Abstract
Pentecostal female clergy are increasingly appropriating soft power to gain power and influence not just in their respective religious organizations but also in all aspects of public life. In this chapter, Parsitau examines how neo-Pentecostal female clergy in Kenya construct, appropriate, and embody soft power and spirituality as an alternative model to contest civic and public life. Based on ethnographic research carried out in the last five years on the Faith Evangelistic Ministry and its founder, Evangelist Teresia Wairimu, the chapter seeks to understand not only how this female cleric appropriates religious soft power but also how she mediates between spirituality and politics in a highly contested political space; it attempts to understand the relationship and intersections between these two significant, emerging domains of power for women and argues that this has created its own tensions and paradoxes in which their coziness with the state leads to serious cooption that ultimately stifles their voices.
This chapter is written with generous research grants from the Nagel Institute, USA, for which I am profoundly grateful. Damaris Parsitau is a Research Associate and Visiting fellow at the University of South Africa (UNISA).
Introduction
Female spiritual leaders are increasingly leveraging soft power as a means to gain power and influence in the public sphere. In this case, it is important to ask if soft power is imperative to bringing in more women to public life. Based on recent ethnographic studies carried out during 2012–2017, this chapter examines how evangelist Teresia Wairimu Kinyanjui , the founder and head of Faith Evangelistic Ministries (FEM) , one of the largest and most influential neo-Pentecostal churches in Kenya, constructs, appropriates, and embodies soft power and influence, and how she mediates spirituality as an alternative model to contest public life. It further attempts to understand the intersections between soft power and spirituality, two realms that represent important domains of power for women seeking public life.
The chapter is guided by the following questions: Is soft power emerging as a new space for neo-Pentecostal women to engage in politics and public life ? Does soft power offer a new space that propels religious women into the public sphere? How do spirituality and soft power represent important domains of power for neo-Pentecostal women and how are these new domains reconstructed, negotiated, and appropriated? Is soft power an alternative model for Pentecostal women contesting public life in Kenya? How does FEM differ from other churches and how is soft power appropriated and mediated to produce the kind of sociopolitical power and influence it engenders? These questions allow for a deeper investigation and understanding of the field of gender and public life in African Pentecostalism. They also allow for a greater understanding of how gender and spirituality impact not just politics but also the whole of society.
Women, Soft Power, and Leadership
The leadership of women in politics, business , and society is becoming increasingly recognized across the globe.Footnote 1 Growing numbers of women are becoming political leaders around the world, a few most recent examples include: US former Secretary of State Hilary Rodham Clinton , the Democratic Party Presidential nominee for the 2016 election; Theresa May , UK Prime Minister; German Chancellor Angela Merkel ; Liberia’s President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf ; Joyce Banda , former Malawian President; Aung San Suu Kyi , Burmese pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace Laureate; Brazil’s first female President, Dilma Rousef ; Chile’s Michelle Bachelet ; Argentina’s President Christina Kirchner ; Tokyo’s Governor and former Japanese Defense minister, Yuriko Koike .
In individual countries around the globe, women are doing well in politics, although many can still do better. The law and constitutions are creating more opportunities and new spaces for women. Indeed, in a number of countries such as Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, and India, women are increasingly contesting political space because of legal and constitutional requirements for female representation. In 2013, for example, India reserved a third of the seats in its legislature for women.Footnote 2 In Kenya, the new constitution of 2010 created special seats reserved for women and persons living with disabilities. Rwanda and South Africa are leading in the number of women in Parliament worldwide. At 64%, Rwanda has the highest share of women Parliamentarians in the world, according to latest statistics.Footnote 3
Women are equally rising to the fore in business as exemplified by Oprah Winfrey of the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), Facebook COO and author of Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg , General Motors (GM) CEO Mary Bara , and Kenya’s Tabitha Karanja of Keroche Breweries Ltd. Women are also rising to the forefront in other spheres of life, particularly in education, the arts, music and popular culture, and in decision making in their societies and communities. At the same time, women’s voices in leadership and decision-making power may be present at household, community, national, or organizational levels. Many women are also increasingly founding and heading spiritual organizations, such as churches and other spaces of worship.
Whether women’s voices, access to, or participation in decision making translates to greater power and influence is a matter of conjecture. However, history abounds with examples of women who have had a great deal of power and influence beyond their countries. For example, Oprah Winfrey, Hilary Clinton, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and Michelle Obama have used their positions and platforms, as well as soft power, to influence people beyond their home countries and continents. Michelle Obama , for example, has used this kind of power to influence a great many causes ranging from girls’ education (as exemplified by her Let girls learn and #bringbackourgirls activism), to health and well-being (as in her Let’s move) and has used fashion to influence trends and styles the world over. A common thread that runs through all these women is that many attained their greatest achievements by influencing others. From the aforementioned, it is clear that women are increasingly appropriating soft power to contest public life.
Voice, decision making, and leadership are understood as elements of women’s empowerment that can have positive effects on individuals and their communities. Throughout the world, soft power is increasingly emerging as a preferred type of power over hard power. Women in public life, including spiritual leadership, are increasingly appropriating soft power to gain power and influence. Given its importance, it is imperative to understand what soft power is.
What Is Soft Power?
Joseph Nye, Jr. , the former Dean of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, is credited with developing and popularizing the concept of soft power in the 1990s. But what is soft power and how is it different from hard power ? As defined by Nye, “soft power is the ability to influence people through persuasion or attraction or by co-option as opposed to coercion.”Footnote 4 Further, Nye describes soft power as the ability to obtain preferred outcomes through attraction rather than coercion or payments.Footnote 5 Nye’s definition of soft power was deliberately appropriated for public policy and international relations , specifically in the context of American politics, diplomacy, and international relations.
As Mahapatra reflects, soft power does not rely on hard instruments of power, such as military tanks.Footnote 6 Rather, its influence is felt subtly or surreptitiously, as one feels attracted to certain types of music or food. The major difference between soft and hard power, according to him, is that the latter coerces the actor to do something, while soft power persuades without coercion. Soft power, it seems to me, encompasses nearly everything other than economic and military power.
Soft power is said to be humane. It does not rely only on persuasion or the capacity to convince people with argument but is also a sign of an ability to attract, and attraction often leads to acceptance of associated ideas. As Nye, aptly points out: “If you can get others to be attracted to what you want, it costs you much less in carrots and sticks.” Soft power therefore uses attraction, persuasion, and cooperation. It also entails an attraction to shared values, the justness and duty of contributing to the achievement of those values, according to Nye.
Jeffrey Haynes,Footnote 7 influenced by Peter Katzeinstein,Footnote 8 examines the use of soft power in the context of religious and cultural groups and their influence on foreign policy . He argues that soft power should include cultural (including religious) actors, who seek to influence foreign policy by encouraging policy makers to include beliefs, norms, and values in foreign policy. According to Mahapatra, the major characteristics of soft power include cultural and religious values, beliefs, and practices that can have an impact on policies and international relations.Footnote 9 Mahapatra cites examples of how India and China have continued to spread their power and influence through exporting soft power and values such as food and culture (e.g., yoga and various meditation practices).
