Arthur and the other missionaries recognised that the KCA had a major role in fomenting the circumcision controversy, and so demanded that Presbyterian Christians not only publicly renounce FGM, but the KCA as well. However, the KCA had a strong grip on many within the church. About half of the Kikuyu members left the Church of Scotland and formed Independent African churches, with attendant institutions such as teacher training colleges, the latter becoming fertile recruiting and training grounds for the KCA. It took some eight years before church membership again reached the level of 1929.