance.  The reason is that most of the clergy do not know much about them; and so much of them are not celebrated today.  The only commonly celebrated sacraments are: Baptism, Holy Communion, Matrimony and Confirmation.

Sunday Service
Worship service is normally performed on Sundays,   starting at 10.3 0 a.m., and ends at 12.3 0 p.m. When the bell has been rung, and the Christians are seated,   the priest and team who are to lead the service that particular Sunday enter the church in a procession:  two by two, or if they are two:  one by one.
As they approach the altar the congregation rises up, and keeps standing while the liturgical call to worship statements are read loudly by the priest. In most cases lay elders sit on the first pew near the altar. The choir has no special place; when the time comes for singing, the choir comes to the front and starts to sing. During the singing there is dancing and use of musical instruments,   the most common of which is the tumbrel. Church announcements are made in turn, by the priest, the elder (chair of the local church), women chairperson, and even the youth chairman.  This may take quite a while, robbing the preaching of a lot of time.

Other Ordinances and Rituals

There are other rituals and liturgical ceremonies, most of which are found in the books that the congregation may want to use like common book of prayer. However, the most used ceremonial book the liturgy contains provisions for morning services, evening services, Holy Communion, Baptism for adults and infants, weddings, burials, and other special days like Pentecost, Palm Sunday, Ash Wednesday,   etc.

There are other rituals that the AIPCA calls Ordinances, that are, rites established by divine authority. Some of these are really not ordinances but rather worship services, like the dedication of a church building. The real ordinances are two. The first set is that of the two sacraments:  Baptism and the Lord's Supper, which is celebrated regularly and is observed as the seal of God’s covenant with humanity and with the visible church: a sign of spiritual membership. The second ordinance is “Foot-washing”.  It is celebrated only once a year, on Holy Thursday (during the ceremony of prayers and dedication for church instruments) the eve of Good Friday, and not by all members but only by the Archbishop who washes the feet’s of the bishops as Jesus washed the feet of his disciples.

There is some controversy regarding this ordinance of Foot-washing.  Some members argue that Christ gave it as an example (John 13:15) which should be followed, and not just preached about.  He used the words “you ought”, “you should”.  So it is an obligation. Differently from churches like the Church of God in East Africa, most other churches do not regard it as an ordinance. They consider it simply as an example of love shown by Jesus to his disciples:  an impressive lesson “to love one another”.

The Cross as Symbol of the Church

As is the case with other churches, the AIPCA has adopted some symbols which mark its identity and function as signs of solidarity among its members. The most important one is its special Cross which is meant to distinguish it from other churches. This particular cross is found on the rosary that AIPCA clergy wear and in its shrines.  It is also seen on the altar table, on table cloths, on stoles, on the bishop's rod, and so on. Its particular shape consists in being three crosses in one:  across the one vertical bar there are three horizontal arms, the middle one of which is longer than the top one, and the lowest one is slanting to one side. Several explanations circulate as to the meaning of this rather unusual shape of the cross. According to Mungai (in Shenk 1973, 46)   some priests explain that the upper arm stands for Jesus, the middle one for his arms, and the bottom one for his feet. Another informant put the suggestion more clearly by saying that the first arm is for the head of Jesus, the middle one for his arms, and the third for his feet. Others have explained that it is question of Jesus and the two criminals who were crucified with him. The middle, longer, arm is for Jesus, while the upper shorter one is for the Good Thief who rebuked the bad one represented by the slanting arm!

But I think the simplest explanation is that the shape of the cross has been borrowed from the Orthodox Church, if we remember that Bishop William Alexander, who trained the first clergy of the AIPCA, was a South African Primate of the African Orthodox Church. The AIPCA has indeed adopted practices from other churches in its worship and order of service: like the making of the sign of cross on the face, similar to Roman Catholics, and the burning of candles during the ceremonies, and the vestments, from the Orthodox Church.

Conclusion and Future Prospects
Itshould be remembered that those who first formed the AIPCA were not experts in church affairs; they were people whose prime motive was nationalism and the liberation struggle against colonialism. The idea of forming a church denomination came in as an after-thought: as a way of registering a protest in the course of controversies about cultural and traditional issues between the Kikuyu and the white people, in so far as these touched on the Christian faith. AIPCA became one among other independent Christian movements (admittedly the largest of them all in Kenya). But, as we noted above, the organizing and developing of this church has remained hampered by a lot of problems, largely because of the kind of people who were responsible for it.

All the same, the church has managed to overcome most of these difficulties, and has grown into an institution which is to be reckoned with. The AIPCA started off with great hope and ambition for its future development, even envisaging an Africa-wide geographical outreach which could make it a truly African Independent Church. This dream may still be awaiting its fulfillment in the future. But for that to happen, the church will have to overcome its present handicaps, the greatest of which is the lack of proper theological education.
There is hope at present that in the 1990s AIPCA will open its own Bible or Theology institute so as to begin providing the required educational standards for its clergy and preparing a scholarly trained personnel for its services and its mission. If this does succeed, we can hope to see the church develop into a really strong and effective African Instituted Church.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Barnet, Donald L, and Njama, Karari, Mau Mau from within, Maggibbon/Kee, Great Britain,   1966

Barrett, David B, and others, Kenya Churches Handbook, Evangel Publishing House, Kisumu,   1973

Bennett, George, Kenya:    Kenya: A Political History, Evangel Publishing House, Kisumu, 1973

Bonaya, T W, “The Young Buu Association 1944 – 1956”, Ngano. Macintosh, B G, East Africa Publishing House, Nairobi, 1969

Constitution and Standing Orders of the AIPCA, no publishers, Kenya, Nd

Categithimo (Catechism) Gakirira kia AIPCA, Gakaara Press, Karatina, 1970.

Rev Daudi Maina Kiragu, Kiria Giatumire Independent Igie (The Beginning of Independent Church), no publisher, Nairobi, N.d.

Kuria J Mungai, “African Independent Pentecostal Church of Africa”, David Shenk, The Story of My Church. An Anthology of Congregational Histories from Kenya. No publishers, Nairobi, 1973
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Procter, Paul, Ed, Longman Group Limited, England,   19 7 8

Ndung'u, J B,   “Gituamba and Kikuyu Independency in church and school”, Ngano, Macintosh, B G, East African Publishing House, Nairobi,   19 69

New Webster’s Dictionary of the English Language, Bergquist, Sidney R,   Consolidated Book Publishers, Chicago,   1978
Okaro-Kojwang, K M,   "Origins and Establishment of the Kavirondo Tax payers' Welfare Association", Ngano, Macintosh, B G, East African Publishing House, Nairobi,   1969
Rosberg, Carl G Jnr and Nottingham, John, The Myth of Mau Mau Nationalism in Kenya, East African Publishing House, Nairobi, 1966.