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Examination of 1 Corinthians 14:33b–35 in relation to women’s ministry in church
(Africa International University, 2021-07-31) Fednarnd Mwamburi Ponga
This study examined I Cor 14:33b–35 in its context, to determine its meaning
and how it relates to our contemporary context as far as women’s involvement in
church ministry is concerned. It has come up with the following findings and
conclusions. The first one is that the instructions were given in the context of the
disorderly conduct of the Corinthian believers during worship and the prevailing
socio-cultural realities. Secondly, they were not forbidding every kind of speech by
women in the church but only that kind of speech which was considered to be
disruptive to orderly worship and disrespectful to their husbands and the church
leaders, hence undermining the biblical expectation of women being in submission. It
also refers to speech which was considered as shameful within the norms of the
Greco-Roman culture.
Therefore, it is the position of this thesis that the instructions in 1 Cor 14:33b–
35 should not be taken across the board to forbid every kind of speaking by women in
church or to bar them from active involvement in church ministry. Doing so is to
disregard the principles of biblical interpretation by overlooking the literary and
socio-cultural context of the passage. It will also imply disregarding the various socio cultural contexts of contemporary churches. So this thesis concludes that in view of
what Paul says earlier in this epistle and other relevant NT passages, women are
equally gifted by the Holy Spirit and they have a right to exercise these gifts in church
even in the presence of men as long as they do so in an orderly manner and they
remain submissive and respectful to their husbands and church leaders. Order and
communal edification during worship are what should be upheld by believers
everywhere because our God is a God of order and not confusion. Hence, we should
seek to manifest that character in our worship.
Music and social justice in the east African church
(Africa International University, 2025-07-01) Reuben Kigame
There is a troubling contradiction regarding the relationship between music and social justice in the East African Church. On the one hand, music is a dominant part of global Church liturgy, but social justice themes are not common in East Africa’s Church songs. On the other hand, the dominance of biblical Christianity in the East African region contradicts the widespread nature of injustices such as police brutality, genocide, corruption, abductions, terrorism, gender-based-violence, the refugee crisis and high levels of poverty. Alfred Olwa (2015) projected that by 2020 Christians would form 67 per cent of East Africa’s population, which would represent 45 per cent of the Christian community in Africa. , In 2023, Kenya scored 31/100 in Transparency International’s corruption perception index, and Uganda 26 out of 100, indicating high levels of corruption. Tanzania has been accused of police brutality and the torture and killing of government critics. Although South Sudan and the DRC are defined as Christian nations, violence leading to the flight of millions into refugee camps is the order of the day. It is evident that the East African Church has failed in addressing this rampant injustice. One of the clear ways in which this is manifested is the lack of sermons that speak truth to power and the absence of social justice messages in East Africa’s church music. This study is concerned with this lack of social justice music and the need to involve Gospel musicians in reversing the situation. Although nearly all Church gatherings include music, the bulk of it is on evangelism, adoration, God’s love, greatness and power, but hardly on poverty eradication, femicide, gender-based violence, corruption or police brutality, which themes are viewed as secular or political and hence avoided as unchristian. Yet the bible urges believers to fight for justice and defend those who cannot defend themselves (Isaiah 1:17; Amos 5:24; Proverbs 31:8-9; Micah 6:8; James 2 and Romans 12:8-21). There is a dire need to understand this discrepancy and identify successful models to inspire and instruct Church musicians on how to write social justice music. It is our assumption in this study that the writing, performance and distribution of more social justice music can push back the levels of injustice in the region. Therefore, it is our conclusion that the East African Church could improve their social justice witness by learning from these effective models.
The main objective of this study is to show how three Christian musicians have successfully use music to promote social justice. To realize this objective, we shall ask three questions:
i. How have Garth Hewitt, Mahalia Jackson and Juliani used music to promote social justice?
ii. Which factors have contributed to the absence of social justice music in the East African Church?
iii. What lessons can East Africa’s Gospel musicians and clergy learn from the Discographies of our case studies?
In answering these questions, we have employed ethnography and discourse analysis to analyse the material of our three case studies. It is our hope that this research can provide a new way of understanding the convergence of music and social justice within the African context and lead us to new insights into the use of faith-based sonic activism and technology in the promotion of justice.
Conflict Mediation for Congregational Church Leaders
(Africa International University, 2017-07-31) Joy Kagwiria Mbaabu
Conflict is a normal human experience and the church is neither exempt from it nor from the debilitating effects of unresolved or badly resolved conflict. Congregational churches such as Karen Community Church (KCC) value relationships and fellowship so dearly that they are slow to admit existence of conflict, making them more prune to dangers of conflict avoidance. One transformational leadership essential is the ability to resolve conflict effectively so as to give way to genuine fellowship and a God honoring, growing community of believers. KCC was used as a case study to help establish: 1) the congregational church leader’s understanding and perception about conflict; 2) the causes of conflicts in congregational churches and how are they responded to; 3) the spiritual characteristics required for effective biblical conflict mediation; and lastly 4) what can be done to improve the way conflict is handled in congregational churches. A research advisory team of eight leaders walked alongside the researcher throughout the study and undertook theological reflections around the research subject. Three focus group discussions (FGD) for a total of twenty-three leaders comprising of pastors, church staff and elders, youth, women and children leaders and church missionaries were conducted. Additionally, in-depth key informant interviews (KII) were carried out with nine leaders of the church. Lastly, forty five self-administered questionnaires (SAQ) to church leaders using purposeful sampling. Based on the data collected, the researcher identified major themes which were categorized into four groups: Understanding conflict, Conflicts at KCC, Conflict mediation, Effective conflict mediation for KCC.