Religion and Soft Power
The role of religion in shaping politics cannot be gainsaid, particularly on the African continent where the separation between religion and politics is increasingly blurred. Religious soft power can be an important component of power, just like hard power or material resources. For a long time religious organizations have channeled soft power to others by exporting its values and beliefs channeled through ideas, experiences, and practices. Is soft power compatible with religious ideals? It seems to me that religion has a language that resonates with the qualities and characteristics of soft power, such as compassion, empathy, non-violence , peace making, a sense of community, people centeredness, participation , support, spiritual power, warmth, cooption , collaboration, consultation, and many more. In fact, religion and spirituality speak the language of soft power, and soft power draws substantially on the language of spirituality and religiosity.
Yet very few studies have focused on the relationship between religion and soft power. Joseph Nye only briefly referred to religion, noting that for centuries organized religious movements have possessed soft power.Footnote 10 He focused most of his attention on secular sources of soft power. Yet, analysts such as Jeffrey Haynes would agree that it is now impossible to ignore the influence of religion in public life and, especially, the role of soft power in influencing people’s values and practices.
In fact, there is a religious resurgence in many parts of the world—as attested by significant literature devoted to this theme.Footnote 11 In Africa, religion can be a powerful force in national politics and public life. Religion in and of itself may be a form of soft power. This is because soft power builds on the ability to mold the preferences of others, to get them to want to do things that you want them to do. When religious actors seek to project soft power, they do not necessarily restrict their efforts to attempts to influence how ordinary people think and act; many also try to influence state policies on issues such as human rights , women’s rights, constitutionalism , and democracy.
Similarly, there is a growing importance of soft power in organizations, both secular and religious, as well as in world politics. Less often noted are attempts by religion to influence foreign policy through wielding soft power, encouraging principles, values, and ideals. This is even more critical in Africa given the prominence of religion in both public and private spheres, and its impact on African politics cannot be ignored. Even less importance is dedicated to how female clergy appropriate and mediate soft power and spirituality. Is soft power inherently spiritual? These questions are particularly relevant to the context of women spiritual leaders using soft power to gain influence.
Pentecostal Christianity, Women’s Leadership, and the Appropriation of Soft Power
The leadership of women in the spiritual and religious spheres is becoming increasingly evident and recognized in Africa. Growing numbers of Pentecostal women are becoming founders of churches as bishops, evangelists, and pastors in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa.Footnote 12 In Kenya, women are increasingly contesting spiritual spaces, and many are ordained bishops running their own churches. Examples include Bishop Margaret Wanjiru of Jesus Is Alive Ministries (JIAM) , Evangelist Teresia Wairimu of FEM, Reverend Kathy Kiuna of Jubilee Christian Centre (JCC) , Elizabeth Wahome of Single Ladies Interdenominational Ministry (SLIM) , and many others. This scenario is replicated in West Africa, especially in Ghana and Nigeria where women are increasingly emerging as founders and heads of churches and ministries.Footnote 13
Women in Kenya still have very limited access to positions of political leadership and decision making . And, while there has been progress in increasing the number of women in elected posts both at local and national levels, women are still underrepresented in politics and other areas of public life.Footnote 14 In the social sphere, women engage in civil society by forming or participating in civic associations and social movements and by acting collectively to lobby government and others on the basis of shared interests. In these cases, women shape the decisions and behaviors of power holders through their activism outside of government and the state. In fact, women are more likely to organize and mobilize through civic associations and social movements and directly influence government decisions than to hold public office. Churches and faith based organizations (FBOs) can become important channels through which women in civil society express voice and influence and interact with the state; whether formally or informally, institutionalized or ad hoc, and at community, subnational, and national levels.
Pentecostal female clergy are increasingly appropriating soft power to gain power and influence not just in their respective organizations but also in all issues in public life. Yet, few studies have explored the role of women spiritual leaders and the use of soft power to gain power, voice, and influence. Even more importantly, fewer studies have focused specifically on how religious women leaders have used soft power to gain social, political, and economic influence as well as to ascend to leadership positions and decision making. Yet, examples abound of religious women who have used their spirituality and religiosity not just for immense social good but also to influence others, and who have rallied this influence for social justice and humanitarian undertakings. But is there a causal connection between systemic discrimination and women’s empowerment and the possibility that Pentecostal women can use religion and spirituality to gain power and influence?
The late Mother Theresa of Calcutta , India (and now Saint Teresa of Calcutta) achieved so much power, recognition, and influence through her spiritual and humanitarian undertakings. She became a much revered and loved personality because of her compassion working with the poor and the sick in the most vulnerable of constituencies in India. In Kenya, Reverend Teresia Wairimu has used her FEM not just to gain voice, respect, and power but for influence in Kenya’s public sphere, influence she has used for immense social good.
Is soft power an avenue through which Pentecostal women can gain influence to contest and impact public life in Kenya? Soft power can open up space and create opportunities and is another avenue through which women in patriarchal cultures can access power in realms such as politics, business, and society. Spiritual power brings about respect and influence and women can use spiritual power to contest public life or political power. In contemporary Pentecostal churches, and despite these churches generally conservative and patriarchal theological and social narratives, women often rise to positions of considerable influence and authority through charisma invigorated by God’s calling. This is especially the case in churches with no fixed ordination rules or those that are founded and headed by women. Does women’s participation in religious leadership strengthen their voice and influence and their leadership access to political power and decision making? In Kenya, this seems to be the case, as exemplified by a number of female spiritual leaders.
Bishop Margaret Wanjiru, the founder of JIAM has used her spiritual power to gain political power. In 2007, Bishop Wanjiru served as a Member of Parliament and an Assistant Minister for Housing.Footnote 15 She signaled her intention to contest the Nairobi gubernatorial position during the August 8, 2017, general election. But that ambition was not realized. Besides using their spiritual platforms to gain influence and voice, women such as Bishop Wanjiru can also influence public opinion through mass media, both traditional and social. Many religious actors can become actors in policy, politics, and international relations that are in tune with their values, norms, and beliefs.
This chapter explores these issues using the example of Evangelist Teresia Wairimu of FEM. Wairimu, either consciously or unconsciously, uses soft power to infiltrate the public sphere. It examines how this model of leadership can offer women in public life lessons on how to tackle challenges they face in their pursuit of leadership and decision making. It argues that this form of leadership might be best suited to the African, particularly the Kenyan, context, where women grapple with issues of patriarchy and countries that frown upon female leadership. The chapter’s main argument is that if Pentecostal women and the religious organizations they head manage to get the ear of the state or government, they may be able to gain voice and influence and use them to impact significant issues in public life, such as poverty, social justice, women’s empowerment, peace building, national cohesion and integration, interfaith relations, and policy issues that touch on the most vulnerable of populations.
