THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH IN THE LIGHT OF WOMEN’S MINISTRY IN THE BODY OF CHRIST: A CASE STUDY OF A.C.K KIRINYAGA DIOCESE

Abstract

This study focuses on the role of women in the body of Christ, which is the church. Paul says that all the members belong both to the church and to one another because of a built-in interdependence. In brief God has arranged the human frame so that there might be no division in the body but that the members should have the same care for one another (1Corinthians 12: 25). Women seem to be the majority in the church as compared to men. In relation to their position in the church, this study has investigated the role of women in the church as compared to that of their men counterparts. It has also looked at whether there are obstacles that hinder women’s full participation in the church. This study therefore has proposed some measures that will enable women in Kirinyaga to fully participate in the body of Christ which is the church. This study has been done in ACK Kirinyaga Diocese and has concentrated mainly in Kirinyaga District, Kabare where the gospel came in 1910. It is a descriptive and a qualitative study which has portrayed characteristics of events, situations, and a group of people, community or a population. There are three methods that are being used in this study. The first method is interview method. This is a face to face interaction between the researcher and the interviewers. The second one is group discussion method, where a group of selected individuals have been used to collect data and the third one has been indirect method which involves collecting data from written documents and books. The researcher has analyzed data and found that women fail to participate fully in the church due to low self esteem and social construction which is contributed by illiteracy, self-hate and male dominance. The collected materials scrutinize how women’s participation can be felt in the body of Christ. This study has adopted a theoretical framework informed by liberation theology. In this case, women need to be liberated through education and empowering them to know their rights.