statement implies that this oather may have been forced to engage in this activity
which was a complaint for some in the court systems as previous noted and even
in detention camps. However, according to Reverend Phillips, the church was to
save the lives of the men in the camps who at one point joined Mau Mau.95
Although the study focuses on the testimonies of individuals that discovered
Christianity primarily through the detention camps, it also explores the
transformations and healing that took place from within the Church as a result of
Mau Mau. Consider the statement from D.M. Miller the former General Secretary
of the Africa Inland Mission in London:
“Little did some of us realize when we prayed for the revival of the Church in
Kenya that God would cause the wrath of men to praise Him and bring about,
through the emergency itself, the cleansing and purifying of the Church.”96
While the Africa Inland Mission church was “cleansing and purifying” in
1958, the Christian church also began a wider purification process aimed at
rehabilitating and washing Mau Mau sins away of those that oathed. In Mau Mau
from Below, Kershaw provides an overview of a ceremony taken from published
notes on the topic, Notes for the Guidance of Clergy and others on Cleansing
Ceremonies for ex-Mau Mau.97 Below is the list of questions posed by the clergy
to the individual being purified:
Do you confess that you have taken the Mau Mau oath(s)?
Do you truly repent of this (these) sin(s)?
Do you renounce these oaths and put them from you forever?
Do you seek forgiveness through the blood of Christ our Saviour?
95
96
97
Phillips, From Маи Май to Christ, 82.
Phillips, From Маи Май to Christ, 3.
Kershaw, Маи Май From Below, 328.
220