Research Methodology and Theoretical Settings
The chapter is based on ethnographic research carried out between 2008 and 2016, including face to face interviews, participant observation, and an analysis of sociopolitical issues in the country, as well as this author’s personal reflections and experiences, coupled with firsthand knowledge and understanding of FEM. This church was one of the case studies for my PhD research carried out between 2008 and 2012 that adopted leadership praxis and feminist theoretical frameworks in analyzing gender dynamics in the public life of female spiritual leaders in African and Kenyan neo-Pentecostalism. The data came from FEM, a faith healing, women-centered ministry, founded and led by Evangelist Teresia Wairimu Kinyanjui in 1985. FEM is one of many such churches that have proliferated in Kenya since the 1980s.
The broad theoretical approach was inspired by cross-national scholarship on how women employ religious, doctrinal, and organizational tools in their struggle for equality and advancement, particularly the appropriation of religious soft power to gain social and political influence. The literature uses both historical and contemporary cases to argue that women are increasingly appropriating soft religious power, piety, and the platform of their church to transform the religious realm from within to gain voice and influence, and to reposition religious teachings and norms to enable and promote women’s agency and empowerment.Footnote 16
More specifically, however, the conceptualization draws from a body of interdisciplinary studies, namely, feminist and gender studies, the sociology of religion , foreign policy studies, and journal articles that seek to explain how women are increasingly appropriating soft power and the consequences inherent in it to contest public life. Some critics argue that the idea of soft power, as developed by Nye Jr., might not be applicable to other countries and might entail grafting an American concept on to other situations. Yet, it is hard to ignore soft power and its significance as appropriated by female Pentecostal clergy. The core concept useful for this chapter is religious culture, particularly those aspects that are attractive or pleasing to others. Against this background the chapter examines how Pentecostal women have used and appropriated soft power to gain power, voice, and influence.
The chapter draws upon the idea of soft power as developed by Nye, and of communicative power, to explore how religious groups and faith actors play an active role in shaping the moral values of a country. It argues that these groups have the ability to change discourse and practice and to shape public opinion through their communicative power , which may take the shape of information politics , accountability politics, or even leverage politics. It also draws on data on female-led and founded Pentecostal churches to understand how they navigate and mediate between spiritual power and soft power.
The data appears to suggest that there are two main pathways and trajectories that Pentecostal women have used to ascend to authority and influence to advance not just their own empowerment but that of other women. These trajectories include those single unmarried women who left mainstream churches to found their own ministries; and the wives of Pentecostal church bishops who carved out space for themselves and assumed a leadership role by virtue of association with their husbands. Teresia Wairimu belongs to the former category, alongside Margaret Wairimu of JIAM, while Kathy Kiuna of JCC and Reverend Lucy Muiru of Maximum Miracle Centre belong to the latter category. Irrespective of their marital status, these women have carved out a space for themselves and enjoy considerable respect, legitimacy, and influence in Kenya’s public life and beyond.
Ethnographic data suggests that Evangelist Teresia Wairimu has gained not just a large religious following but that she has also attained tremendous influence, voice, and respect on the social and political scene because of her appropriation of soft power and charisma, generated over the years as the head of FEM. Using the case of Evangelist Wairimu, this chapter argues that the profound transformation in gender ideologies that has emerged is grounded in alternative forms of spiritual or religious authority, and is offering women new opportunities for leadership and influence. It examines how Evangelist Wairimu is using soft power to build dialogue, peace, and conflict resolution; and what her influence is on politics, humanitarianism , women and youth empowerment and mentorship, and the building of social and spiritual capital among members of her church and beyond.
Evangelist Wairimu and the FEM
Reverend Teresia Wairimu Kinyanjui is the founder and director of FEM and its international branches, Teresia Wairimu Evangelistic Ministries International . FEM started as a 12-woman prayer fellowship, comprising mostly single women, who met at Nairobi’s Huruma residential estate for prayer and fellowship in 1985. The fellowship soon metamorphosed into a large group, so much so that it required a reorganization in 1989, when Wairimu founded FEM International and registered it at the Office of the Registrar of Societies.
The birth of her ministry was marked with meetings taking place once a month. Later, they moved to city hall in Nairobi, but the crowds swelled and broke the door, prompting a black listing against using the facility by the City Council.Footnote 17 Wairimu then moved to the Kenyatta International Conference Centre, the largest indoor conference hall in Kenya, but was only there for a month as it soon filled up. The ministry grew so much that there was a constant search for adequate facilities. In the early 1990s, Wairimu decided to hold regular meetings and revival crusades at Uhuru Park in Nairobi, the first female preacher to do so at this venue for many political and religious meetings. It was estimated that the venue hosted an audience of no fewer than 300,000 people every month.Footnote 18
Over the years, FEM has metamorphosed into a large church with its headquarters in Nairobi. In 2009, Wairimu began to construct a state of the art sanctuary in Karen, Nairobi, that could seat over 30,000 people. It was opened and dedicated on August 14, 2016, by His Excellency, President Uhuru Kenyatta , in a ceremony that was beamed live on national television and other platforms. FEM is also a global ministry with international outreach, networks, and headquarters and branches in the USA, the UK, and Europe. The UK chapter based in London doubles as the main ministry headquarters covering several other branches in Europe.
FEM has become a household name in Kenya, particularly because of its initial monthly crusades at Uhuru Park, especially in the 1990s, and for Wairimu’s ministry to single women.Footnote 19 Barely three decades after its inception, FEM has metamorphosed into a fully fledged, neo-Pentecostal church in the country. Wairimu herself has grown to become a revered and respected spiritual leader, a leading public personality, and a significant voice in Kenya’s public sphere. Her influence goes beyond her church constituency to include ministry to single mothers, mentoring the youth, providing shelter for homeless street children and the frail and elderly, as well as speaking about important national issues such as ethnicity, national cohesion and integration, peace building, and training and nurturing leaders.
This chapter reconstructs the life story of Teresia Wairimu to discuss some of the qualities and attributes that women have used to gain power, influence, voice, and decision making. It focuses on her role in Kenya’s public sphere to demonstrate how she has used her spiritual resources to gain social and political influence. It attempts to explain who Wairimu is and why she is so influential in Kenya’s public and religious life based on participant observation, interviews with people who knew her well, media interviews, and information gleaned from her personal autobiography. It also attempts to describe some of the leadership qualities observed in her over the decade of this research on Pentecostal churches.
