A Mission That Turned Into A Movement: The Spread Of Quakerism In Africa
Here’s a fun fact many may not know: Most of the world’s Quakers live in Africa.
Also known as the Religious Society of Friends, Quakers have a significant presence on the continent. The 2024 World Plenary Meeting was hosted by the Friends World Committee for Consultation’s Africa Section and the Southern Africa Yearly Meeting in South Africa. This was the first world plenary in eight years, with the last one held in Peru in 2016 before the coronavirus pandemic.
Africa has over 180,000 Quakers. Members of the Quaker faith refer to one another as “Friends.”
Both World Quaker Day 2023 and the 2024 World Plenary Meeting used the word ubuntu, a term recognized across many African countries. Ubuntu signifies the belief that “a person is a person through other persons” or more succinctly, “I am because we are.”
At the start of the 20th century, in 1902, American Quaker William Hotchkiss, along with student pastors Edgar Hole and Arthur Chilson, embarked on a fact-finding mission to Kenya. Inspired and supported by local church leaders, they established a Quaker mission in Kaimosi in the eastern part of the country. This site became a major center for Quaker worship and influence across East Africa.
In 1903, a hospital was established in Kaimosi and the Friends Africa Mission soon became the base for further mission stations across East and Central Africa.
Are Quakers really Christians?
Quakerism — also known as the Religious Society of Friends — is a Christian movement emphasizing direct experience of God, the equality of all people and a life of simplicity and peace, with a history rooted in 17th-century England.
Africa is home to the largest Christian population in the world. Constance Maina, a Kenyan Quaker, said she believes, as do many “friends” in Africa, that the Bible is central to her faith and identity as a Quaker.
“My faith is hinged to Quakerism because it is the way I can help encourage my community and people to read the Bible,” Maina said.
Quakerism in Africa aligns more closely with evangelical Protestant traditions, incorporating hymns, Bible readings, and prayers. The exception is in South Africa, where unprogrammed, silent meetings in the British tradition are the norm.
In Rwanda, there are approximately 5,000 Quakers and around 50 Quaker churches, though only 20 ordained pastors. These churches were established by the Evangelical Friends Church International.
Each Yearly Meeting in Africa faces its own challenges, some shared and others unique to a specific area. Claudina Muchiri, a Kenyan Quaker, is proud of her annual gathering, but she has concerns.
“There is a need to educate our members about the values of Quakerism, as sometimes Christian values get mixed up with cultural practices,” said Muchiri.
Diverse worship and African spirituality
Historian Diana Jeater, in her 2018 Salter Lecture, “Bearing Witness or Bearing Whiteness? Britain, Africa, and Quakers,” noted that Africa is now home to more Quakers than any other region in the world.
“Most Quakers have black skins and live in Africa, but we do not think of Quakerism as an African faith. Kenyan Quakerism now constitutes, I think, over half of all the Quakers in the world,” Jeater said.
Jeater also commented on African spirituality, stating that it coexists with ancestral and other spirits in a robust way.
“There is more room in African spirituality for miracles to happen,” she said. “There is room to think in African ways about spirituality, ways that we do not learn enough from. We are happy to go to Buddhism, but how often do we go to our own Friends in Africa and say, ‘Teach us something; teach us something spiritual?’”
The spread of Quakerism
Kenya has the largest population of Quakers in any single African nation — with nearly 120,000 — and nearly half of the worldwide Quaker membership. This rapid growth has occurred in just over a century. From Kenya, Quakerism spread to other Central African countries, notably Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi.
Quakerism was introduced to the Democratic Republic of the Congo by the Evangelical Friends Church International, and today there are nearly 4,500 members in Eastern Congo. In Congo, Quakers have played a significant role in peacebuilding, a major part of their evangelism. One flagship initiative is the Muinda Project for Peace, which has brought communities together in a region often defined by violence.
In Burundi, Quaker worship follows a programmed structure. Quakers in that country have built schools and hospitals and actively engage in various community activities. Their passion for education ensures that more young “friends” and “children of the church” benefit from learning opportunities.
Quakerism in Ghana is unique within Africa, as it follows an unprogrammed tradition. British Quaker teachers introduced unprogrammed worship to Achimota School in 1925, and this practice continues today.
Unprogrammed worship is also found in parts of Central and Southern Africa, where holding an annual meeting includes countries such as Botswana, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Zambia.
In South Africa, Quaker worship is also multilingual. They managed to write their own Quaker faith and practice in nine different languages. Each contributor wrote in their own language.
Helping communities
Many said that Quakerism has played a crucial role in promoting peace education. A new peace center, for examplem, is currently being built in Gisenyi, Rwanda, as part of ongoing efforts to integrate peace studies into African Quaker communities.
From the start, Quakers in Kenya have focused on addressing social deprivation, establishing schools and hospitals and tackling social inequalities.
The Green Olive Trust, an educational foundation, is actively working in Kenya. Other long-term Quaker projects focus on peace and development in the Congo, peacebuilding in Sierra Leone, and initiatives in Zimbabwe overseen by Milton Keynes Meeting.
Education remains a major concern for many African Yearly Meetings. Kenya alone has over 200 Friends secondary schools and around 1,000 primary schools. However, Kenyan Friends are increasingly concerned about the quality of education and whether their schools continue to reflect Quaker values.
Calvin Manika is an award-winning international journalist based in Zimbabwe.