The Kikuyu controversy was an Anglican church controversy in 1913 and 1914.
The Kikuyu controversy was an Anglican church controversy in 1913 and 1914.
In June 1913, William George Peel, the Bishop of Mombasa, and John Jamieson Willis, the Bishop of Uganda attended an ecumenical communion during an interdenominational missionary conference at the Church of Scotland's parish in Kikuyu, British East Africa, in what is now Kenya. Attending were Anglicans, Methodists, and Presbyterians. [1] [2] Controversy erupted in December after Frank Weston, the Bishop of Zanzibar, denounced Peel and Willis as heretics, and the issue was exhaustively debated in the press for weeks. Ultimately, the two bishops were not tried for heresy for the perceived schism. [3] In April 1915, the Archbishop of Canterbury issued a statement concluding the matter. [4]
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Kikuyu is a town in Kiambu County, Kenya, which grew from a settlement of colonial missionaries. The town is located about 20 km (12 mi) northwest of central Nairobi. It is about 20 minutes from Nairobi via a number of routes, including a dual carriage road, and has a railway station on the Mombasa – Malaba Railway Line. The town is named after the Kikuyu/Gĩkũyũ people, the major ethnicity that settled in the area. As of 2019, the total population was 323,881.
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Frank Weston (1871–1924) was the Anglican Bishop of Zanzibar from 1907 until his death 16 years later.
John Jamieson Willis was an Anglican bishop, Bishop of Uganda from 1912 to 1934 and subsequently Assistant Bishop of Leicester. He and William George Peel, Bishop of Mombasa, were accused of heresy during the Kikuyu controversy.
William George Peel was the Anglican Bishop of Mombasa in what is now Kenya. He was accused of heresy in the Kikuyu controversy.
Leonard James Beecher was an English-born Anglican archbishop. He was the first archbishop of the Province of East Africa, comprising Kenya and Tanzania, from 1960 to 1970.
George William Wright was an Anglican Bishop in Africa in the mid-20th century. He was born on 17 December 1873, educated at Barnsley Grammar School and ordained in 1906 following a 15-year career as a civil servant. After a curacy at Christ Church, Derby he went as a CMS missionary to Mombasa where he remained in various capacities until 1921 when he returned to England as Vicar of Boulton. In 1923 he was consecrated Bishop of Sierra Leone and in 1936 of North Africa. He was Vicar of Templecombe from 1942 to 1951 and an Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Bath and Wells. He died on 11 August 1956
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Evangelical Anglicanism or evangelical Episcopalianism is a tradition or church party within Anglicanism that shares affinity with broader evangelicalism. Evangelical Anglicans share with other evangelicals the attributes of "conversionism, activism, biblicism and crucicentrism" identified by historian David Bebbington as central to evangelical identity. The emergence of evangelical churchmanship can be traced back to the First Great Awakening in America and the Evangelical Revival in Britain in the 18th century. In the 20th century, prominent figures have included John Stott and J. I. Packer.
An ecclesiastical decoration is an order or a decoration conferred by a head of a church.
The Anglican dioceses of Mombasa are the Anglican presence in and around Mombasa and south-east Kenya; they are part of the Anglican Church of Kenya. The remaining dioceses of the Church are in the areas of Maseno, of Mount Kenya, and of Nakuru.
Dr Peel was one of the leading figures in the Kikuyu controversy in 1913-14. A conference of missionary societies at work in British East Africa, (including Anglicans, Methodists, and Presbyterians) was held at Kikuyu in June, 1913 Among those who attended it were two Anglican bishops, Dr Peel of Mombasa and Dr Willis of Uganda.
The death is announced of the Right Rev. George Peel, Bishop of [Mombasa] Africa. ... in 1914 by the Bishop of Zanzibar against the Bishops of Uganda and Mombasa, ...
The Bishops of Mombasa and Uganda will not be tried by a court of Bishops on the charge of heresy and schism in connection with the Kikuyu controversy. The statement issued by the Archbishop of Canterbury to-night shows that he has found a way out.