Sacred Spaces Online The Rise of Virtual Religion and Technology Adoption in CITAM Ngong Church
Main Article Content
Keywords
COVID-19, religious virtual space, technology, generational access, Kenya
Abstract
There is a consensus that the growth of technology in Kenya facilitated the spread of religion within the country during the COVID-19 pandemic. This article investigates how technology reshaped religious practice in Kenya during the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on CITAM Ngong Church. Based on six months of ethnographic fieldwork, the study examines how religious actors created virtual spaces to sustain worship in the absence of physical gatherings. Using Rogers’ diffusion and adoption theory, it analyzes how generational access and resource availability influenced participation in online religious life. Findings show that technological adoption was a complex and inherently social process. Further, the adoption of digital platforms was a socially negotiated process, shaped by age within and across the congregation, technology access, and differing understandings of spiritual presence online. The study argues that these virtual spaces function not only as practical substitutes during lockdowns but also as emerging cultural and spiritual sites of place-making that reframe narratives of divine action, transcendent presence, and communal belonging.
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References
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———. 2020. CITAM Strategic Plan 2020–2025.
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The Elephant. 2020. “COVID-19: The Great Disruptor of the Church in Kenya.” Accessed November 21, 2025. https://www.theelephant.info/culture/2020/08/20/covid-19-the-great-disruptor-of-the-church-in-kenya/.
Underberg, Natalie, and Elayne Zorn. 2013. Digital Ethnography: Anthropology, Narrative, and New Media. University of Texas Press.
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———. 2023. “WHO Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Dashboard.” Accessed November 21, 2025. https://covid19.who.int/region/afro/country/ke.
Bakesia, Grace, and Orinda Shadrack. 2023. “Mourning the Covid Way: Effects of COVID-19 on Abatura Funeral Rites and Practices.” Science Mundi 3 (1): 28–35.
Bryman, Alan. 2004. Social Research Methods. 2nd ed. Oxford University Press.
Bwire, J. Peter. 2023. “COVID-19 Pandemic and the Church in Kenya in the Context of Modern Information Communication Technology.” African Multidisciplinary Journal of Research (AMJR) 8 (2): 138–53.
Campbell, H. A. 2012. Digital Religion: Understanding Religious Practice in New Media Worlds. Taylor & Francis.
CITAM 2016. CITAM Strategic Plan 2016–2020.
———. 2020. CITAM Strategic Plan 2020–2025.
Dicks, Bella, Bruce Mason, Amanda Coffey, and Paul Atkinson, eds. 2010. Qualitative Research and Hypermedia: Ethnography for the Digital Age. New Technologies for Social Research. SAGE Publications.
Gathogo, Julius. 2023. “COVID-19 Response in Kenya, March 2020 to March 2021: A Comparative Analysis from a Historical Perspective.” African Historical Review 54 (1): 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/17532523.2023.2240574.
Grasso, Marco, Martina Klicperová-Baker, Sebastian Koos, Yuliya Kosyakova, Antonino Petrillo, and Ioana Vlase. 2021. “The Impact of the Coronavirus Crisis on European Societies: What Have We Learnt and Where Do We Go from Here?—Introduction to the COVID Volume.” European Societies 23 (supplement 1): S2–S32. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616696.
2020.1869283.
Hoover, Stewart. 2006. Religion in the Media Age. Routledge.
Humbe, Bernard P. 2023. “COVID-19 and the Virtual Church : (Re)Imagining Spirituality in a Pandemic Context and Beyond.” In Bible in Africa Studies, edited by Molly Manyonganise, vol. 36. University of Bamberg Press. https://doi.org/10.20378/irb-92500.
Kenya News Agency. 2024. “MOH Orders Closure of Churches as COVID-19 Spike.” Accessed November 21, 2025. https://www.kenyanews.go.ke/moh-orders-closure-of-churches-as-covid-19-spike/.
Kilonzo, Susan M., and Bryson O. Omwalo. 2021. “The Politics of Pulpit Religiosity in the Era of Covid-19 in Kenya.” Frontiers in Communication 6 (November): 616288. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2021.616288.
Mandillah, Lucy, David Barasa, Lydia Anyonje, Janet Kassily, and Patricia Kariaga. 2022. “Cultural Practices Resilience in the Wake of COVID-19 among Communities in Western Kenya.” Research Journal in Advanced Humanities 3 (4): 37–52. https://doi.org/10.58256/rjah.v3i4.902.
