Effect of Community Building on Church Spiritual Growth

Isaac Shaasha, B. Msabah, Alexander Katuta Kyule
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The study was conducted across multiple Pentecostal denominations within the Nairobi Metropolitan counties, including Nairobi, Kajiado, Muranga, Kiambu, and Machakos in Kenya. Data collection involved 333 church leaders and members, with 173 from PEFA, 80 from KAG, and 80 from FGCK, resulting in a response rate of 91%. Additionally, two discussion groups comprising pastors and elders from PEFA and KAG churches in Kajiado County were interviewed using an interview guide, totaling 17 members. The total response rate of church leaders and members was 304 (91%). The descriptive cross-sectional survey research design and exploratory designs were adopted for data collection and analysis where respondents provided relevant data. The research was anchored on the pragmatism philosophy. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation and regression analysis, where Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 29 was used. 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Abstract

Purpose: This study investigates the relationship between community building and spiritual growth within Pentecostal Churches in the Nairobi metropolitan counties of Kenya, focusing on the Pentecostal Evangelical Fellowship of Africa (PEFA), Kenya Assemblies of God (KAG), and Full Gospel Churches of Kenya (FGCK) under the National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK). Grounded in servant leadership, empowerment, and spiritual leadership theories, the research combines quantitative and qualitative methods to explore how servant leaders facilitate community building and its impact on church growth. Methodology: The study was guided by servant leadership, empowerment and spiritual leadership theories. The study was conducted across multiple Pentecostal denominations within the Nairobi Metropolitan counties, including Nairobi, Kajiado, Muranga, Kiambu, and Machakos in Kenya. Data collection involved 333 church leaders and members, with 173 from PEFA, 80 from KAG, and 80 from FGCK, resulting in a response rate of 91%. Additionally, two discussion groups comprising pastors and elders from PEFA and KAG churches in Kajiado County were interviewed using an interview guide, totaling 17 members. The total response rate of church leaders and members was 304 (91%). The descriptive cross-sectional survey research design and exploratory designs were adopted for data collection and analysis where respondents provided relevant data. The research was anchored on the pragmatism philosophy. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation and regression analysis, where Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 29 was used. Thematic analysis was employed in analyzing qualitative type of data. Purposive and stratified random sampling techniques were employed to select the sample, ensuring representation of subgroups within the population. This approach facilitated efficient and cost-effective data collection while maintaining the integrity of the study's findings Findings: Data collected from 304 respondents, including pastors, elders, and members, reveals a significant positive association between community building and spiritual growth, with volunteer services rating relatively low. The results showed a positive significance of community building in affecting church spiritual growth. The study findings in all the three models: Model summary, ANOVA and Coefficient confirm the significance of community building in church spiritual growth. The correlation coefficient results yielded a positive relationship of 0.580. However, descriptive statistics on mean scores of how respondents views the practice of community building in their churches, the sub variable of voluntary community services was ranked the lowest (3.7) amongst the other constructs. Nevertheless, there is a need for enhancement of voluntary services by the Pentecostal churches in areas such as health, free cleaning and training services to give back to the community. When church leadership participate in welfare activities such as helping the vulnerable in society, this positively affects church growth both spiritually and numerically. The findings emphasize the importance of enhancing volunteer engagement to foster both spiritual and numerical church growth. This study contributes to theoretical understanding and practical implications for Pentecostal church settings, addressing research gaps and advocating for servant leadership practices that empower church members and promote community building for holistic church growth.Contribution to Theory, Policy and Practice: The study supported servant leadership, empowerment and spiritual leadership theories. Servant leaders play a crucial role in empowering of church members through community building causing effect on church growth. The study revealed and filled a number of conceptual, theoretical, contextual and empirical glaring research gaps in area of servant leadership attribute of community building and church spiritual growth. The most noticeable gap is the contextual gap where many studies on church growth only delved on numerical growth and leaving out spiritual growth of which this study addressed. The study also revealed a gap in volunteer services with a mean of 4.1. Pentecostal churches therefore need to put more efforts to improve volunteer services as well as promotion of spiritual formation so as to enhance church spiritual growth.
社区建设对教会灵命成长的影响
目的:本研究调查了肯尼亚内罗毕都会区五旬节派教会中社区建设与属灵成长之间的关系,重点关注肯尼亚全国教会理事会(NCCK)下属的非洲五旬节派福音团契(PEFA)、肯尼亚神召会(KAG)和肯尼亚纯福音教会(FGCK)。研究以仆人式领导、赋权和属灵领导理论为基础,结合定量和定性方法,探讨仆人式领导如何促进社区建设及其对教会发展的影响。研究方法:研究以仆人式领导、授权和属灵领导理论为指导。研究在内罗毕大都会各县的多个五旬节教派中进行,包括肯尼亚的内罗毕、卡贾多、穆兰加、基安布和马查科斯。数据收集涉及 333 名教会领袖和成员,其中 173 人来自 PEFA,80 人来自 KAG,80 人来自 FGCK,回复率为 91%。此外,还使用访谈指南对来自卡贾多县 PEFA 和 KAG 教会的牧师和长老组成的两个讨论小组进行了访谈,共有 17 名成员。教会领袖和成员的总回复率为 304(91%)。在受访者提供相关数据的情况下,采用了描述性横截面调查研究设计和探索性设计进行数据收集和分析。研究以实用主义哲学为基础。使用社会科学统计软件包(SPSS)第 29 版对定量数据进行了描述性统计、相关性和回归分析。在分析定性数据时采用了主题分析法。在选择样本时采用了有目的和分层随机抽样技术,以确保人口中各亚群体的代表性。这种方法有助于高效率、低成本地收集数据,同时保持研究结果的完整性:从包括牧师、长老和成员在内的 304 名受访者那里收集到的数据显示,社区建设与属灵成长之间存在显著的正相关,而志愿者服务的评分相对较低。结果表明,社区建设在影响教会属灵成长方面具有积极意义。所有三个模型的研究结果:模型总结、方差分析和系数证实了社区建设在教会属灵成长中的重要性。相关系数结果为 0.580。然而,对受访者如何看待其所在教会的社区建设实践的平均分进行描述性统计后发现,在其他建构中,志愿社区服务这一子变量的得分最低(3.7 分)。尽管如此,五旬节派教会仍有必要在卫生、免费清洁和培训服务等领域加强志愿服务,以回馈社区。当教会领导参与福利活动(如帮助社会中的弱势群体)时,这将对教会在灵性和数量上的成长产生积极影响。研究结果强调了加强志愿者参与以促进教会属灵和人数增长的重要性。这项研究有助于五旬节派教会的理论理解和实践意义,填补了研究空白,并倡导仆人式领导实践,以增强教会成员的能力,促进社区建设,从而实现教会的全面发展:本研究支持仆人式领导、赋权和属灵领导理论。仆人式领导在通过社区建设赋予教会成员能力方面发挥着至关重要的作用,从而对教会的发展产生影响。这项研究揭示并填补了仆人式领导在社区建设和教会属灵成长方面的一些概念、理论、背景和经验方面的研究空白。最明显的差距是背景上的差距,许多关于教会成长的研究只关注数量上的增长,而忽略了灵命的成长,而本研究正是要解决这一问题。研究还显示了志愿者服务方面的差距,平均值为 4.1。因此,五旬节派教会需要付出更多的努力来改善义工服务和促进属灵培育,从而促进教会的属灵成长。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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