Church leadership perception of care to the orphans in Bunia :with refernce to postwar situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to understand the perception of Church leaders in Bunia on the church's care to the children that were orphaned due to war. It explored the church's ministry to orphans as well as factors that hindered addressing the issue of orphans. Data was collected by using interview which was aimed to church leaders whereby one leader was interviewed from each church in Bunia. The procedure used to analyze the findings was based on grounded theory approach with focus on qualitative method. The research findings, as a result, revealed that the church in Bunia is inactive to take care of orphans because of poverty and lack of biblical teaching about her responsibility to minister to orphans. Poverty and lack of biblical teaching were found to be major hindrances to the need to take care of orphans. Because the church does not address the issue, orphans lack education, shelter, heaIthcare, the word of God. They are subjected to live on their own, cast away from the rest of the community, and most of them find their place in the streets where they are exposed to poverty, premature sexual practices, sexual abuse, drug, theft, insecurity, diseases, HIV /AIDS, premature death, persistent trauma, and dirty words. Some recommendations were made to the church and leaders, and for further studies. Recommendations for the church aim at encouraging and suggesting way forward in taking care of orphans in Bunia, whereas further study recommendation consists of suggestion of possible topics vis-a-vis orphans that need to be exploited