In western Kenya, the Quaker meeting house in Cheptulu has a vibrant atmosphere, featuring loud music played on modern instruments, a choir singing local hymns, and congregants—mostly women in white dresses—dancing and clapping. This is a striking contrast to the silent worship practiced by Quakers in the United States. The environment resembles that of Pentecostal churches, with familiar hymns and spiritual declarations. However, the Friends Church in Cheptulu does not include the cross, paintings, or sculptures of Jesus Christ that are common in most Christian churches. Quakerism began in 17th-century England with George Fox, who opposed the Anglican emphasis on ceremony. He described hearing a voice that led him to develop a personal relationship with Christ, known as the Inner Light. The Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers, has an estimated 400,000 members worldwide, with about half living in Africa, mostly in Kenya, where the religion was introduced by Americans. In the United States, Quakers believe in the Inner Light and prefer silent worship, awaiting individual messages from God. In Kenya, 90-year-old Thomas Amalemba, born to a Quaker father and a Salvation Army mother, recalls a time when music was slower and different from today's modernized version. "The old people when we go to the church service, we feel uncomfortable," Amalemba said. Senior pastor Kennedy Shiverenje of Cheptulu Church stated that the music needed to be relevant and appropriate to the local context to capture the youth and re-energize the elderly. In most Quaker houses of worship, there is no clergy, pulpit, or altar. No one sings, chants, burns incense, or lights candles. They do not speak until a message from God moves through them. However, in Kenya, Quakers worship loudly. American missionaries from the Friends United Meeting in Indiana introduced a version of Quakerism with slow hymns and evangelism to the hilly western Kenya town of Kaimosi in 1902. They invested in schools and hospitals, converting many locals. Shiverenje’s grandfather was the first pastor of the Cheptulu church, which stands on a hill near their family’s home. He believes that silent worship might not have won his grandfather, who was among the first converts. "If you just brought an unprogrammed service where people sit silently, I’m not sure people would concentrate," he said. Over the years, Kenyan Quakers have grown in numbers by adding more tempo to the music and incorporating modern instruments to attract young people who previously found them boring. Rose Oside remembered joking about how her grandmothers would sing songs so slowly they would eventually doze off. At a recent Sunday service in Cheptulu Church, which has been around for 100 years, mostly young people led praise and worship sessions. Even when older women led a hymn before a baby dedication program, they were guided in their tempo by the keyboard played by a young Quaker man. Catherine Ikalakala, a Quaker for nearly 50 years, recalled that young people used to avoid going to church, seeing them singing slowly while other churches had faster music. "So they used to go to other churches and so we bought a keyboard that has brought all these young people to church," she said. Evangelism is not practiced by Quakers who follow silent worship, as they believe in growth through self-convinced followers. The Friends Theological College in Kaimosi now has more than 400 students on campus and online. College Principal Robert Wafula said the training ensures the correct message is taught to congregations and has helped in other countries like Rwanda, where the government closed 70 Quaker churches in a recent crackdown led by untrained pastors. Wafula noted that the role of pastoral ministers is especially important in the modern world, where political frictions threaten peace. He said Quaker doctrine, founded on peace, has been useful during ethnic tensions and postelection violence in Kenya, as well as in regional conflicts. "Quakerism has spread peace across East Africa, for example in Rwanda and even in the Congo, where Quakers are participating in peace-building through the major groups," Wafula said. "We have a pastor from this college working in the peace center in Rwanda." The college now houses a Quaker Archive program, including an old Bible written in the local Maragoli language used by early Quakers and the first converts. With the missionaries gone, the church has made changes to ensure it keeps spreading, but some of the updates have rattled the older generation. Shiverenje said the mission was initially funded by donors, but now the locals have to raise funds for programs to continue. Amalemba agreed that change is important but warned that the emphasis on congregants giving money in church created a sense that they were "buying blessings." Linet Mmbone, an assistant librarian at the college, said a group of researchers realized young people needed a reference point and embarked on a project to speak to early Quakers and obtain material like notes from early yearly meetings. "Because we don’t want to lose our dignity as Quakers, we want to go back to the roots and conduct our services the way the early Quakers used to do it," Mmbone said.