Parenthood Programs In The Anglican Church And Their Influence Among Agikuyu Christians In Murang’a South Diocese, Murang’a County, Kenya

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.