State five factors which hindered expansion of the Christian missionary work in Kenya in the nineteenth Century

​Factors which hindered the expansion of the missionary work in Kenya in the 19th Century

• Lack of trained personnel such as ministries, catechists, evangelistic and teachers to do missionary work
• Lack of resources ( money), to expand the work and put up facilities For missionary work
• Poor infrastructure e.g. roads and others means of communication. Missionaries could only stay in one station and traveling from one place to Another was difficult .
• Failure by missionaries to use appropriate methods and approaches to win the Africans to Christianity.
• Negative attitudes and lack of interest by Africans to Christianity
• Language problems, missionaries would not communicate effectively with the local people and vice versa. Missionaries spent valuable time learning local languages which they could otherwise put into missionary work.
• Cultural resistance from the local people. Some people felt that becoming Christians would alienate them from their communities

• Environmental and geographical factors hostile climate, difficult terrains, droughts.
• Attacks by tropical diseases, e.g. Malaria, blackwater diseases
• Fear of wild animals
• Fear of hostile tribes, e.g. Maasai, Gallo
• Competition from other religious e.g. Islam and African traditional religious
• Rivalry among Mission societies/ denominations/ religion groups
• Attitudes of some missionaries towards Africans- considered Africans primitive/ savage / untutored/ unable to comprehend Christian abstract doctrines
• German missionaries were not accepted in British colonies
• Contradiction in the Christian message / some condemned use of alcohol while others tolerated it some condemned polygamy while others tolerated it, circumcision of women.

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• Chapter 16: European Invasion Of Africa And The Process Of Colonization