Marital conflicts among Church Leaders and its impact on Church participation in A.C.K Thimbigua archdeaconry, A.C.K Diocese of MT.Kenya South

Abstract

Marital conflict among couples is an issue of concern in Kenyan societies. The church members are also experiencing marital conflicts, hence withdrawing from active participation in church activities. The Study focused on marital conflict among church leaders and its impact on church participation in A.C.K Thimbigua Archdeaconry in the A.C.K diocese of Mt. Kenya South. The research objectives of this study were to establish; factors contributing to marital conflicts; assess the relationship between marital conflicts and church participation; to assess the pastoral role of the church in its interventions on marital conflicts; and to identify more appropriate ways of interventions. The study used Bowen system theory and Behavioral theory which has helped the study in developing categories which assessed marital conflicts among church leaders. Research study used descriptive design; purposive sampling was used to sample population from the larger population. Simple random sampling was adopted in choosing the parishes where the participants were drawn. The sample size included 100 participants who were strictly church leaders. Key informants were eight (8) Parish Vicars; key respondents included twenty four (24) lay readers, twenty four (24) mother‟s union leaders , twenty (24) leaders for the Kenya Anglican Men Association (20) for focused group. Questionnaires and focused group discussions were used as research tools for collecting data. Quantitative data was analyzed by use of SPSS while qualitative data was analyzed by use of Content Analysis. Based on the findings the study was able to attain its main objective which focused on marital conflicts among church leaders and its impact on church participation. The main findings of the study were; factors that contributes to marital conflicts which were economic issues, communication breakdown, mistrust, and cultural aspects among others. The findings show that marital conflicts have contributed to decline on church leaders participating on their ministerial work in Thimbigua Archdeaconry.