Mid-Life crisis : its prevalence, presentation and precipitating factors in selected churches in Nairobi

Abstract

he following study was born out of puzzlement through twenty years of pastoral ministry as to why a significant number of church members in Nairobi tend to exhibit behavior not different from that of their non-Christian counterparts at some point through their mid-life. Existing literature describes a phenomenon that is said to occur at mid-life, called mid-life crisis. Most of such literature does not originate from Nairobi or Africa. The objective of the study was to go into the field, visiting congregations and senior pastors of a representative sample of mainline churches in Nairobi with a view to finding out whether the same experiences described as indicative of mid-life crisis exist in such churches, and whether they occur along the same patterns. Another objective was to find out, if such experiences exist, whether the churches have recognized their challenge to the extent of putting relevant interventions in place, both to prepare persons for the mid-life crisis and to support those already experiencing it. A ten-page questionnaire was designed and refined as the research tool for collecting quantitative data from the sample churches. An interview instrument was also designed to collect qualitative data from senior pastors of the said congregations. All 18 churches, randomly chosen from 9 denominations, gave permission and support to the study. A total of 1381 church members responded to the questionnaire. Findings were interesting. Experiences similar to those described in existing literature as being indicative of mid-life crisis were found to prevail in the Nairobi churches. However, the pattern was significantly skewed towards the earlier period of mid-life, 30-45 years, as opposed to the usual pattern in existing literature where the crisis peaks at age 45 years. Possible explanation is to be found in the heavy social responsibilities placed upon younger working persons in mid-life in a challenging socio-economic environment. The churches were found to be ill-prepared in regard to interventions they have put in place to prepare their members for and to support them through the challenge of mid-life crisis.