Wairimu’s Leadership and Influence in Kenya
Women leaders such as Evangelist Wairimu have both personal and leadership attributes that they have used to increase their power and influence. But who is Evangelist Wairimu and what makes her so powerful? Teresia Wairimu Kinyanjui was born on November 5, 1957, in Waithaka, on the outskirts of Nairobi, to Catholic parents, James Kinuthia Kinyanjui and Jane Njeri Kinyanjui. She has said that her baptismal name of Teresia Wairimu, derived from the Greek word, theresa, means ‘a reaper’—one who is kind and patient with others, an acute person, sharp and keen, a person who knows style, comeliness, and polish, who is held in high esteem by all who know her, whose eyes carry a magical glow, a girl who improves her surroundings, is a hard worker, and never gives up.Footnote 20
Wairimu, who obviously takes pride in her name, believes that all the qualities and attributes described above fit her character and personality and that her name not only describes and sums up who she is but has also influenced what she has become. Whether this is true or not is debatable; what is not in doubt though is that Wairimu’s very persona epitomizes power and influence. Her friends, followers, and admirers describe her as “an incredible woman,” “a woman of valor,” “integrity,” “honor,” and many other such adjectives. Evangelist Wairimu cuts the image of a dignified woman who loathes controversy and does not seek the limelight, a trait that has earned her a lot of respect and admiration.Footnote 21
According to church members interviewed by this author, one of the reasons she is influential is that she is both humble and respected. Wairimu is described as a humble woman but a force that moves with spiritual power, anointing, and prophesy. One writer describes her as possessing an electrifying demeanor and as a crowd puller.Footnote 22 Interviewees over the years have described her as interactional and one who knows how to build and sustain relationships. According to one church member, “Wairimu and FEM church integrates everyone and does [sic] not treat people according to class.” Wairimu is described as a force that moves many and inspires positive change. “Even though she has power, influence and appeal, she makes no fuss about it,” said another member of the church. She appears to wield so much power and effortlessly attracts thousands to her church without shouting too loud, joining in politics, or stirring up controversy.Footnote 23 When asked by a journalist how she navigates this terrain, she replied: “I am a servant of God and his people; No more no less!”Footnote 24
How has she managed to gain so much influence? The steady growth of this church over the years not only shows the strength of Reverend Wairimu’s resilience but also that she has remained true to her calling and maintained a high level of dignity and integrity, says Mrs. Nancy Gitau, a long-time friend of Wairimu and church member.Footnote 25 “This woman has not allowed power and fame to go into her head,” said Catherine, a long serving member of the ministry, “and she shuns controversy and the public limelight like disease. She does not comment on controversial issues, instead she exerts her influence quietly and diplomatically.” In other words, Wairimu has managed to balance power and influence yet remain true to herself. This is one of the qualities that attracts people to her.
During the formative years of her ministry, Wairimu admired the German Evangelist Reinhardt Bonnke for his supernatural power and she always wanted to preach the gospel to the masses just like him. It was while at Uhuru Park that she prayed to God to give her power and anointing just like Bonnke so that she could do for God what Bonnke did for him. She also prayed to God to connect her to Bonnke so that “he could lay his hands on her, anoint her and impart her with God’s power.” In 1988, she traveled to Oslo to attend a meeting at which Bonnke was to speak. At this meeting, Bonnke prayed for Wairimu. When he laid his hands on her, she narrates that she was “slain by and filled with the Holy Spirit,” and received power and anointing, traits that she believed would later enable her to perform miracles. The encounter with Bonnke, as she explains in her autobiography, totally transformed her life.
Following the 1988 experience, she preached at Uhuru Park for over 14 years. She also preached in open-air crusades, churches, schools, and other institutions of learning throughout the country and beyond. In 1998, together with Bonnke, she held a well-attended gospel crusade at Uhuru Park. She then teamed up with Bonnke and set out to evangelize Africa from Cairo to Cape Town. They have worked together in ministry and evangelism for over three decades, holding crusades in Nairobi, Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Africa, Botswana, Uganda, and other parts of the continent. They have also preached together in the USA and Europe, particularly at the Euro-Fire Conferences in Germany.
Bonnke, who Wairimu describes as her friend, spiritual father, and mentor, ordained her as a minister of the word of God on August 16, 1996. He has featured and retold her story and works in many of his worldwide newsletters. After the Uhuru Park experience and for many years after Bonnke prayed for her, Wairimu claims that her ministry took a dramatic turn. She experienced a new zeal, passion, and power to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. Energized by her spiritual encounter at Uhuru Park, coupled with prayer and the anointing by Bonnke, Wairimu set out to evangelize the country with her prayer group and fellowship members.
The colossal evangelistic crusades she carried out thereafter not only gave her many followers but also the space to expand her influence and public profile. Yet her crusades were always driven by compassion for the sick and suffering and she wanted to uplift them through prayer and healing. For these reasons, she attracted thousands to her crusades where miracles and healing are said to have taken place.
Another quality that has helped propel Wairimu to power and influence is her gift of oration, her good public speaking and communication skills. She explains that her father recognized this gift in her early on, as a young girl. Wairimu describes her father as a loving but firm disciplinarian and a successful businessman.Footnote 26 Because of this family background, Wairimu and her siblings had a privileged upbringing. Her parents being strict disciplinarians fostered in her the values of hard work, taking responsibility, kindness, and honesty, traits and skills that she would later require in ministry and in public life. Wairimu explained that she was gifted with words and could talk herself out of any sticky situation.Footnote 27 Her wits helped her evade the wrath of her father whenever she did not do well in school. In her autobiography, she narrated how her father told her: “Wairimu, the reason why I see no point in beating you is because that gifted mouth of yours will earn you a decent living in future.” She explained that her father sensed that his daughter’s gifts of oration and social skills would place her in a position of authority. What she did not know at the time was that she would use her oratory skills to become a great public speaker and a good communicator.
Evangelist Wairimu’s healing ministry is driven by compassion and empathy toward the sick and hurting. From the inception of her ministry to date, faith healing has been a core function of the church. Wairimu is described by those who know her as a woman with multitasking abilities. Her ability to focus on many different objectives has helped her run a church like FEM, where there are always multiple layers of service involved. For example, FEM is an evangelistic ministry with a myriad activities, goals, and programs, such as women’s and youth empowerment, faith healing, leadership and mentorship, humanitarian engagement, peace building, and evangelism.
Wairimu is further described by people who know her as a gentle and warm woman who treats all people with gentleness, dignity, and respect, qualities that many find attractive. This has helped her steer her large and devoted congregations to greater heights. This is combined with passion for her followers and her ministry. Wairimu is passionate about her work as a minister of the Word of God, and she has put all her strength and energies into her ministry. At the same time, Wairimu appears to be relationally savvy. This is not surprising as pastoral ministry is incredibly relational. This requires people who are gifted in interpersonal relationship to navigate relational problems in the work place, especially peace building and conflict resolution.
Above all, what has helped in her work and personal life is integrity . Wairimu cultivates an image of integrity and dignity. She is well respected, revered, loved, and admired by her followers, other clergy, and members of the public. She has never been mentioned in a scandal, shuns trouble, and weighs her words carefully before she utters them. This has earned her respect and love from the public. Besides, she is confident, authentic, highly effective and trustworthy, qualities that are important for any leader. People trust Evangelist Wairimu and she inspires many Kenyans. They believe in her and her ministry and activities. Wairimu therefore weaves her ideas with faith and trust, empathy and compassion. Her unshakable faith in God is part of what makes Wairimu capable of pulling people together into her congregation.
