Among Kenyan Christians, the distinction between the terms ‘church member’ and ‘visitor’ is widely used, and occasional visits to non-membership churches are a common practice. In our ethnographic research in urban Kenya (Nairobi and Kisumu), we observed how, across denominations, church visits abide by similar, formalized, and ritualized codes. Through an analysis of the subtleties of this institutionalized practice, we expose a fundamental tension in which even as church leaders are expected to act in the spirit of Christian unity and avoid proselytizing visitors from other churches, they also seek to maximize the use of church visits as an effective instrument for recruiting new members. Investigating how churches manage this ‘sheep-stealing dilemma’, we analyze some institutional strategies that favour membership retention and attraction without formally undermining the social legitimacy of church visits.

中文翻译：

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偷羊的困境

在肯尼亚基督徒中，“教会成员”和“访客”这两个词之间的区别被广泛使用，偶尔访问非成员教会是一种常见的做法。在我们在肯尼亚城市（内罗毕和基苏木）进行的人种学研究中，我们观察到不同教派的教堂访问如何遵守类似的、正式的和仪式化的规范。通过对这种制度化实践的微妙之处的分析，我们揭示了一种根本性的张力，即使教会领袖被期望本着基督徒合一的精神行事并避免向其他教会的访客传教，他们也寻求最大限度地利用教会访问作为招募新成员的有效工具。调查教会如何处理这种“偷羊困境”，