Abstract

The Christian in the pews works to influence the political agenda as much as the Christian Clergy champions the same from the office where his authority is vested. An example is Kenya in the events leading to the promulgation of the New Constitution in 2010. Prominent Clergy asked their congregants to vote No yet the Yes vote passed with 67% success, meaning many pew sitters went against the advice of their Church leaders. In this paper, I shall look at the avenues through which pew sitters make political strides through incremental efforts in areas of their Christian expression. Most of these areas are championed by their church leader who motivates them to engage. In so doing, this becomes their political expression as much as they may not be aware of it sometimes. I will discuss the theology that buttresses this understanding and connect it with an African expression of Christianity. We ask the question, in what ways do African Christians express themselves politically and do they do this in ways they are unaware of or had not intended to? This will lead us to give examples of how certain initiatives have the capacity to lead to major political milestones if taken to their logical end. These are expressions that have their root among the congregants and are sustained by them as much as Church leaders may guide that expression. The goal of this exercise is to look into ways of redirecting these efforts in order to have maximum impact. I will also seek to point out the ‘hang-ons’ coming from the African grounding as evidenced in the political expression that may hinder the full expression of the political impact. The Methodology used will be portraiture and this will be a portrait of Parklands Baptist Church.