Problems Faced by Today’s Christian Families among the Agĩkũyũ in Kĩambaa Sub-County, Kĩambu County-Kenya
Journal Title: IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science - Year 2018, Vol 23, Issue 6
Abstract
The family, which is not confined to the father, mother and their children but also includes the whole descendants, clans and ethnic community, seems to be overwhelmed by all kinds of evils experienced in the contemporary society despite some members being Christians in faith affiliation. The problems in turn lead to instability of the households hence individuals in their homes struggle to live as they ought to. Such evils do not spare the Christian families among the Agĩkũyũ who are supposed to lead a life based on their ethnic worldview family values that pleases God who freely gave them traditional cultural values and gratuitously endowed them with the instructions of the requisites of authentic Christian families. Failure to live family life fully according to the principles that Jesus Christ directed towards community welfare leads to suffering, vulnerability to emerging malevolent forces targeting families and other impediments that act as stumbling blocks in maintaining family standards of both ethnic traditional philosophy of life and Christianity demands. Such is the issue the paper grapples with. To delve in the problem then, the present study was guided by three inter-related theories in examining the problems that today‟s Agĩkũyũ Christian families face in Kĩambaa SubCounty, Kĩambu County. These are: general cum special revelation theory, mediation theory and redaction criticism theory. The endeavour involved qualitative method using a case study research design to collect secondary data from related written sources and primary data from the base community through the use of questionnaires and oral interviews. The findings of the study show that Christian families encounter various challenges such as poverty, conflicts arising from inheritance and ownership of property and suicide among others spelt out in the paper. As explained in the study, such issues have led these families into criminal dealings, pain of losing loved ones, destruction of homes and fleeing from their ancestral homes to live as destitute in diaspora. Among the recommendations the study provides is that of eliminating unjust cultural elements some of which are not developmental, parents being more consciously involved in the lives of their children not living them to teachers and peer members and the Christian Church‟s alertness on understanding and handling issues that affect her members so as to help them overcome their problems and realize a fulfilling Christian family life. The expectation is that the paper will assist respective families to be properly empowered to confront the problems passionately turning the disturbing elements into opportunities for family positive actualization.
Authors and Affiliations
Prof. P. N. Wachege, K. A. Jemosop
Keywords
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- EP ID EP419327
- DOI 10.9790/0837-2306081929.
- Views 52
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