VICTORY OUTREACH MINISTRY SERVICES ON POVERTY ALLEVIATION IN BUNGOMA COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

Globally, the role of religious to povAeBrtSyT aRllAevCiaTti on has not been adequately studied. Bungoma County has been experiencing persistent poverty that denies people basic needs, exposing them to a lot of untold suffering, despite the past effort to compact it through national development planning and special programs. The groups hardest hit by poverty are rural population, children, orphans and women. It is on this basis that the study sought to investigate the influence Victory Outreach Ministry Services on poverty alleviation in Bungoma County which formed the purpose of the study. The study had the following objectives; to determine the manifestation of poverty in Bungoma County, to establish the biblical perspective of poverty alleviation used by victory outreach ministry Church and to determine the strategies used by Victory Outreach Ministry Church on alleviation of poverty. The target population comprised of 18 pastors, 60 Board Members, 48 staff and 1,154 Church members from 12 Victory Outreach Ministry Churches in Bungoma County. The sample size was 384. The study design employed mixed method design. The questionnaires and interview schedules were the key data collection tools. Stratified random sampling and simple random sampling were used. Qualitative Data was analyzed using content analysis while quantitative data by descriptive statistics. The findings were presented using percentages, frequency distributions tables and standard deviation. The study was guided by Marxist Theory, Cultural Theory and Cyclical Cumulative and Dependency theory, the Christian Theory of Human Development. The finding showed that majority of the families were too big to maintain, were not employed, and had not acquired college education and that their church family members had not acquired their own property in Bungoma County. The findings also showed that majority of church family members in Bungoma County acknowledge that God owns all the whole earth including themselves and the poor among them, that every man on earth is God’s steward, many people consider it good to be able to help others and share even in the little they have and that ‘Christians should maintain high moral standards in the midst of rampant corruption competition, ill treatment, greed and exploitation. Further, results illustrated that majority of church family members acknowledge that the church donates clothing, money, food, blankets and medical aid supplies, to those in need, that the church provides the surrounding communities with education on sanitation and general health, the church teaches the community better methods of farming, environmental protection and water supply and that the church makes the political leadership and the rich more sensitive to the needs of the community. This study recommends that the church should advocate for small families and encourage the community to take their children to attain at least college education. The study also further recommends that the Churches should teach members to maintain high moral standards in the midst of rampant corruption, competition/ill treatment, greed and exploitation and flat. The church should encourage members to donate human basic need and supplies to those in need and provide the surrounding communities with education on sanitation and general good health. This study therefore generated information which the churches would use towards alleviation of poverty and generation of wealth and reducing human sufferings in the society Therefore, it is hoped that the findings of this study would enable the Victory Outreach Ministry Church to evaluate its position in poverty reduction among its flock and improve their quality of life. The study sets the base for further research and it is a rich source of reference for academicians.