In 2008, the African Ministry Prayer Network (AMPN) , in conjunction with Watchers for Africa—both are intercessory prayer groups in Africa—conducted a nationwide search to identify and honor an exceptional person in the gospel ministry. Many participants recognized Wairimu as an exceptional person whom the nation of Kenya recognizes as a spiritual mother and a protector and defender of the gospel of Jesus Christ. As a result, Wairimu was honored and awarded the Golden Eagle Award for her work.Footnote 28 She is an active and founding member of both the Africa House of Prayer and the Kenya House of Prayer , as well as AMPN and Watchers for Africa , all interdenominational groups whose sole purpose is to pray for the nations of the world. She is also a member of other regional prayer groups, such as Prayer Watch, Fourth Watch, and many other such groups tasked with praying over the country to rid it of malevolent spirits.
In a similar study, to find “those persons deemed at local, regional and national levels to have made significant contribution to leadership and African Christianity and whose stories are indispensable to an understanding of the church in Africa,” Wairimu has appeared with the likes of the Ugandan Martyrs, the late Cardinal Maurice Otunga , Mannases Kuria , Bishop David Gitari , and Timothy Njoya (the firebrands of democratization in Kenya in the 1980s and 1990s) and with many other religious visionaries in Kenya and East Africa. In fact, she was the only woman cleric to be recognized for her transformative work and leadership. Such is the power and influence of this woman in Kenya’s spiritual and public sphere.
Teresia Wairimu: Between Spirituality, Soft Power, and Public Life
During the previous quarter of a century of its existence, FEM and its founder have grown tremendously. The Reverend Teresia Wairimu has grown to become one of the most influential religious leaders in Kenya, attracting the rich and powerful—including ambassadors, vice presidents, celebrities, and government officials—to her church to mingle with the lowly in her ministry every Sunday and on special occasions. Evangelist Wairimu rarely speaks to the press and shuns the limelight whenever possible, even though she wields tremendous power and influence, while her church services and crusades attract the high and mighty. How did this publicity-shy pastor manage to attain so much influence, power, and authority? Just what makes this woman so powerful and influential that she attracts the high and powerful to her church? The following sections discuss several areas of public life in which Wairimu has had great influence and success.
Social Welfare and Humanitarian Undertakings
Evangelist Wairimu and her ministry are engaged in varied social, welfare, and humanitarian activities. Field research revealed the story of Virginia Wanjiku of FEM, a former street girl who was rescued from the streets and taken into foster care at Huruma Children’s Home in Nairobi. Wanjiku was taken to FEM church where she received salvation, counseling and rehabilitation. When she was well reformed, she received a scholarship to train at a leading hair and beauty salon, Nairobi’s Ashley Beauty College and Salon. By 2009 Wanjiku was a qualified beautician and she volunteers for FEM’s social ministry by helping in the rehabilitation of former street children and families.Footnote 29
When asked why she is prominent in mercy and humanitarian undertakings, Evangelist Wairimu explained: “The religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is to look after the poor, orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”Footnote 30 The desire to preach a holistic and practical gospel appears to be the motivation for this woman cleric and her church to meet the welfare needs of members and communities. The social programs in FEM are designed to care for the welfare of the vulnerable and many vulnerable people and groups have therefore found themselves welcomed in the ministry, while many others joined the church because of potential benefits.
To acknowledge the Reverend’s humanitarian works, former President Daniel Arap Moi often sent out messages of goodwill to Evangelist Wairimu. The former President was also a frequent guest at FEM Evangelistic crusades, anniversaries, national conferences, and the grand opening of the Church’s brand-new sanctuary. One such message read: “The destiny of our great country hinges on the decisions that our leaders make. This is why my government continuously supported the work of Rev Wairimu and I will continue to do so even in my retirement.”
Entrepreneurship and Business Development
A salient feature of Evangelist Wairimu’s FEM is its ability to teach skills and business acumen to its members. Every year, FEM trains members and non-members alike in business and entrepreneurship training. This is normally done through conferences and workshops that bring in experts to share business skills and knowledge with members of the church and neighboring communities. Further, FEM trains its harvest partners (understood as people who have committed themselves to support this ministry financially), and further prays for them and trains them in leadership and business ideals. More importantly, being entrepreneurs who extol business ideals, they attract other entrepreneurs into their congregation. Professionals, business people, and students populate the pews most Sundays, together with those seeking favors and breakthroughs. By building the business and entrepreneurial capacity of its members, FEM has continued not just to grow but has also gained in popularity with such groups, who are appreciative of the church’s investment in them.
Spiritual and Social Capital, Networking, Trust, and Soft Skills
Aside from the business and entrepreneurial skills that they receive, members also benefit from the social capital the church generates. The benefits of spiritual and social capital are evident in the form of support that members receive not just from their churches but also from each other. Respondents suggested that the support they receive from their communities is both spiritual (prayer, encouragement), and social or material (solidarity, trust). Through their involvement people have been able to develop networks with other believers that are generally wider geographically and socially than traditional networks of family and kinship and are often based on social trust.
Social trust and networking is one obvious form of social capital evident in FEM. Social trust is vital because relations of trust are hugely supportive in most kinds of human enterprise, business or otherwise. Because of their involvement in church life, believers can create social bonds, which are a source of economic and emotional support during difficult times. Most members of FEM have formed elaborate social and spiritual networks among themselves. Members also benefit from the material support of the church community.
Upon joining the church, a member is immediately supported by a system of informal networks, small-scale welfare groups, home groups, cell groups, male, female, and youth groups. The church urges members to help one another, pray for each other, facilitate business networks to assist people to find work, and mentor those starting new families, jobs, and careers. Thus, an immediate resource is the local congregation as a vital source of social capital. Many members narrated how they often received support from fellow congregants in times of need, especially during weddings, childbirth, sickness, and bereavement. Many interviewees claimed that fellow members stood by them in solidarity when they were faced with challenges. Other forms of support members receive from each other are prayer, encouragement, fellowship, material, and financial.
Peace Building and Promoting National Cohesion
A significant area in which Wairimu and her FEM ministry has had significant impact is in peace building and national cohesion. Wairimu often preaches about peace, good neighborliness, and national cohesion. She also preaches against ethnicity and tribalism, seeking to promote a brotherhood and sisterhood of believers. It is in the area of peace building and national cohesion that Evangelist Wairimu’s church seems to have had the greatest impact and gained recognition, including winning awards. Evangelist Wairimu has sought to build a concern for peace and national integration into her evangelistic undertakings and social ministries.
During times of crisis, such as post-election violence—especially that witnessed during the 1990s and early in the new millennium—Wairimu was prominent in efforts to build and nurture peace and cohesion among different factions and groups. For example, during the 1997 and 2007 general elections, which were marred by fatal clashes and massive displacements of thousands of people and communities, Wairimu not only gave humanitarian assistance to the displaced but she also preached messages of peace, urging all parties to live harmoniously with each other.Footnote 31
Similarly, during the 2007/2008 post-election violence in Kenya, Wairimu addressed the whole nation through a press conference and urged Kenyans to choose the path of peace instead of war, love instead of hatred, and forgiveness and tolerance. She pleaded with the warring factions to shun violence and bloodshed and urged all people to dwell in unity, peace, and liberty, as espoused in the national anthem . Her message was “we can live together” irrespective of our ethnic and political differences. Asked why she got so passionately involved, she said: “As far as I am concerned, the gospel I am called to preach included peace and reconciliation. We had to be at the forefront as a church. From the inception of FEM, I have endeavored to imitate the ministry of our Lord Jesus—preaching a practical and wholesome gospel.”
