Parenthood Programs in the Anglican Church and Their
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PARENTHOOD PROGRAMS IN THE ANGLICAN CHURCH AND THEIR INFLUENCE AMONG AGIKUYU CHRISTIANS IN MURANG’A SOUTH DIOCESE, MURANG’A COUNTY, KENYA. JOSEPH MUTURI WANYOIKE REG: C82/21934/2010 A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES IN FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN RELIGIOUS STUDIES OF KENYATTA UNIVERSITY SEPTEMBER 2020 ii DECLARATION This thesis is my original work and has not been presented for a degree in any other university. Signature …………………………….… Date …………………… Joseph Muturi Wanyoike - C82/21934/2010 Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies Kenyatta University This thesis has been submitted with our approval as University Supervisors. Signature …………………………….… Date …………………… Dr. Josephine W. Gitome - Senior Lecturer Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies Kenyatta University Signature …………………………….… Date …………………… Dr. Cyprian M. Kavivya - Lecturer Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies Kenyatta University iii DEDICATION This work is dedicated to my parents, Rev. Eliud Wanyoike and Zipporah Wangui who gave me the foundation which has enabled me to be who I am; my wife, Margaret Muthoni, who has supported me all through; my children, Eliud Wanyoike, Agnes Mueni, Gibson Karugu and Zipporah Wangui, who gave me moral support and do appreciate my work; to my grandchildren; Margaret M. Wanyoike, Joseph Muturi and Margaret Muthoni. They all give me joy and satisfaction of life. May this work inspire them to be Godly and responsible. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I acknowledge the Almighty God for His grace, providence, protection, and faithfulness; my supervisors, Dr. Josephine W. Gitome and Dr. Cyprian M. Kavivya, for their patience, guidance and encouragement; without them, this work would not have been possible. The Archbishop of Kenya, the Most Rev. Dr. Jackson Ole Sapit and the Diocesan bishop, ACK Murang’a South Diocese, Rt. Rev. Julius Karanu for their moral support and encouragement, particularly during data collection period and to my research assistants, Rev. Julius Mwaura, Eva Ken Maina and Emily Mugo for editing and proofreading this work. Without their support, this work would have been very difficult. v ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ACC : Anglican Consultative Council AIPCA : African Independent Pentecostal Church of Africa ACK : Anglican Church of Kenya BD : Bachelor of Divinity CMS : Church Missionary Society CRE : Christian Religious Education ECDE : Early Child Development Education FGD : Focus Group Discussion FGM : Female Genital Mutilation KAMA : Kenya Anglican Men’s Association KAYO : Kenya Anglican Youth Organization KCPE : Kenya Certificate of Primary Education KNEC : Kenya National Examination Council MCK : Methodist Church in Kenya MU : Mothers Union NACOSTI : National Commission of Science and Technology and Innovation NCCK : National Council of Churches of Kenya OI : Oral Interview PCEA : Presbyterian Church of East Africa RCEA : Reformed Church of East Africa RSV : Revised Standard Version SPU : Saint Paul’s University TV : Television vi OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF TERMS African Christian parenthood: Parenting process that emphasizes positive aspects of traditional values and positive aspects of contemporary practices and applies Biblical teachings on how to bring up children. Anglican parenthood Programs: Activities which the Anglican Church has set to assist in the parenting of the Anglican children. [Baptism, Sunday school, confirmation, youth, Mothers Union, and Men Association]. Authoritarian parenting: Parental approach with high conformity and compliance to parent rules and directions allowing very little open dialogue between parent and child. Biblical Parenthood Approaches: The parenting process that emphasizes Biblical principles (such as faithfulness, honest, hardworking, and patience) Biological Evangelism: An approach where parents transmit all Christian values such as honesty, faithfulness and hard work to their children in the Anglican Church. Children: Young people from birth to 18 years of age, bonding with the parents and who are being taught Christian values through Anglican parenting programs. Christian Parents: Adults who bring up their children according to Anglican faith. Christian parenthood: The process of bringing up children, emphasizing biblical teaching on how Christian parents should bring up their children. vii Christian values: Core, deep- seated, deeply entrenched aspects or elements of Christian beliefs and practices that are transmitted by Christian parents through parenting programs such as belief in Trinity, salvation and baptism. Elderly people: Anglican Church members who are 70 years and above. Eschatological theology: Teachings of the Christians concerning life after death. Evangelist: Those who work in the parish under the parish priest (Vicar). Their main obligations are preaching, visiting Christians in their homes, teaching baptism and confirmation candidates and bringing new members to the church. Godly Children: Young people who are guided by biblical principles, respect authorities and are responsible. Godly Values: These are deeply entrenched Christian values based on biblical principles such as faithfulness, hard work, patience and perseverance. Parenthood: The process by which individuals, institutions and the community foster the growth and development of children. Secular parenthood: The process of bringing up children that does not emphasize either Christian or traditional practices. Traditional parenthood: The parenting process that emphasizes cultural values on how to bring up children. Traditional Values: These are core, deeply-entrenched aspects or elements of African cultural beliefs and practices, transmitted by parents to their children from one generation to the next, such as hard work, patience and perseverance. Youth: Young people aged between 18 and 30 years of age viii ABSTRACT This study was necessitated by the fact that some parents in the ACK Diocese of Murang’a south have challenges with some of their children because they engage in drugs and substance abuse, irresponsible sexual behaviour, and instead of working to develop society, some have destroyed even what had been invested by their parents. The church has a responsibility of assisting parents in their parenthood. Part of the mission of SPU is to develop servant leaders who will serve the church holistically. However, some clergy have challenges in assisting parents to parent their children, resulting in maladjustments among family members. The study was based on the following objectives: to establish whether the SPU prepares the clergy to teach biblical parenthood programs; to examine whether the Anglican clergy teach parents biblical parenthood programs; to examine whether the Anglican parents apply biblical parenthood programs on parenting; to find out whether Anglican parenthood programs are effective in helping the Anglican children to be responsible, and; to establish the Agikuyu parental cultural practices that could strengthen parenthood among Anglican Christians. The study reviewed literature concerning training of the clergy; the role of the clergy in parenting; parenthood responsibilities; Anglican Church parenthood programs; and Agikuyu parenthood cultural practices. The study was informed by the attachment theory, the psychosexual theory, and the psychosocial theory. The sampling techniques used were the Purposive, Snowball and the Stratified random. The total population for the study was 19057. The target population was 1996 and the total sampled was 255. The researcher interviewed 218 respondents. In percentages, the target population was 10.5% of the total population, the total sampled was 13% of the target population, and the total respondents were 85.5% of total sampled. The study used descriptive survey design. Descriptive data analysis was done whereby quantitative data was categorized and coded in the statistical package for social science (SPSS) to generate frequencies and percentages. The study established that St Paul’s University (SPU) teaches units like pastoral counselling and chaplaincy, but does not have a chronological and integrated unit on parenthood. In addition, the clergy occasionally, teach parents biblical parenthood programs. However, this was found to be wanting because some parents who have gone through these programs still have challenges as seen in the irresponsible behaviour of some of their children. ix TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION .......................................................................................... ii DEDICATION ............................................................................................. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ............................................................................ iv ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ....................................................... v OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF TERMS ............................................. vi ABSTRACT ................................................................................................viii LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................xiii LIST OF PIE CHARTS ............................................................................... xv LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................... xvi CHAPTER ONE ............................................................................................ 1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION ....................................................................