Inrtegrating Akamba and Pastoral Counselling Models to Mitigate Infidelity in Africa Inland Church Kitui County, Kenya
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Date
2023-11
Authors
Munyoki, Dennis Mutua
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
Sexual infidelity is a world-wide phenomenon that adversely affects the sanctity of marriage. It seriously impacts the family, which is the basic unit of the society. Christianity and culture have always provided moral standards by which social behaviour is regulated. This has been through structured guidance and counselling to the members of the society. The counselling emphasizes on morality, sanctity of marriage and family as the locus of the society. However, marital challenges and especially cases of sexual infidelity are still rampant among members of Africa Inland Church. It is paradoxical having pastoral counselling structures emphasizing on sanctity of marriage in place and at the same time, rampant cases of sexual infidelity. In the Akamba indigenous society, the counselling system was effective in that members of the society were socialised into acceptable behaviour commensurate with the norms, values and beliefs of the society. Thus, cases of marital instability and especially sexual infidelity were minimal compared to today when the church is perceived to have grown. The question about how AIC pastoral counselling programs can produce positive results, especially in regard to marital sanctity remains critical in this study. This calls for an integrative counselling model that brings both counselling techniques together for a more formidable counselling model. To achieve this goal, three specific objectives guided the study: to investigate the causes of sexual infidelity among Christians couples; to find out the challenges resulting from sexual infidelity and to assess the Akamba counselling elements that can be incorporated in AIC Pastoral counselling model with a view to finding ways of mitigating sexual infidelity in Africa Inland Church, Kitui County, Kenya. Although extensive research has been carried out on Akamba and Pastoral counselling techniques, sexual infidelity menace is insufficiently explored. Literature reviewed confirmed that AIC counselling approach, content analysis and timelines is a matter of concern. The study employed a descriptive survey design. Data was collected using questionnaires, interview schedules, Focus Group Discussions and through analysis of documents retrieved from the library. The research used purposive and simple random sampling method. Purposive sampling selected participants on the basis of their significance to the research topic. Descriptive statistics, frequencies and percentages were used in the analysis and presented through narratives, bar graphs and frequency tables. Mead's (1863-1931)Symbolic Interactionism theory, Emile Durkheim (1912) functionalist theory and Walker's (2020) Integrated Pastoral Counselling model, were applied to the data. These theoretical frame works were employed to articulate the fundamental role played by the church and community in socialization of individuals in the society and need to maintain theological integrity while doing integration. Key findings revealed that inadequate preparation before marriage, marital dissatisfaction, and geographical migration were among highly rated causes of sexual infidelity. The study concludes that the prevailing status of sexual infidelity in Africa Inland Church is likely to be addressed if the Church revisits and adequately reconstructs a pastoral-cultural integrative counselling model with a view of mitigating sexual infidelity for stability of Christian families in Kitui County, Kenya.
Description
A Thesis Submitted to the School ff Law, Arts and Social Sciences in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirement for the Award of the Degree of Master of Arts (Religious Studies) of Kenyatta University
Keywords
Integrating, Akamba, Pastoral counselling models, Infidelity, African Inland Church, Kitui county, Kenya