The Church and the War-affected Youth : a study of the Karen Free Methodist Church

Abstract

The research was a qualitative descriptive study that inquired into the needs of the war-affected youth in the Karen Free Methodist Church and how the needs are being met. Data was collected by means of survey questionnaires. Four pastors, one youth leader, eleven war-affected youth, six parents. and six Kenyan youth completed the specific group questionnaires. The study revealed that over 60% of the respondents attending the Karen Free Methodist Church are aware of the needs of the war-affected youth in the Church. The specific needs of the war-affected youth in the Karen Free Methodist church focused on the psychological, economic/material and spiritual categories. The findings across all of the groups indicate that over 60% of the respondents reported that love and acceptance were the major psychological needs of the war-affected youth. Almost 50% of the respondents in the Pastors Nouth Leader and Parents' Groups revealed that counseling in the area of trauma healing is a need of the war-affected youth attending the Karen Free Methodist Church. The economic/material needs that were observed as major themes in the study were money, food, clothing, education and shelter. There were no major differences noted in the needs of the war-affected youth and the Kenyan youth attending the Karen Free Methodist Church. It was revealed that the Karen Free Methodist tend not to be meeting the needs of the youth in the Church. It was recommended among other things, that the Karen Free Methodist Church train and develop interested persons to focus on youth ministry, set up a youth center, be involved in trauma counseling and develop good family-based youth ministry.