Pray for Harvesters! Theological Education, Ordination and Leadership of Women in Kenya 

Written by Dr. Esther Mombo, Vice-Chancellor of St. Paul’s University in Kenya, a long-time partner of Global Ministries. Dr. Mombo is a Professor of Theology at St. Paul’s University and a respected leader and scholar whose insights reflect the important work within our global partnerships.

Introduction 

Women’s ordained ministry in Kenya has grown from a marginal, contested idea into a dynamic and influential movement, reshaping the ecclesial and social landscape. Here, I will sketch the reasons for a multiplication of women in theological education and the ordination in the church, using St. Paul’s University as an example. This development is framed through the metaphor drawn from Luke 10 verse 2 “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” 

My story 

At the end of the academic year 2024/2025, I reported on the women in theology program that I help run through fundraising and mentoring. In one year, we had ten women ordained from the different church backgrounds whose students we train. My call and service for women in theological education goes back to the days I chose to study theology despite opposition from family and friends. The exception was my grandmother Enisi Mugesia who as a young woman was trained to read and write and became a local preacher and visited women prisoners as her ministry. Her words of advice included “Theological Education is a space of Jackets”, describing the church where women were the overwhelming majority who occupied the pews, while a minority of men inhabited the pulpit and the altar. At the theological school only one woman had been admitted to study, and this was her Friend Rasoa Mutua. 

Inspired by my grandmother, I pursued theology amid opposition from family and friends, who viewed it as an unconventional path for a woman. At St. Paul’s United Theological College (now St. Paul’s University), I was among the few female students in the late 1980’s. After pursuing my PhD from Edinburgh University, I returned to St. Paul’s in 1999 as a lecturer and later I served in senior management roles in the same University. 

When I started to teach in the faculty of theology, I was disturbed by the few women who were enrolled to study theology, confirming the words of my grandmother as earlier mentioned. I 

embarked on a journey to change the situation. I noted two things. First, theological education was gendered, and it was linked to ordination at a time when many churches were hesitant to ordain women. Second, those pursuing theological education and ministry needed mentorship to be affirmed in their roles as harvesters. I drew the inspiration from two movements, namely the Ecumenical Decade of Churches in Solidarity with Women (1988-1998), which was aimed at empowering women to challenge oppressive structures in the global community, their churches and communities. The second movement was the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians. In brief it was an ecumenical continental organization, founded under the leadership of Mercy Amba Oduyoye. The aim of the Circle was to empower women to study and write theology from their perspectives, which would impact the churches. In doing this, the Circle was advocating for liberation from oppressive cultural practices while affirming and reclaiming positive cultural practices. As well as the culture, the Circle engaged in the study and interpretations of the Bible, and this includes a critical analysis of the hidden gender oppressive scripts as well as the ways in which the Bible has been used to subjugate women. Instead of the bible being a tool of oppression, scripture became a tool of theological advocacy and activism in areas of health and healing, gender-based violence, and environmental justice. As a member and a leader of the Circle, I was influenced by the Circle theology in my teaching and ecumenical engagements on widening the space for women in theological education and ordination. 

Theological Education and Mentorship 

For a long time, theological education was linked to ordination which limited women studying theology. Hence, something needed to be done to open theology for all the people of God leading to the ordination of women. It appeared to me that there was need to engender theological education at different levels, including formulating inclusive policies on theological education and ordination for the people of God irrespective of their gender. It also called for a change of the curriculum, so that it dealt with the contextual realities of society. Mercy Oduyoye has described theology as something we wrestle with as opposed to something we receive. This wrestling entails engaging with not only contextual traditional and emerging issues but also reimagining the future for the next generation, which was one of the aims of the Circle theology as noted above. 

With engendering theological education, the numbers of women joining the college increased and this necessitated intentional mentorship to cater for the different social locations of the women, for women who chose to be in pastoral ministry and for those who decided to join the academia through research and writing. Both fulfilled the aims of the Circle. One of the major issues in mentorship was to raise awareness to the different forms of violence against women within the church and the academia. Mentoring helped the women to be critical of all aspects of Scripture, tradition and culture that are life denying and helped them to claim life affirming reading of Scripture and traditions. 

Plenty Harvesters 

The above narrative shows the process of ensuring that women had an opportunity to gain access to the study of theology and ordained ministries. In the last the two decades we have seen an increase of women in leadership position both in the church and in ecumenical organizations. For example, in 2023 the Rt. Rev Lydia Neshangwe became the first woman president of the All-Africa Conference of Churches. In 2024 we celebrated the “Africa six”, the six Anglican women bishops on the African continent. There is a growing number of women in leadership in both the theological academy and in the church. This is a testament of a transformation of systemic exclusions and inequalities that have existed in different forms in the different church traditions, a transformation into just and inclusive communities of the people of God. 

Looking ahead, maintaining this growth requires ongoing mentorship, policy reforms, and contextual theologizing. In a world dealing with inequalities, this movement urges the church to embody God’s abundant justice for all generations. 

REFERENCES 

Letters: A Report of Visits to the Churches During the Ecumenical Decade- Churches in Solidarity with Women’ Geneva: WCC, 1997. 

Mombo E and Joziasses H, If you have no voice just sing Narratives of Women’s Lives and  Theological Education at St. Paul’s University. Zaph Chancery 2011. 

Mercy Oduyoye. and Musimbi Kanyoro. (eds.) The Will to Arise: Women, Tradition, and the Church in Africa. Maryknoll: Orbis 1992. 

Mercy A. Oduyoye and Musimbi Kanyoro Transforming Power: Women in the Household of God. Proceedings of the Pan-African Conference of the Circle. Pietermaritzburg: Cluster. 

Chisale, S. & R. Bosch. Eds Mother Earth, Mother Africa and Theology. Pretoria: OASIS, 2021. 

Berman, K. S., P. L. Leshota, E. S. Dunbar. M. W. Dube, & M. Kgalemanges Mother Earth, 

Mother Africa and Biblical Studies: Interpretation in the Context of Climate Change. Bamberg: University of Bamberg, Press, 2021. 

Chirongoma, S. & E. Mombo. Eds. Mother Earth, Postcolonial and Liberation Theologies. New  York: Lexington Press, 2021. 

Godfrey Adera and Esther Mombo. Shattering the ceilings of power like the Syrophoenician  Woman: Reimaging Anglican witness as ‘withness’ in the context of fractures and shifting demographics in the Anglican Communion. International Review of Mission vol. 113, no. 2, 2024.