Together with her team, Wairimu crisscrossed the country, visiting the internally displaced, offering them prayer, sympathy, counseling, and tangible support. She preached the message of peace and tolerance. In this sense, she assumed the role of mediator and peace builder, listening to women and men recount their ordeals and traumatizing experiences, and promoting forgiveness and healing. She also visited the camps for internally displaced persons , irrespective of the ethnic composition—during the crisis, communities were ethnically segregated. She argued in her autobiography that her Christian obligation goes beyond ethnicity. She said, “God sees beyond tribe, race and creed. All he sees is people. And he loves them all equally.”
It is this kind of reasoning that underlines all her humanitarian efforts and responses to crises like post-election violence. Wairimu is known as a peace-nurturing individual who has preached against negative ethnicity. Her efforts to bring lasting peace and to initiate reconciliation between warring communities in the Rift Valley Province have been particularly significant. For these reasons and on May 9, 2008, Evangelist Wairimu was honored with the Martin Luther King Jr. Peace Award for her humanitarian service during the post-election violence and for her vocal campaign among church leaders.
Her peace-building initiatives also put women at the center of peace building, especially using religious resources to promote national cohesion and integration. Her humanitarian and social ministries remain the bedrock of her religious organization’s works on peace building and are clear examples of how FBOs are working to promote peace, national cohesion, and integration. Wairimu has gained tremendous influence in Kenya’s social and public sphere because of she has used her pulpit and her position as a respected cleric to call for peace and hold the perpetrators and victims to account.
Leadership Training and Mentorship Programs
Another important area in which Wairimu has had great impact and influence is in the area of leadership training and mentorship programs. FEM undertakes these programs for both members and non-members alike through organizing leadership conferences and workshops. Wairimu often organizes major leadership and integrity conferences and meetings in her church that are meant to nurture and train leaders to become men and women of integrity and accountability. However, she also makes efforts to bring together leaders from various denominational backgrounds. These efforts are not only hailed locally but are also testimony to her thirst to promote ecumenical dialogue and a cooperative spirit among clergy from different Christian denominations. She is particularly well placed to do this because she enjoys the respect and admiration of other clergy from both mainline and Pentecostal church traditions. In this sense, the evangelist is credited with striving to promote interreligious harmony and respect among various Christian groups.
Influence Through Mentorship and Role Modeling
Evangelist Wairimu has equally become an influential figure in Kenya’s social and religious scene as a role model and because of her mentorship of many youth and women, especially female clergy. A significant number of women have been mentored through leadership training and empowerment for ministry. Female leaders such as Kathy Kiuna of JCC, Reverend Elizabeth Wahome of SLIM, Nancy Gitau of Deborah Arise Africa, and Evangelist Alice Mugure of Zion Prayer Mountain and Kenya House of Prayer have been mentored by the Evangelist, as most of them served as ushers and organizers in her ministry before founding their own churches/ministries.
She has also mentored male pastors, for example, Bishop Allan Kiuna of JCC, thereby exemplifying the fact that male clergy respect and esteem her. Many female clergy view her as a role model and mentor whom they not only look up to but also admire and respect. Wairimu believes in role modeling and advises women to follow her example. She has encouraged single women, and indeed all women, to rise above cultural inhibitions and to overcome gender-based discrimination in church and society. The egalitarian theology implicit within neo-Pentecostalism provides space in the church and ministries where women can exercise their spiritual gifts. Wairimu has also developed strategies for changing the condition of women within her church and beyond. These include an array of female-centered activities, such as women’s fellowships, conferences, conventions, and workshops.
Despite all these activities, whose objectives are to empower women spiritually, Wairimu has not come out clearly to fight the social, cultural, and religious structures that still view women as subordinate to men. At the same time, women spiritual leaders find themselves confronted by other realities engendered in heavily patriarchal societies and many are forced to conform to the gendered world around them. Rarely does their rise to positions of authority explicitly clash with deeply entrenched, omnipresent, gender inequalities and with the pervasive stereotypes about women’s subalternity—the stereotypes to which most women church leaders still readily subscribe.
Hence, the expansion of women’s religious leadership roles both challenges and reasserts the patriarchal gender ideology and social hierarchies and relationships in society. Although formal leadership does empower women and grant them influence and voice, at the same time, the power that women leaders gain remains mainly limited to certain matters and is exercised largely within the gendered constraints of religious ideologies. This dialectical reality parallels, with appropriate caveats, the findings of a growing number of studies that show that women’s “doing” of religionFootnote 32 promotes their empowerment by creatively engaging with their faith without fundamentally rocking the boat or challenging the ideological and symbolic boundaries of the religion’s doctrines.Footnote 33
From the aforementioned, it is clear that Evangelist Wairimu has used her church to make an impact on her congregations and the country at large, especially through leadership training, role modeling, peace building, and humanitarian undertaking. Because of these activities, she has gained tremendous influence, respect, and power. However, she has yet to put structures in place to address the real social and structural gender issues that affect women in Kenya. Instead, Wairimu appears to have used her spiritual platform and space to grow her influence among political leaders, state officers, spiritual leaders, business leaders, members of the diplomatic communities, and judicial and media personalities. The next section demonstrates, with specific examples, how Wairimu has earned the respect of the state and those in power but at the same time this coziness with the state stiffles her abilities to hold the state accountable.
Strange Bedfellows? Politics and Religion in Kenya
On Sunday August 14, 2016, President Uhuru Kenyatta presided over the grand opening of the FEM sanctuary situated in Karen, Nairobi. The event was beamed live on Citizen TV, K24, and various other platforms, such as social media (Facebook, Twitter and YouTube). The Karen Sanctuary is a state of the art building like no other in Kenya. Its construction cost about one billion Kenyan shillings, without a bank loan or the usual Kenyan harambee spirit (which means pulling together), where people raise funds for the project. It took about eight years to complete. Evangelist Reinhardt Bonnke led the service. Addressing the congregation, President Kenyatta said that the new sanctuary was the most beautiful he had ever seen and he pledged to partner with Evangelist Wairimu’s ministry in the provision of healthcare and other development efforts it was engaged in. This was not just a recognition of the work of the ministry but an endorsement of the Evangelist’s work in Kenya.
The grand opening attracted the who’s who in Kenya’s public life, including government dignitaries, county officials, governors, civil society, politicians and their spouses, members of the clergy, media personalities, celebrities, gospel artists, diplomats, members of the judiciary, Nairobi’s middle class, and many others. The sermon was delivered by Evangelist Reinhardt Bonnke, whose centrality in the life of Wairimu came out very clearly, not just because he was the guest preacher on such an important day, but also because he presided over the dedication ceremony of Wairimu’s granddaughter during such an important day for the FEM ministry.
