Christian Parenting: An Empirical Assessment by ECWA Ibadan District Church Council Members, Oyo State, Nigeria

Abstract

Parenting is a herculean task for parents, church and society. The challenge arises from the fact that people always compromise on one aspect of parenting or the other. Whereas the Bible stipulates the standard for proper child upbringing, most Christian parents today raise their children in a way contrary to the biblical standard and this has negative consequences on the church and the society generally. This is evidenced in social vices exhibited by children in the contemporary world. It is from this perspective that this study empirically investigated Christian parenting with a view to espousing the biblical standard of parenting for societal development. The study adopted a descriptive design of a survey type. The data gathered from the questionnaire were quantitatively analyzed using simple percentage while data from the interviews were qualitatively analyzed. Findings revealed that only 26.64% of respondents had proper understanding of Christian parenting. It was also found that the non-compliance with the parenting principles by 74.8% of respondents has resulted into children’s lack of commitment to society’s values. Some social vices were identified as problems resulting from this non-compliance. Some of the recommendations are: ECWA Church members to develop informed teaching on parenting to serve as basis for instructing Christians generally. Seminars and workshops should be organized for parents on the need to bring this to bear on their children. Parents must not commit the entire responsibility of parenting into the hands of the church, the school or any house help, etc. Keywords: Christian Parenting, Discipline, Child, Yoruba, ECWA Ibadan District Church Council, African society.