Enhancing Evangelism through Education Sponsorship: A case of Church Sponsored Schools in Mombasa County, Kenya

Abstract

Evangelism means proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ so that people may believe in God through Him, for the sake of their salvation and inheritance of the kingdom of heaven. Evangelism is crucial to the church's mission as a fulfilment of the Great Commission. In order to fulfil this commission the Church applies different ways such as education sponsorship. The specific objectives of this study were: to establish the role of education sponsorship in enhancing evangelism by church sponsored schools in Mombasa County. Descriptive survey research design was applied in this study. The target population consisted of 10 Church sponsored Primary Schools in Mombasa County. A representative sample was selected using purposive sampling method. These included Pastors, School Principals, and CRE Teachers and Church members. To collect data, the researcher used a questionnaire as the research instrument. These questionnaires contained structured questions that were constituted using a likert scale. Questionnaires were either emailed or delivered to the respondents and were picked once filled.Data was analysed through NVivo software version 12. The study found out that church sponsored schools in Mombasa County provide a suitable forum for spreading the gospel hence play a crucial role in enhancing evangelism. The results also indicated that the church sponsored schools in Mombasa County engage in all three forms of education sponsorship – school ownership and management, funding as well as bursaries and scholarships. The findings also showed that the church sponsored schools in Mombasa County promote evangelism through their curriculum and also integrate spiritual and moral teachings. The study recommends that more church sponsored schools should be opened in Mombasa County as well as across the country to propagate further Christianity. The study also recommends that the existing church sponsored schools should be expanded to cater for even special needs such as the hearing impaired, sight impaired and physically challenged persons in the society. The study further recommends that the Government of Kenya through the Ministry of Education should give support to all church sponsored schools by providing well trained teachers and paying them so as to reduce the costs of running these schools. Further research should be carried out to analyze the effect of education sponsorship on evangelism by church sponsored schools in other Counties in Kenya to assess whether the results will be similar or different. In addition further research should be carried to establish the effect of church sponsored health facilities on enhancing evangelism.