| dc.description.abstract | Despite the efforts by development thinkers and practitioners to eradicate poverty, it has
remained a feature of the society in most Third World countries. This has stirred further
global search for better solutions to the poverty crisis. It is in this regard that religion,
particularly Christianity, has been involved in the development process, not just in terms
of spiritual contributions, but also in material enhancement. This involvement is based on
Christ's approach to his evangelistic mission and his command of love for God and
neighbour as the overriding commandment. The prevalence of Christian diversity then,
may be assumed to be a boon for community development.
Whereas some scholars have historicized the diverse nature of Christianity in Kenya and
the perceived effect to people's spiritual lives, there is scarce information on how these
diverse Christian groups within a specific region contribute to people's spiritual and
economic development. This study investigates how the different Christian
denominations and movements have interpreted the Biblical concept of holistic
development and how they have applied their interpretations to community development
activities in Vihiga district.
The study is premised on the Biblical concept of holistic development which is an allembracing
human progress that takes care of all facets of human life. This is in line with
Christ's gospel in which he fed the hungry, healed the sick, taught the law, and preached
the Word. This holistic package is a universal aspiration for all churches so as to ensure
an improved livelihood for the suffering humanity.
The study used both qualitative and quantitative data. A total of 424 respondents
consisting of church leaders, lay leaders, church members, community members, social
workers, and community elders, were sampled. Simple random, purposive, and snowball
" sampling procedures were used to sample the respondents. Oral interviews, questionnaire
method, and focus group discussions were used to collect data from the respondents.
Case studies and observation methods were used to validate the information obtained
through oral interviews and questionnaire methods. Secondary data was sourced from
published and unpublished literature. The study used both descriptive and inferential
means to analyze the data.
The findings of the study indicate that majority of the diverse Biblical interpretations of
the churches in Vihiga emphasize the relevance of integrating both spiritual and material
development. Most churches therefore are involved in both spiritual enhancement and
community development. The leading explanations for this involvement showed that this
kind of integration is first, Christ's command, and secondly, a way of evangelizing.
Consequently, the churches in Vihiga have used varied ways of evangelizing as well as
different approaches to community's development activities. Whereas open-air crusades,
Sunday schools for the young children, and provision of material needs for the poor are
ways commonly used in evangelism, giving of handouts, capacity building, departmental
approach, partnership with Government and NGOs, community mobilization, among
other approaches, have been used to ensure material development.
v
Following the application of these approaches, development activities such as provision
of health services, education, child development, HIV and AIDS awareness, care for
widows and aged, guidance and counseling, and, agricultural activities among others,
were undertaken by the Church to promote development in Vihiga district. This provides
a basis for this study to posit that Christian diversity has positively contributed to
community development in Vihiga district. In addition, there are noted indicators of
spiritual development such as establishment of many churches, availability of
preachers/priest in the numerous churches, availability of spiritual literature to followers
of different denominations, diverse prayer groups in the different churches, people's
commitments in spiritual activities, among others. These were pointers towards growth of
Christianity in Vihiga district. We therefore conclude that Christian diversity has
positively contributed to people's spiritual growth in the district.
The study observes that despite these positive contributions there are challenges to
development activities as well as weaknesses to churches' approaches to development. It
therefore recommends Bryant's model of participatory development. This model takes a
Biblical perspective of what gives life to God's people, thus, the 4 - D model of
Discovery, Dream, Design, and Delivery. | en_US |
