Patnership in missions : a case study of the relationship between Diguna and Africa Inland Church.

Abstract

The Church is described by her Lord, Jesus Christ as His own body. One body but with different parts and abilities so that the task of evangelism given to her can be accomplished However, in attempts to bring some parts of the body together, damaged relationships have terribly disrupted the growth and expansion of God's kingdom Does this imply that due to such damaged relationships the body of Christ should not relate to one another in accomplishing the "Great commission"? This research does not agree that there should be no relationship at all. Rather, certain dynamics in relationship need to be discovered so that each part of the Church can knit together to fulfill the purpose of her existence. To this effect, the researcher studied the relationship between a national church, Africa Inland Church in Kenya, and a foreign missionary organization, Diguna with German origin but now based in Nairobi. This was done in the light of relationships that have always existed and their effect in missions. A descriptive method was used as the research design. The research instrument used for the data collection included: personal interviews and focus group interviews with designed questionnaires prepared with the research questions in mind Also, communication analysis of documents was utilized. Qualitative data analysis partially followed the Likert Method of Summated Ratings in the interpretation of the data Also, the qualitative approach known as thematic analysis was used Some of the responses were categorized in percentage terms to enable a proper discussion on the findings. It was found that the relationship between Diguna and AIC. has been a form of ''parallelism''. However, a partnership relationship, whereby there is mutual understanding and interdependency is considered as an ideal and preferred by the two bodies to other relationships. This research therefore proposes recommendations as to how partnership can be achieved in the relationship between the two organizations. The researcher expects this research to be a valuable tool for more harmony in the body of Christ for effectiveness in accomplishing the task of’ worldwide evangelism and missions