Abstract
Kenyan youths have been marginalized from mainstream economic activities since independence. This situation has had a negative impact such as slowed economic growth, a rise in crime and violence, and the spread of diseases. It is these issues that have prompted this study on the influence of church policies on the economic empowerment of youths with a specific focus on the PCEA Nyahururu Parish. The study was guided by the Positive Youth Development model. It employed the descriptive research design and targeted a population of 233respondents comprising of 220 youths and 13 leaders (2 congregation chairpersons, 1 clergy, 1 evangelist, 1 youth coordinator, and 8 youth leaders). From this population, a sample of 94respondentswas selected using the clustered random sampling method where the two congregations that make up the PCEA Nyahururu Parish formed the clusters. Quantitative data was collected from youths using structured questionnaires while qualitative data was collected from the church administrators using interview guides. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as percentages and means as well as inferential statistics. Qualitative data were analyzed using the thematic content analysis technique and results reported using quotes. Findings revealed that there is a low level of economic empowerment among the youths at the PCEA Nyahururu parish. Church policies on single parenthood and divorce/ separation have a statistically significant and negative contribution towards youth economic empowerment. Church policies on the use of modern technologies have a positive and statistically significant relationship with youth economic empowerment. The study recommends that churches should re-examine its policies in single parenthood and divorce/ separation.
Highlights
Young people are key part of the society and their development is critical to the overall wellbeing of the society (Iwasaki, 2015)
These findings imply that there was a statistically significant difference in the economic empowerment mean scores of youths who felt that the church policy on these issues were discriminatory to the youth and mean scores of youths who felt that the policy were discriminatory
Since the policy apply to church members on individual basis, findings show that youth who feel discriminated by the policies have lower economic empowerment score than those who do not feel discriminated
Summary
Young people are key part of the society and their development is critical to the overall wellbeing of the society (Iwasaki, 2015). The present study sought to fill this gap by assessing the influence of church policies on the economic empowerment of youth with a specific focus on the PCEA Nyahururu Parish. The present study examined how three practices within PCEA Nyahururu parish namely church policies, leadership practices, and youth programmes have contributed to the economic empowerment of youths.
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