Two days ago, I com­plet­ed an inten­sive lead­er­ship train­ing by Liv­ing on the Edge on The Art of Sur­vival – Becom­ing a Romans 12 Chris­t­ian. The key les­son? True trans­for­ma­tion starts with indi­vid­u­als who renew their minds and reject the world’s bro­ken sys­tems. This made me reflect — with mil­lions of fol­low­ers and vast resources, why hasn’t the church trans­formed Kenya? I present the fol­low­ing sev­en pil­lars as a call for deep reflec­tion and bold action — because while the church holds immense pow­er, some­thing is still amiss.

First, accord­ing to reli­able sources, the church wields immense influ­ence in Kenya. Chris­tian­i­ty dom­i­nates the nation’s spir­i­tu­al and social land­scape, with mil­lions of fol­low­ers across dif­fer­ent denom­i­na­tions. The Angli­can Church has around 5 mil­lion mem­bers, Africa Inland Church 7 mil­lion, the Catholic Church 12 mil­lion, and Evan­gel­i­cal Church­es about 10 mil­lion under the Evan­gel­i­cal Alliance of Kenya (EAK). Church­es are also eco­nom­ic pow­er­hous­es. Hav­ing served under the Finance and Admin­is­tra­tion Com­mit­tee of NCCK, I have first­hand knowl­edge that NCCK church­es alone col­lect approx­i­mate­ly Ksh 2 bil­lion every Sun­day in offer­ings and tithes, more than some coun­ty gov­ern­ments gen­er­ate in a month. Despite this influ­ence, Kenya still strug­gles with cor­rup­tion, weak insti­tu­tions, and poor lead­er­ship. Why?

Sec­ond, imag­ine what would hap­pen if church­es dis­ap­peared overnight. The church is more than a place of wor­ship — it is a pil­lar of Kenya’s essen­tial ser­vices. The Catholic Church alone man­ages over 7,000 schools, pro­vid­ing edu­ca­tion to mil­lions. Oth­er denom­i­na­tions run thou­sands more. With­out these insti­tu­tions, count­less chil­dren would be denied an edu­ca­tion and forced into pover­ty. The health­care sec­tor would also crum­ble, as the Catholic Church alone oper­ates 35% of Kenya’s health­care facil­i­ties. Mis­sion hos­pi­tals serve mil­lions, par­tic­u­lar­ly in under­served areas, while church­es also run orphan­ages, reha­bil­i­ta­tion cen­ters, feed­ing pro­grams, and relief ini­tia­tives. With­out these insti­tu­tions, wouldn’t Kenya be paralyzed?

Third, despite its pow­er, the church has failed to trans­form soci­ety due to a lack of trans­paren­cy and account­abil­i­ty. With bil­lions col­lect­ed every Sun­day, where does it all go? Leviti­cus 25:35–37 for­bids charg­ing inter­est to those in need, a prin­ci­ple embraced by Sharia bank­ing — so why hasn’t the church fol­lowed suit? If imple­ment­ed, wouldn’t this sys­tem pro­vide inter­est-free loans to strug­gling mem­bers, empow­er­ing them to grow busi­ness­es, edu­cate their chil­dren, and uplift their fam­i­lies? Instead of dri­ving trans­for­ma­tion, hasn’t the church become just anoth­er insti­tu­tion, col­lect­ing mon­ey with­out clear rein­vest­ment in its people?

Fourth, the church faces a lead­er­ship cri­sis. Many lead­ers avoid account­abil­i­ty yet expect politi­cians to uphold integri­ty. How can church lead­ers who evade pay­ing their per­son­al tax­es demand trans­paren­cy from the gov­ern­ment? How can they expect politi­cians to be account­able when they fail to man­age their indi­vid­ual finances? Real soci­etal change must start with the church lead­ers. Before call­ing for lead­er­ship trans­for­ma­tion in gov­ern­ment, the church lead­ers must set their own house in order. If faith lead­ers led by exam­ple, wouldn’t politi­cians follow?

Fifth, when the church speaks out, it faces hos­til­i­ty. Just last evening, Bish­op Muhe­ria called for polit­i­cal account­abil­i­ty, yet instead of reflec­tion, politi­cians dis­missed him. This reac­tion high­lights the church’s weak­ened moral author­i­ty. If it had upheld its influ­ence and hon­or, no leader would dare respond with con­tempt. Do you agree that the church must reclaim its moral stand­ing away from any entanglements?

Sixth, The church must return to hon­or by embrac­ing mer­i­toc­ra­cy, trans­paren­cy, and account­abil­i­ty. Lead­ers should be cho­sen for integri­ty and ser­vice, not just charis­ma. Finan­cial trans­paren­cy is essen­tial — con­gre­gants deserve to know how tithes are used. Instead of mere­ly col­lect­ing mon­ey, shouldn’t the church empow­er mem­bers through edu­ca­tion, finan­cial lit­er­a­cy, and eco­nom­ic opportunities?

Final­ly, it demands a cru­cial ques­tion — are our church lead­ers still rel­e­vant? If they were, would Kenya be where it is today? The church must first fix itself to lead the nation. Hon­or must be restored through integri­ty, account­abil­i­ty, and ser­vice. This is a call to reflect and act- the time for change is now.

Need I say more? Think green, act green!