ABSTRACT
The Anglican Church established its presence - and power - in Kenya by developing a network of extra-religious services and activities which made it indispensable both to the society and the colonial government. In this middle position, it constantly navigated its interests with regard to the British and the Africans, responding ad hoc and in various ways to the needs and demands of both, while serving as a bridge between the two. Looking at its responses it is difficult to find a clear pattern in support of either European or African interests. But this inconsistency is precisely the pattern it developed. During the colonial period, the Church, in its various manifestations, formed a complex, ambiguous and ambivalent relationship with the European rulers and settlers and the Africans, which would persist into its relationship with state and society in independent Kenya.
