There are more than 7,000 registered churches in Kenya, belonging to an innumerable variety of religious denominations. List of African Spiritual Churches in Kenya. They can range from very mainstream churches to lesser-known evangelical and gospel offshoots. The predominant religion in Kenya is Christianity, which is adhered to by an estimated 85.52% of the total population. Islam is the second largest religion in Kenya, practiced by 10.91 percent of Kenyans. Other faiths practised in Kenya are Baháʼí, Buddhism, Hinduism and African Spiritualism traditional religions. The Oldest Church in East and Central Africa was built by Vasco da Gama in the late fifteenth century and has withstood many years of conflict and weathering. It has some old graves beside it including of his fellow sea-men who died in his voyage about the year 1493.
Today, the main Christian denominations in Kenya are Protestant confessions, which make up about 60% of the country’s religious composition. They include the Anglican Church of Kenya, Africa Inland Church, Full Gospel Churches of Kenya, and the Presbyterian, Reformed, Methodist, Baptist, Lutheran, Salvation Army. The Christ Is The Answer Ministries (CITAM) is currently the wealthiest church in Kenya.
African religions are typically based on natural phenomena and reverence to ancestors. The dead are presumed to merely transform into another state of being and capable of bringing good fortune or calamity to the living. Most religious rites are therefore centred on appeasing the dead through sacrifices and proper burial rites. The dead’s wishes must also be followed to the letter.
Followers of traditional Kikuyu religion believe Ngai resides on Mount Kenya and say their prayers facing the mountain. Followers of traditional Mijikenda religion have their holy shrines in the forests where they offer sacrifices and pray.
The Maasai, Turkana, Samburu and Pokot tribes also have significant numbers of persons adhering exclusively to traditional African religions.
Followers of traditional African religions pray to various spirits as well as to their ancestors. This includes also nature, elementary and animal spirits. The difference between powerful spirits and gods is often minimal. Most African societies believe in several “high gods” and a large amount of lower gods and spirits. There are also some religions with a single supreme being (Chukwu, Nyame, Olodumare, Ngai, Roog, etc.). Some recognize a dual god and goddess such as Mawu-Lisa.
Traditional African religions generally believe in an afterlife, one or more Spirit worlds, and Ancestor worship is an important basic concept in mostly all African religions. Some African religions adopted different views through the influence of Islam or even Hinduism.
