Faith on the Frontline: Forest Stewardship Activities of the African Church of the Holy Spirit in the Conservation of Malava Forest, Western Kenya

Faith-based organisations increasingly feature in environmental conservation debates, yet their practical stewardship contributions remain under-documented in many African contexts. Malava Forest, a fragment of the Kakamega Forest ecosystem in Western Kenya, continues to decline under pressures such as charcoal burning, firewood collection, grazing and encroachment, even as churches situated within the forest landscape are increasingly called upon to play a mitigating role. It is not clear what forest stewardship activities the African Church of the Holy Spirit (ACHS), the predominant African Indigenous church bordering Malava Forest, has actually undertaken toward conservation. This paper examines the forest stewardship activities that the ACHS has undertaken in its effort towards conserving Malava Forest. The study adopted a descriptive research design and drew on a survey of 248 respondents sampled from ACHS membership using stratified and simple random sampling, supplemented by key informant interviews, focus group discussions and secondary sources. Data were analysed descriptively using SPSS version 26. Findings show that the church has engaged in a wide portfolio of stewardship activities, including environmental teaching, tree planting, rainwater harvesting, Green Gospel preaching, partnership development with government and civil-society actors, community mobilisation, promotion of community members into forest-management roles, use of trusted local leaders (Massenga), monitoring and advocacy, and sustainable management of church-owned land. These activities enjoyed broad, though not always unanimous, community endorsement. The study concludes that the ACHS functions as a credible, trusted intermediary between formal forest governance and forest-adjacent communities. It recommends that the church formalise its environmental ministry and that government and development partners recognise and resource faith-based stewardship as a complement to statutory conservation mechanisms.