Effects of Divorce and Strategies Adopted by the Church in Addressing Divorce: A Case of Africa Inland Church, Starehe Sub County, Nairobi County, Kenya
Abstract
Purpose of the study: The main objective of this study was to establish the effects of divorce and strategies adopted by the church in addressing divorce.
Problem statement: The church intervention to salvage the marriages of many families seems not to do much as family systems are vulnerable. There is need to understand the consequences of divorce particularly at household level and in the church. According to O’Donovan (2000), causes of increase in rate of divorce are unfaithfulness and infidelity among married couples in the church Kenya is showing increased trend in divorce rate, with two hundred and twelve thousand nine hundred and seventy two having divorced by 2008. In Nairobi, statistics by KNBS indicated twenty one thousand five hundred and seventy three were divorced with Nairobi North having the highest statistic at seven thousand six hundred and one being divorced. Thus, this study sought to establish the effects of divorce and strategies adopted by the church in addressing divorce.
Study methodology: The researcher used mixed research design. The study was conducted in Africa Inland church found neighboring the Mukuru slum. Africa Inland Church is in South B Nairobi County in Starehe Sub-County. Majority of people visiting the church come from Mukuru Kayaba slums which have a population of around 500,000 thousand. The researcher used purposive sampling to select a sampling frame consisting of those members who have been divorced between the age of 20 and 50. The research used questionnaires; the unstructured and open ended questions were used as well as structured close ended questions to give respondents complete freedom to express their views. The findings were quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed through use of tables and figures and results presented in tables, bar graphs, pie charts.
Results of the study: The key finding showed that 57% of the respondents agreed that divorce has extremely affected the activities of the church and the household. About 13% of the sample size indicated the effect of divorce on church activities was to a great extent. 24% of the respondents indicated that the effects are only to a lesser extent. However, 6% believed divorce has no effect at all on the church activities and the household. The results showed that 57% of the respondents said marriage counseling as the best strategies used by the church. Another 19% said that there are no strategies in the church to support divorced people. 17% of the respondents gave their views that the church also uses seminars as a way to talk to both married and divorce people so that to make sure the number of divorce cases do not escalate. However 4% thought that incentives programs and meetings to train married couples are the strategies used respectively to support and assist both married and divorced couples.
Conclusion: The study concluded that divorce among members of the church has staggering or extreme consequences on its infrastructural development. Stable families form a great back bone for the church’s infrastructural development unlike divorced ones. The church is committed to reducing divorce cases as exemplified by its various strategies like counseling, seminars, incentives programs and regular meetings as some the measures of addressing divorce.
Recommendations: The development committee needs to invite government intervention in meeting some financial needs for these developments as it works on ways which can reduce the cases of divorce. The government has to be involved, by using surplus funds for the church development initiatives. The church should also consider income generating activities which can be used to supplement some of its developmental projects.
Keywords: Effects of Divorce, Strategies, Africa Inland Church, Starehe Sub County, Nairobi County & Kenya.
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