Factors affecting youth participation in Church Programmes within the Presbyterian Church of East Africa, Kajiado Presbytery, Kajiado County, Kenya

Abstract

Youth failing to participate in the Church programmes though they attend church in large numbers has been a major concern in the Presbyterian Church of East Africa (PCEA) Kajiado Presbytery. As a result, most of church groups are being led by the elderly people. Failure of youths to be represented in various church groups is a great threat to growing churches because it means that future leaders are not being groomed which can result to having weak churches or even dissolution of some congregations. This study was conducted in three of the eight parishes in Kajiado presbytery which are: Mbagathi, Eserian and Baraka. The purpose of this study was to identify factors affecting youth participation in church programmes within the Presbyterian Church of East Africa, Kajiado Presbytery in Kajiado County and recommend ways of making them more participative. Both qualitative and quantative research design were adopted in this study. The target population of this study was seven hundred youths and eighty church elders from three parishes. The main instrument was a questionnaire. Ethical considerations were highly observed and no participant was forced to respond. Two research assistants were first trained on the methodology to be used and they explained clearly to the respondents the purpose of the study. Sampling was through simple random. A total of 258 of the target population were selected using Fisher’s formula. The data collected was coded, tabulated and analyzed using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 21.0. The analysis process was based on objectives of the study. Results were presented using histogram, pie charts, frequency tables and percentages. The study found that 77% of the youth had not held any leadership position, 54% do not have mentors while 71% do not have any Bible study group. Inferential statistic was used to test the null hypothesis (Ho) which was stating that there were no factors affecting youth participation in the church programme in PCEA Kajiado Presbytery. The null hypothesis was rejected. The results (61.6%) confirmed that most of the youths do not participate in the church programmes due to lack of mobilization, follow up, mentorship and poor leadership. However, peer pressure was found to affect (63.3%) of youth positively. Among the recommendations, the church needs to finance youth programmes, include them in the leadership, increase mentorship programmes, employ a competent youth pastor with both passion for the youth and academic qualifications. The results of this study was presented to the Presbyterian Church of East Africa with appropriate recommendations for further studies on youth programmes, after having been cleared by the Africa Nazarene University. All congregations from Kajiado Presbytery were the main beneficiaries of this study as well as other churches which might be facing a similar problem.