During the sanctuary’s grand dedication, Bonnke was given a rousing welcome and a standing ovation. A video of his gigantic crusades during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s was aired for the audience to see and appreciate his contribution to evangelism in Africa. Bonnke is a very much beloved figure in Pentecostal circles and is hugely respected and influential. Many describe him as Christ’s general or servant of God, for Africa’s presidents attended his megacrusades. Former President Moi not only hosted him in State House, Nairobi, whenever Bonnke visited Kenya, but he also attended his crusades.
Watching Evangelist Wairimu walk side by side with the president and all other dignitaries was a pointer to her sociopolitical power and influence. But it was also a pointer to the easy mix between religion and politics in Kenya. Politicians and clergy court each other for respectability and legitimacy on both sides of the divide. Politicians patronize the clergy and vice versa. Churches have large constituencies of members who are also voters. Aligning themselves with churches is the smart thing to do to draw legitimacy from the huge Christian voting bloc. The clergy on the other hand need the politicians so as access state resources and other aligned goods.Footnote 34
Another instance in which Evangelist Wairimu’s power and influence came to the fore was shortly after the 2013 general elections, when her church hosted a thanksgiving service for the election of President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto. The Sunday following the historic general election held on March 4, William Ruto, accompanied by his wife Rachael, attended a thanksgiving service at FEM church in Karen. While there, the Deputy President became emotional during the worship session and broke down and sobbed uncontrollably for some time as the congregation watched in disbelief while others joined him in the sobbing. This was his way of thanking God for the election victory, despite the International Criminal Court charges facing him at that time. But Deputy President William Ruto is not the only dignitary to frequent this church.
President Uhuru Kenyatta also attended a service at FEM, alongside his wife Margaret, Mrs. Rachael Ruto, and other dignitaries a month after the election. Similarly, former President Moi throughout his reign frequently attended FEM services and crusades and continued to do so post-retirement, as well as sending messages of goodwill to Reverend Wairimu during church celebrations and special events. At the same time former Vice President, the Honorable Kalonzo Musyoka, was a frequent guest of FEM and a personal friend of Evangelist Wairimu. Celebrities both local and international frequently troop to this church, as they did during the jubilee celebrations.
While it might seem that Wairimu has star appeal, it makes sense for the clergy to align themselves with politicians and state resources for the reasons stated above. Nevertheless, Wairimu wields tremendous power to attract the state and its goodness and this has not just bolstered her image but also her influence in the political sphere. It is hard to ignore the number of government dignitaries and private sector chiefs who arrive for church services and other meetings in their gleaming cars.
Even though Wairimu rarely issues press releases about politics and politicians, she nevertheless has cultivated a symbiotic relationship with the state, which makes it impossible for her to hold the government to account and to offer constructive criticism. For example, there have been tremendous criticisms about massive corruption in the Jubilee government, as well as accusations about nepotism, tribalism, human rights abuses, increased and unsustainable debts, high prices of food commodities, a biting hunger and a shortage of maize flour (which is a national food staple) and sugar, and many other shortcomings.
Yet, Wairimu has not addressed any of these tensions in Kenyan society. While she has called for peace and unity in the country, this has not led to a sustained critique of the government in an effort to hold it to account. Herein lies the tensions and paradoxes when clergy and politicians coopt each other. Wairimu is not the only cleric to get comfortable with the state. Many have decried the loss of a prophetic voice in Kenya’s public sphere when there is a near absence of the voice of the church in holding the state to account.Footnote 35 Even though Wairimu has gained so much power and influence from her church platform and space, that power and influence has not translated into a sustained critique of the government and appears to be signaling a new form of engagement in issues in public life in which cooption and prayer for the government are the new forms of engaging the state.
Conclusion
This chapter has shown how women leaders of religious organizations, such as Teresia Wairimu, have sought to use their spiritual platform to gain power and influence and contest public life. Churches and FBOs can be important channels through which women not only gain power and influence, but also use this to mobilize around civic and public issues, and to indirectly influence government decisions rather than hold public office. Since women religious leaders seem to gain respect by virtue of their spiritual work, women in patriarchal societies who want to contest public life can indeed appropriate their church platforms and spaces to ascend to leadership positions and gain voice and influence. Yet, this power, voice, and influence has not generated a social and religious capital that brings about a transformation of the civic and public domain, the kind that holds to account those in authority. In conclusion, it argues that, although women clerics have used religious spheres to attain power and influence beyond their churches into the public sphere, this has created its own tensions and paradoxes. To begin with, many such as Evangelist Wairimu, in an attempt to attain power and influence, find themselves coopted by the state in a way that stifles their civic roles and voices. We have seen how Wairimu’s coziness with the state has put her in a situation where she cannot speak against the shortcomings of the same government with which she has worked so closely.
Notes
- 1.
Nayar, V. (2011), Women and Soft Power in Business, Harvard Business Review. www.http//hbr.org.
- 2.
Moodley et al. (2016), Women Matter Africa: Making Gender Diversity a reality, a report commissioned by McKinsey and Company, Africa.
- 3.
Nye, J. (1990), “Soft Power,” Foreign Policy, No. 80, pp. 153–171.
- 4.
Nye, J. (2004), Soft Power: The means to Success in World Politics. http://www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/…/soft-power-means-success-world-politics.
- 5.
Nye, J. (2004), Soft Power: the Means to Success in World Politics (New York: Public Affairs).
- 6.
Mahapatra, D. A. (2016), From a Latent to a Strong Power? The Evolution of India’s Cultural Diplomacy (Boston: University of Massachusetts). https://www.researchgate.net/publication/31148441.
- 7.
Haynes, J. (1996), Religion and Politics in Africa (London: Zed Books). See also Haynes, J. (1993), Religion in Third World Politics (Buckingham: Open University Press) and Haynes, Jeffry (2007), An Introduction to International Relations and Religion (London: Pearson).
- 8.
Katzenstein, P. (1997), Cultural Norms and National Security: Police and Military in Post War Japan (Ithaca, NY: Cornel University Press, 1996).
- 9.
Mahapatra, D. A. (2016), From a Latent to a Strong Power?
- 10.
Nye, J. (2004), Soft Power.
- 11.
Gifford, P. (2009), Christianity, Politics and Public Life in Kenya (London: Hurst & Co.). See also Deacon, G. & Parsitau, D. S. (2017), “Empowered to Submit: Pentecostal Women in Nairobi,” Journal of Religion and Society, Vol. 19, pp. 1–17. http://wwwhdl.handle.net/10504/109164.
- 12.
