Shakahola churches struggling as distrustful faithful keep off

Some of the bodies were exhumed from the Shakahola forest. [Kelvin Karani, Standard]

It's Sunday, and the Christian Power Centre church near Shakahola Forest, which would be full on a day like this three years ago, is almost empty. The pastors claim that the former church members have lost trust in them.

Only a few of the nearly 1,000 devotees of Good News International (GNI) church and its leader, Paul Makenzi, survived after relocating to the forest to establish a cult commune.

One year after the GNI activities were halted, clerics in and around Shakahola shared how Makenzi's activities have affected their lives and their flocks.

Pastor Philip Fondo of the Christian Power Center says people have abandoned churches and others have ceased participating in church activities such as giving tithes and contributing to church development.

"It is worrying that there has been a decline in attendance at services. This poses a challenge for the church in defining its role," says Fondo, adding that it will take years before the church regains full trust of the locals.

''The devil has used this opportunity to pull God's people away from his presence, leading believers to question pastors' behavior for fear of them following teachings similar to those of Makenzi."

Many preachers in the area have been forced to set limits in everything they do, including the people they interact with to avoid being associated with a cult. "We are still unsure about his true motive, but for us, we serve the true God," he says.

Pastor Benson Chai of Neema Baptist Church agrees that many young people left his church after the revelation of Makenzi's cult. He advocates for stringent laws to oversee the church's activities.

"We need minimum standards for religious institutions to prevent cults, and those not complying should be held accountable," he says.

In Shakahola, pastors have formed a union to keep the church leadership in check and regularly discuss the future of the gospel in the area.

"We have formed a union to tame anyone preaching outside the doctrines of Christianity," says Chai.

Believers in Shakahola said that a chain of events led the majority of worshipers away from the church, but that does not mean abandoning God. ''I believe in God, but not 'Men of God," says James Kalama, a worshiper of Neema Baptist Church who stopped attending services.

These sentiments have been echoed repeatedly in towns and hamlets dotting the isolated homesteads in Shakahola since the bodies of cult victims were discovered.

''Since the cult occurred, I have been careful about the teachings I listen to. Sometimes I leave in the middle of the service if the preacher starts to preach things not in line with what I believe in," says George Kahindi.

Earlier this week, the presidential task force on the legal and regulatory framework governing religious organizations in Kenya proposed a raft of measures to mitigate religious extremism.

The Bill proposed a Sh5 million fine for pastors who extort Kenyans. Chakama ranch is a crime scene as detectives continue to look for evidence to prove that Makenzi and his co-accused were behind the death of more than 450 people.