The key findings of this study include the following: (1) Leaders understand conflict as misunderstanding or disagreement , and not necessarily sinful (2) There are many unaddressed conflict at KCC and these have caused bitterness, strife, pain, tension, mistrust frustrations and wounded hearts and relationships; (3) Many leaders have been socialized to perceive conflict as bad and therefore to avoid admitting that it exists and dealing with it fully (4) Conflict mediation is a cooperative way to address conflict and turn it into opportunity for strengthening relationships. (5) Character formation to develop spiritual, moral and personal, qualities through a spiritual formation process is preferred for developing effective conflict mediators for the church (6) Effective conflict mediation would lead to genuine relations, a God- honoring and growing church.
The researcher made recommendations the following key recommendations (1) Creation of forums to deal with all past longstanding unresolved conflicts (2) Conversation platforms to address potentially conflictous issues as they arise (3) Occasional sermon series on conflict and conflict mediation (4) Development of a conflict mediation policy and procedure guideline (5) A spiritual formation processes for church leaders which has conflict mediation modules. The researcher developed an outline for a process of spiritual formation for leaders that would prepare them to effectively mediate conflicts.
Religious fundamentalism in northern Nigeria: an examination of the impact of Maududi’s political interpretation of Islam on the rise of religious conflicts, and its effect on Christian- Muslim relations.
(Africa International University, 2017-07-31) Michael Ezra Dikki
This research examines the role of theological or Islamic interpretation in promoting religious conflicts in northern Nigeria. Specifically, this research examines the impact of Maududi’s political interpretation of Islam on the rise of religious conflicts in northern Nigeria. This research questions the sufficiency of the claim that religious conflicts in northern Nigeria are caused by socio-political and socio-economic factors as postulated by several scholars. Maududi is chosen because of his acknowledged influence, globally and in northern Nigeria specifically, as the father of modern fundamentalism. The research was conducted in the cities of Kano in Kano state and Zaria and Kaduna in Kaduna state of northern Nigeria. These states are considered representational. The research employed the qualitative method and interviewed 159 Muslims assisted by Muslim research assistants. This is in addition to qualitative content analysis of some relevant materials and observations.
The findings support the claim that there is a strong relationship between theology and fundamentalism in northern Nigeria. In essence, there is a strong Maududian influence on fundamentalism in northern Nigeria. It is evident that Maududi’s ideology and political interpretation of Islam is a major influence on fundamentalism and interreligious conflicts in northern Nigeria majorly beginning with the Muslim Student Society (MSS) in northern Nigerian univerisities. His ideology radicalized these young Muslim students. These students moved into the society with these fundamentalist ideology and established groups. These groups played a strong role in the Islamic militancy and religious conflicts being experienced today. In addition, it is discovered that there is a strong influence of Maududian ideology on the initial leaders of Boko Haram. There is also evidently a historical link to Maududian fundamentalist ideology through Sudan, Pakistan and Egypt as well as Saudi Arabia and Iran within the political and religious leadership in northern Nigeria.
The data also reveal that within majority Muslims interviewed, there is a selective adoption of Maududi’s ideologies. A theory, therefore, emerges that the clash between fundamentalist and orthodox ideologies trigger cognitive dissonance, which through dissonance resolution process leads to selective adoption. This selective adoption produces diversity of Islamic views with consequneces on the relationship between Muslims and non-Muslims. The data also supports the theory that fundamentalist ideology creates the propensity for collective violence especially when supported by relational and cultural distance, functional independence and inequality. This happens when an ideology in culture (religion) emphasizes “otherness” and is internalized as an individual or collective system of meaning (Silberman 2005, 535) as well as when it corresponds with the social and psychological needs of a group or people (de la Roche 1996).
The application of Synthetic Triangular Approach (STA) in the research, exposes the ordinariness in Muslims including those holding a fundamentalist idea. It revealed that the way Muslims understand, react to or handle conflicts is mostly not different from how other human beings do. These findings have implications for Christian-Mulsim relations in northern Nigeria. In this regard, recommendations are made for the government, Christians and Muslims.
An investigative study of the Bridge of Hope girls’ school education model in post-conflict Liberia
(2017-07-31) Jackson Garpu Weah
This qualitative empirical research used a “case- study” methodology presents the evidence derived from empirical research that the all–girls educational model being implemented at Bridge of Hope Girls’ School is actually producing significant identifiable changes in girls. Some of the factors which were examined to indicate successful change include creation of pathways for disadvantaged girls to access the process of, retention of students in the institution, progression of students to higher grades at appropriate times, and completion of school by the girls.
This investigative research sought to provide a comprehensive case study of the Bridge of Hope Girls’ School within the context of all-girls education model for girls. The main focus of this dissertation is to propose new paradigm of doing girls’ education herein referred to as the Bridge of Hope Girls’ Transformational Education (BOHGTE) Model. A Christian transformational education ( girls-only) model provided at BOH that has produced an empirical evidence of a significant measurable positive difference in reducing cultural disparity between boys and girls education, transform negative cultural assumptions and changing social narratives of girls in ways that lead to increased enrollment, retentions and progression of girls in Monrovia informal setting. The study participants included the girls at Bridge of Hope, alumni, administrators, faculty, staff, and trustees. Data was gathered through opened -ended interviews and document analysis. With thorough analysis of all data ( interviews and documents) the following themes surfaced: Environment aids student learning outcomes; Christian worldview and ethical foundation of BOH model ;Organizational systems; Gender differences in how boys and girls learn and behave in educational setting; Emphasis on staff development -qualified teachers and training teachers to do “transformational education; Distractions in co-education; In classes that are separated by gender, male and female students work and learn on the same level as their peers and relevant curriculum.