THE CHURCH’S ROLE IN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

The role of Christian churches in fighting poverty through development activities cannot be overlooked. Churches have come of age and collaborate with different organizations to improve the well-being of communities around their vicinity through social and economic community development programs.

The purpose of this thesis project was to investigate which crucial role the church can play / plays in community building and uplifting the standard of living for the community within its vicinity. The method used in the research study was community-based qualitative research (CBQR). A case study is used to understand how the church contributes to community development. The purpose of the study was to understand the relationship the church has with its followers and community in its locality. Content analysis was used to identify key themes emerging from the interviews with vivo coding being applied in the analysis.

The results show that the church recognizes poverty as a problem that needs attention and has taken various social and economic actions to improve the well-being of the community around its vicinity. The findings manifest that the church’s focus area in community development is health, education, spiritual well-being, social, family life, community empowerment and livelihood. Due to limitations of time and participant numbers, the study does not give any in-depth evaluations of the church activities and their sustainability. I therefore recommend further research of the church’s role in community development and assessment of how sustainable the church development activities are. I also recommend the church to seek more collaboration with other faithbased organizations in community development activitie