Perception of Parents on Children's Ministry at KCC

Abstract

This study was to find out parents' perception on the relevance of the children's curriculum whether it was achieving the mission statement of Karen Community Church. It was a survey study which was carried out at Karen in Nairobi, Kenya.

The data was collected using a questionnaire which composed of open-ended and closed-ended questions. The questionnaire measured the opinion by using the Likert Scale with summated ratings to determine the parents' opinions. The sample of 20 parents was drawn from Karen Community Church.

The study was to find out the curriculum's relevance to realization of the mission statement. This came because it had been found that there is high drop out rate in the youth ministry when in children's ministry numbers are good. This high drop out rate looks contradictory to the mission statement of the church which is to build a community, so why is it that there is drop out? Therefore, the parents were to give the opinions if the curriculum was really offering what the mission statement of the church is stating. The mission statement aims at building a community of people who are knitted together and rooted in Christ. The question was: why was it that in the upper classes of children's ministry and the youth ministry numbers were lowering? It was appropriate to look at what the curriculum was delivering. The results of the study showed that some parts of the curriculum, goals, objectives and methods were perceived as relevant but the content was not. This is an area whereby the curriculum has to be revisited and retailored.

From the study it was recommended that: 1). K.C.C. should put a time interval when the curriculum for children's ministry has to be evaluated to see its relevance and adjust where necessary. 2). Since the program activities split the opinion of parents, it is recommended to revisit them to make them more relevant to K.C.C. mission statement. 3). Since the content was perceived inadequate, it is recommended that K.C.C. education desk should develop a curriculum with relevant content in line with clear goals. 4). Since the methods were perceived relevant, it is recommended that they should be maintained for teaching.

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