Maseno, Loreen. 2021. “Eschatological Prophecies before and during COVID-19: Female Pentecostal-Charismatic Preachers’ Self-Legitimation through Prophecy in Kenya.” Pharos Journal of Theology 102 (2): 1–12.
———. 2022. “Digital Ethnography and Networked Theology: New Forms of Religious Experience in COVID-19 at CITAM Ngong, Kenya.” In Law, Religion, Health and Healing in Africa, edited by M. Christian Green, Faith Kabata, and Fortune Sibanda. African Sun Media.
———. 2024. “The Eucharist in the Time of COVID-19: Adaptations and Transformations in Christ Is The Answer Ministries (CITAM) Church in Kenya.” In African Pentecostalism from African Perspectives, edited by Ezra Chitando, Lovemore Togarasei, and Loreen Maseno, 2 Themes. Christianity and Renewal—Interdisciplinary Studies. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-67829-5_6.
Maseno, Loreen, and Sophie Chirongoma. 2024. “African Women, COVID-19, Grounded Theology and the Adoption of a Religious Virtual Space in CITAM Ngong Church and Nomiya Luo Church in Kenya.” Pharos Journal of Theology 105 (4): 13 pages. https://www.pharosjot.com/2024.html.
Miller, Daniel. 2018. “Digital Anthropology.” In The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Anthropology, edited by F. Stein, S. Lazar, M. Candea, H. Diemberger, J. Robbins, A. Sanchez, and R. Stasch. https://doi.org/10.29164/18digital.
Ministry of Health, Kenya. 2020. “Covid-19 Press Statement.” Accessed November 21, 2025. https://www.health.go.ke/covid-19.
Morgan, David. 2013. “Religion and Media: A Critical Review of Recent Developments.” Critical Research on Religion 1 (3): 347–56.
Munyiswa, Irene, Patience Mateveke, and Ezra Chitando, eds. 2025. COVID-19 and Gender-Based Violence in Zimbabwe: Women’s Pandemic Experiences and Lessons for the Future. Routledge.
O’Brien, Hazel. 2020. “What Does the Rise of Digital Religion during COVID-19 Tell Us about Religion’s Capacity to Adapt?” Irish Journal of Sociology 28 (2): 242–6.
Parker, Kim, Juliana Menasce Horowitz, and Rachel Minkin. 2020. How the Coronavirus Outbreak Has—and Hasn’t—Changed the Way Americans Work. Pew Research Center.
Rogers, Everett. 1995. Diffusion of Innovations. 4th ed. Free Press.
Saunders, Carol, Anne Rutkowski, Michiel van Genuchten, Doug Vogel, and Julio Orrego. 2011. “Virtual Space and Place: Theory and Test.” MIS Quarterly 35 (4): 1079–98.
Smart, Ninian. 1968. Secular Education and the Logic of Religion. Faber and Faber.
Straub, Evan A. 2009. “Understanding Technology Adoption: Theory and Future Directions for Informal Learning.” Review of Educational Research 79 (2). https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654308325896.
The Elephant. 2020. “COVID-19: The Great Disruptor of the Church in Kenya.” Accessed November 21, 2025. https://www.theelephant.info/culture/2020/08/20/covid-19-the-great-disruptor-of-the-church-in-kenya/.
Underberg, Natalie, and Elayne Zorn. 2013. Digital Ethnography: Anthropology, Narrative, and New Media. University of Texas Press.
World Health Organization (WHO). 2021. The Impact of COVID-19 on Health and Care Workers: A Closer Look at Deaths. Health Workforce Department – Working Paper 1. World Health Organization.
———. 2023. “WHO Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Dashboard.” Accessed November 21, 2025. https://covid19.who.int/region/afro/country/ke.
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Published
Dec 3, 2025
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Sacred Spaces Online: The Rise of Virtual Religion and Technology Adoption in CITAM Ngong Church. (2025). Utambuzi: Journal for the Study of the Religions of Africa and Its Diaspora, 8(2), 61-72. https://doi.org/10.36615/9z8nqx52
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How to Cite
Sacred Spaces Online: The Rise of Virtual Religion and Technology Adoption in CITAM Ngong Church. (2025). Utambuzi: Journal for the Study of the Religions of Africa and Its Diaspora, 8(2), 61-72. https://doi.org/10.36615/9z8nqx52
