The Rev. Canon Martin Olando Wesonga calls it the “Nashotah Effect.” When Wesonga, from the Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK), visited Nashotah Theological Seminary in Wisconsin for the first time in 2021, he noticed seminarians wore black cassocks while professors were suited up in clerical collars.
As canon for theological studies and development in the Diocese of Machakos and dean of the Hannington Institute of Theology & Development Studies in Mombasa, he liked what he saw. Upon returning to Kenya, he established a new rule: “All professors in our seminary must be in collars. All students in the morning worship—they have to be in black cassocks,” Wesonga said.
The reform drew a positive response. “The students love it,” he said, adding that he rarely goes to seminary now without his collar.
“And you wouldn’t know that’s a change if you hadn’t been there. Right?” said the Rev. Rob Davis, priest in charge of St. Boniface Church in Mequon, Wisconsin, located just over a half-hour from Nashotah, one of five residential seminaries of the Episcopal Church. In August, Davis will head to Kenya for five weeks, learning from the parishes and dioceses of one of the fastest-growing provinces in the Anglican Communion, while also providing training to clergy. It will be his fifth time in the East African nation.
The two men spoke to The Living Church over Zoom on July 15 to discuss KARIBU Ministries, a Wisconsin-based partnership between Episcopal parishes and dioceses in the United States and the Anglican Church of Kenya. The name means “welcome” in Swahili, a widely used language in Kenya, and reflects that Wesonga and Davis struck up a friendship six years ago while on a pilgrimage in Jerusalem. The organization’s name also serves as an acronym for Kenyan-American Reciprocal Initiatives Benefitting Unity.
Davis said all of KARIBU’s activities are anchored in this two-pronged objective: “How can we improve the Kenyan clergy, and what can we take back to our own parishes [in the U.S.] to help with our growth?”
“And we’re learning a lot of things,” Davis added.
“We don’t go into construction of buildings, just human capital training,” Wesonga said. “We do leadership training, we do theological training for students, and we support and do exchange programs.” Cohorts from the U.S. and Kenya visit each other’s countries twice a year. The Americans head to Kenya during the winter and spring, while Kenyans visit the States—mainly Wisconsin—in June and December.
Bishop Matthew Gunther of Wisconsin is currently in Kenya and met with 18, or about half, of the Kenyan church’s House of Bishops last week. The ministry covered all the expenses to bring the bishops together for the meeting. The gathering occurred around the time Kenya is facing unrest due to the government’s response to protests for reform. The House of Bishops addressed this turmoil recently in a statement.
Davis said the interaction was essential, as it starts a dialogue with individuals who can make doctrinal and dogmatic decisions for the church. Wesonga, in his trips to the U.S., said he’s learned a great deal from his American counterparts, particularly in theological training and the importance of discernment for those who wish to become clergy. He highlighted how the Episcopal Church has “very good theological formation.”
“Back home, you just finish high school and go to school [seminary], you get ordained,” he said. Some dioceses in Kenya are now implementing the discernment process in their domains.
KARIBU has six formal trainings available to Kenyan clergy, and delivering these is the bulk of what Wesonga and Davis do together. Topics include organizational models and behavior, servant leadership, models of communication, and models of authority and accountability. A typical session usually lasts three days.
“And then we bind everything we do with Scripture,” Davis said. The program’s content leans heavily on the books of Titus and Timothy, and Paul’s letters to the churches of Corinth, Ephesus, and Galatia. The latter is used lightly, Davis said, noting how the Apostle wrote, “you foolish Galatians.”
“We try not to do that,” he said, laughing, while also noting the story of Jonah is a favorite illustration used in the trainings. “Because he’s God’s favorite idiot, and may we all be useful idiots for Jesus.” The humor is by design. Davis wants to draw a full range of emotions from the clergy, even as he and Wesonga pose questions like “Why are you serving God? And is that what you’re doing?”
The ACK is one of the mission-based churches established by the Church Mission Society in 1844 and is one of the 42 autonomous churches within the Anglican Communion. In 2019, ACK had approximately 5.8 million members, accounting for roughly 10 percent of Kenya’s population. A 2024 study said that strategic leadership contributed to the church’s growth.
Now, the U.S. church wants to learn and understand that growth model, as it faces a persistent decline in membership. “We want to know why the opposite is happening in East Africa, especially Kenya,” Davis said. To fully comprehend what it takes “is going to require us to go there.” He described the objective as “critical” for the church. KARIBU also supports six students in Kenya who are taking theological studies.
The ministry was incorporated in 2023, with the first program delivered to two parishes in Kenya that summer. Bishop Joseph Mutungi of Machakos invited KARIBU back in January 2024, and it was then that knowledge of the program and interest grew.
Kenyan Archbishop Jackson Ole Sapit is currently in the United States because of the ministry established by Wesonga and Davis. They’ve had conversations while in the deserts and ancient valleys of the Middle East, where, in the current context, cooperation and peace are scarce.
“God’s ultimate plan for us is complete and total unity,” Davis said. “It’s ultimately important to God’s plan that we direct our energy towards things that bring us together and shun those things that divide us.”
Caleb Maglaya Galaraga is The Living Church’s Episcopal Church reporter. His work has also appeared in Christianity Today, Broadview Magazine, and Presbyterian Outlook, among other publications.