Parsitau, D. S. and Mwaura, N. J. (2010), “Gospel without Borders: Gender Dynamics of Transnational Religious Movements in Kenya and the Kenyan Diaspora,” in Afe Adogame & Jim Spickard (eds.), Religions Crossing Boundaries: Transnational Religious Dynamics in Africa and the New African Diaspora (Leiden, The Netherlands: Koninklijke Brill NV), pp. 185–210. See also Parsitau, D. S. (2011), “Arise Oh Ye Daughters of Faith: Pentecostalism, Women and Public Culture in Kenya,” in Englund, H. (ed.), Christianity and Public Culture in Africa (Athens, OH: Ohio University Press), pp. 131–148. Deacon, G. & Parsitau, D. S. (2017), “Empowered to Submit: Pentecostal Women in Nairobi,” Journal of Religion and Society, Vol. 19. http://wwwhdl.handle.net/10504/109164; Soothill, J. E. (2007), Gender, Social Change and Spiritual Power: Charismatic Christianity in Ghana (Leiden: E. J. Brill).
- 13.
Sackey, B. M. (2006), New Directions in Gender and Religion: The Changing Status of Women in African Independent Churches (Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield).
- 14.
Kamau, N. P. (2010), Women and Political Leadership in Kenya, Ten Case Studies (Nairobi: Henrich Boll Foundation).
- 15.
Parsitau, D. S. (2011), “Arise Oh Ye Daughters of Faith,” pp. 131–148. See also Parsitau, D. S. (2012), “Agents of Gendered Change: NGOs and Pentecostal Movements as Agents of Social Transformation in Urban Kenya,” in Freeman, D. (ed.), The Pentecostal Ethic and the Spirit of Development: Churches, NGO and Social Change in Neo-Liberal Africa (New York: Palgrave Macmillan).
- 16.
Agadjanian, Victor (2015), “Women’s Religious Authority in Sub-Saharan African Settings: Dialectics of Empowerment and Dependency,” Gender & Society, No. 6, pp. 982–1008; Chong, K. H. (2008), Deliverance and Submission: Evangelical Women and the Negotiation of Patriarchy in South Korea (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press); Hollingsworth, Andrea and Melissa Browning (2010), “Your Daughters Shall Prophesy (As Long as They Submit): Pentecostalism and Gender in Global Perspectives,” in Michael Wilkinson and Steven M. Studebaker (eds.) A Liberating Spirit: Pentecostals and Social Action in North America (Eugene, Oregon: Pickwick Publications), 161–184; Sackey, B. M. (2006), New Directions in Gender and Religion: The Changing Status of Women in African Independent Churches (Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield); Soothill, J. E. (2007), Gender, Social Change and Spiritual Power: Charismatic Christianity in Ghana (Leiden: E. J. Brill); Parsitau (2012); Mwaura and Parsitau (2011); Mwaura, P. N. (2005a), “Gender and Power in African Christianity: African Instituted Churches and Pentecostal Churches,” in Ogbu Kalu (ed.), African Christianity: An African Story (Pretoria: University of Pretoria); Mwaura, P. N. (2005b), “Nigerian Pentecostal Missionary Enterprise in Kenya,” in C. J. Korieh and G. U. Nwokweji (eds.), Religion, History, and Politics in Nigeria (Lanham, MD: University Press of America); Mwaura, P. N. (2002), “A Burning Stick Plucked Out of the Fire: The Story of Rev. Margaret Wanjiru of Jesus is Alive Ministries,” in I. Phiri and S. Nadar (eds.), Hidden Histories of Women of Faith in Africa (Pietermaritzburg: Cluster Publications); Parsitau, D. S. and Mwaura, N. J. (2010), “Gospel without Borders: Gender Dynamics of Transnational Religious Movements in Kenya and the Kenyan Diaspora,” in Afe Adogame & Jim Spickard (eds.), Religions Crossing Boundaries: Transnational Religious Dynamics in Africa and the New African Diaspora (Leiden, The Netherlands: Koninklijke Brill NV), pp. 185–210; Mate, Rekopantswe (2002), “Wombs as God’s Laboratories: Pentecostal Discourses of Femininity in Zimbabwe,” Africa, Vol. 72, No. 4, pp. 549–658; Griffith, Marie (1997), God’s Daughters: Evangelical Women and the Power of Submission (Los Angeles: University of California Press); Nadar, Sarojini (2004), “On Being the Pentecostal Church,” The Ecumenical Review, Vol. 56, No. 3; Nadar, Sarojini and C. Potgieter (2010), “Liberated through Submission: The Worthy Woman’s Conference as a Case Study of Formenism,” Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, Vol. 26, No. 2, pp. 1–151.
- 17.
Manana, Francis (2000), “Wairimu, Teresia.” Online Dictionary of African Christian Biography. http://www.dacb.org/stories/kenya/wairimu_teresia.html (accessed, October 13 2008).
- 18.
Parsitau, D. S. and Mwaura, N. J. (2010), “God in the City: Pentecostalism as an Urban Phenomenon in Kenya,” Studia Historiae Ecclesiaticae, Vol. 36, No. 2, pp. 95–112.
- 19.
See Parsitau and Nwaura (2010); Parsitau (2011), and Manana (2002).
- 20.
Wairimu, T. K. (2011), A Cactus in the Desert: An Autobiography of Reverend Theresa Wairimu Kinyanjui (Nairobi: Revival Spring Media), pp. 100–102.
- 21.
Parsitau & Mwaura (2010); see also Parsitau (2011).
- 22.
Manana, Francis (2000).
- 23.
Interview with Nancy Gitau on November 10/2012 in Nakuru, Town.
- 24.
Wairimu (2011).
- 25.
Interview with Nancy Gitau.
- 26.
Wairimu (2011: 99) and Manana (2000).
- 27.
This information was gleaned from excerpts in Wairimu (2011).
- 28.
Wairimu (2011: 23).
- 29.
Testimony given by Virginia Wanjiku of FEM, a former street girl rescued by FEM. Virginia now also volunteers for the ministry.
- 30.
Wairimu (2010).
- 31.
Parsitau, D. S. (2011), “The Role of Faith and Faith Based Organizations among Internally Displaced Persons in Kenya,” Journal of Refugee Studies, Vol. 24, No. 3, pp. 493–512.
- 32.
Mate (2002); Deacon and Parsitau (2017).
- 33.
Chong (2008).
- 34.
Gifford (2009).
- 35.
Gifford (2009), See also Parsitau, D. S. (2012), “From Voices of the People to Discordant/Stifled Voices: Theological, Ethical and Social Political Voice and Voicelessness in a Multicultural/Religious Space, Perspectives from Kenya,” Studia Historiae Ecclesiaticae, Vol. 38, pp. 243–268. http://uir.unisa.ac.za.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Parsitau, D.S. (2018). Soft Tongue, Powerful Voice, Huge Influence: The Dynamics of Gender, Soft Power, and Political Influence in Faith Evangelistic Ministries in Kenya. In: Afolayan, A., Yacob-Haliso, O., Falola, T. (eds) Pentecostalism and Politics in Africa. African Histories and Modernities. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74911-2_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74911-2_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-74910-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-74911-2
eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)